A walk on Tuesday in the second week

Hi guys:)

So, another awesome day went by. Wei, Erik and I decided to wake up a bit earlier today, to go and watch birds:) Unfortunately, 6 AM is a little bit too late, so we didn't see as much as we'd like to. The Ecological Pond was really alive and it was fun to listen to frogs. We've also seen Grey-cheeked Fulvettas, with their distinctive voice. They are really fast, so taking a photo is really hard. Thankfully, Wei proved to be a capable photographer:) The weather was beautiful and we're definitely gonna set the alarm clock to 5:15 soon enough.

In the afternoon we went out to see waterfalls in Aowanda. The walk was roughly 30 minutes long. The Adjustment Pond is really close to waterfalls and we have seen some interesting fish in there.

Ecological Pond

Galloping Waterfall

Double Waterfall

Aowanda has more than one waterfall (they are located really closely to each other though): we have a galloping waterfall, a little bit below that a double waterfall and then an adjacent waterfall (that is a bit smaller). It's hard to describe the scenery, so I'm just going to let the photos talk instead:) There are three platforms for enjoying the waterfalls and it is as magical and amazing as it sounds. The galloping waterfall is in the first picture, and the double waterfall can be seen in the second picture, along with the first platform. 

On the way back we've seen the Blue Magpie, the Jungle Crow and The Malagasy Bulbul. The Bulbul was really interesting, since his voice sounds like a cat's voice, which I really liked (I'm a cat person:)). I also keep being amazed by various insects that I can seue here, that I have never seen in Europe (we saw fairly big ant today).

See you guys,

Sam

A peaceful first week

Dear guys,

As for the first week living at Aowanda Recreation Area, we haven’t actually worked anything. Staff teachers and volunteer teachers gave us very practical lessons about nature including birds, trees and frogs. We visited around the office, seeing what facilities and equipment they have. It’s enough for up to 30 children in 3-day summer camps. There are some rented rooms for long stay visitors and  they are home-like rooms. Our team has our own comfortable office, wifi internet despite of its unstable connection. It is from our office that has the best view to enjoy sunset.

Volunteer students with Mr Liao Qing Sen
in class of birds and trees 

Thanks to translation by Maggie, Snail, Erik and Wei, Sam and I could understand main points in every lectures. Aborigine people living in mountaineous area of Nantou are Atayal and Bunun.

Aowanda Nature Center was established in 2008 but actually it has been in operation just for 2 years due to frequent typhoon. Staffs are young and enthusiastic.

Popular species in Aowanda including pine trees, maple trees, cherry blossoms, Blue Magpie, Green-backed Tit, “Monkey-not-climb” tree, crazy cat leaf. Here are some pictures.

Lily flower

Crazy cat leaf - Touching it can cause itchy

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Hopefully, I can capture some unique birds in Aowanda soon :-*

All the best to everyone!

Flora

Our first working day

Hi guys,

Our first days at Aowanda are behind us. Especially the first full day was spectacular. Right after coming to Aowanda we had dinner and introduced ourselves to locals. They were really hospitable and sounded fun, unfortunately I couldn't understand most of the table chat. I couldn't wait for the next day. It was as fun as we expected it to be:) Mr. Liu, the Vice President of Aowanda Recreation Centre, took us on a trip to a Suspension Bridge, which is roughly 3 hours long walk (both ways). First thing that I remember is the smell of the maple leaf after crumpling, it is amazing.  

I knew that we were the first ones to cross the bridge since the latest typhoon, but the bridge felt safe and after a while I could just look around and enjoy the scenery. We saw some trees that were destroyed by the typhoon, which was quite sad, and actually needed to clean the road a little bit. 

Trees  damaged by recent typhoon

Hills damaged by recent typhoon

The view from the bridge was beautiful. I'm actually a little bit scared of heights. We also got to know a lot of new beautiful trees, plants and birds. After we got back, we had delicious lunch. I think I enjoy Chinese/Taiwanese culinary customs a lot more than European ones. We went to Taichung for the weekend and came back to Aowanda today!

View from the bridge

View from the bridge

Suspension bridge

See you guys soon:)
Sam