Kenting National Park (), commonly known as Kenting (), is a
national park located on the
Hengchun Peninsula
Hengchun Township is a township located on the southern tip of the Hengchun Peninsula in Pingtung County, Taiwan. It is the southernmost township in Taiwan. Hengchun is also the only urban township in the southern part of Pingtung County. Hengc ...
of
Pingtung County,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, covering
Hengchun
Hengchun Township is a township located on the southern tip of the Hengchun Peninsula in Pingtung County, Taiwan. It is the southernmost township in Taiwan. Hengchun is also the only urban township in the southern part of Pingtung County. Hengch ...
,
Checheng, and
Manzhou Townships. Established on 1 January 1984, it is Taiwan's oldest and the southernmost national park on the main island, covering the southernmost area of the Taiwan island along
Bashi Channel
The Bashi Channel is a waterway between Y'Ami Island of the Philippines and Orchid Island of Taiwan. It is a part of the Luzon Strait in the Pacific Ocean. It is characterized by windy storms during the rainy period, June to December.
The Bash ...
. Administered by the
Executive Yuan's
Ministry of the Interior
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministr ...
, this national park is well known for its tropical climate and sunshine, scenic mountain and beach, the
Spring Scream
The Spring Scream () is an outdoor music festival held in early April each year at Kenting, Pingtung County, Taiwan. The festival showcases a variety of music styles from bands both from Taiwan and overseas. Each year the festival adds the na ...
rock-band festival held in every March, and has long been one of the most popular tourist destinations in Taiwan with 5.84 million visitors in 2016.
Etymology
Kenting (墾丁, Kun-ting in
Taiwanese
Taiwanese may refer to:
* Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien
* Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa)
* Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan
* Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan
* Taiwanese people, ...
) means pathfinders or pioneers.
Geography
The park covers about of land, of sea, weighing in at combined.
Nan Wan and Banana Bay (香蕉灣) is surrounded by the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
, the
Taiwan Strait
The Taiwan Strait is a -wide strait separating the island of Taiwan and continental Asia. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide.
The Taiwan Strait is itself a ...
, and the
Luzon Strait
The Luzon Strait (Tagalog: ''Kipot ng Luzon'', ) is the strait between Taiwan and Luzon island of the Philippines. The strait thereby connects the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea in the western Pacific Ocean.
This body of water is an im ...
. The park is away from
Kaohsiung, away from
Tainan
Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of his ...
.
The landscape boasted by Kenting National Park is divided into two parts by the long and narrow Hengchun Longitudinal Valley Plain that extends from north to south. With coral sea cliffs teemed with fringing reefs along the west coast, the park features a large number of mountains in the north, and coral tablelands and foothills in the south. The plain, which is formed by fault valleys, has a vast lake called
Longluan Lake, together with rising coral tablelands and limestone caves to the east. The east side of the coral tablelands features unique sand rivers and sand waterfalls formed by the combined effects of winds and rivers, as well as coral cliffs, sunken caves and
stalactites.
Climate
Kenting is known for its
tropical climate
Tropical climate is the first of the five major climate groups in the Köppen climate classification identified with the letter A. Tropical climates are defined by a monthly average temperature of 18 °C (64.4 °F) or higher in the cool ...
with warm to hot weather year-round. Along with the rest of
Pingtung, the climate is geographically classified as a
tropical monsoon climate
An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...
.
Biodiversity
The park hosts rich terrestrial biodiversity of fauna and flora including 15 species of mammals, 310 species of birds, 59 species of reptiles and amphibians, 21 species of freshwater fish, 216 species of butterflies, and various insects.
Eluanbi Park or
Oluanpi Park (鹅鑾鼻公園) is located at
Cape Eluanbi
Cape Eluanbi or Oluanpi, also known by other names, is the southernmost point on the island of Taiwan. It is located in within the Hengchun Township in Pingtung County.
Names
''Éluánbí'' is the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pr ...
. Nature reserves such as the Longkeng Ecological Protection Area (龍坑生態保護區) protecting coral reefs and
virgin forest
''Virgin Forest'' is a 1985 Filipino period film directed by Peque Gallaga. A self-described B-movie, it stars Sarsi Emmanuel, who plays a barrio lass of Chinese ancestry; Miguel Rodriguez, as a Filipino-Spanish illustrado; and, Abel Jurado, wh ...
of Banana Bay and Hengchun Peninsula. 26 species of
land crabs inhabit in the area and which is the highest diversity of terrestrial crabs in single areas in the world. 34 species of terrestrial mammals including 5 locally extinct such as
Formosan clouded leopard, and 4 introduced such as
water buffalo
The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...
, have been recorded.
Formosan sika deer
The Formosan sika deer () (''Cervus nippon taiouanus'') is a subspecies of sika deer endemic to the island of Taiwan. Formosan sika, like most of the terrestrial fauna and flora of Taiwan, arrived on the island during Pleistocene glacial periods ...
which became
extinct in wild in 1969, was first reintroduced into Kenting National Park in 1994. Aside from
sika deer
The sika deer (''Cervus nippon''), also known as the Northern spotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south to ...
, 6 species of terrestrial mammals were once thought to be extinct in the area, while critically endangered
Chinese pangolin
The Chinese pangolin (''Manis pentadactyla'') is a pangolin native to the northern Indian subcontinent, northern parts of Southeast Asia and southern China. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2014, as the ...
were rediscovered a decade after.
Ocean current which flows off the park provides rich diversities of marine ecosystems including sea birds, sea turtles including critically endangered
hawksbill turtle
The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is lar ...
s, sharks such as
bull shark
The bull shark (''Carcharhinus leucas''), also known as the Zambezi shark (informally zambi) in Africa and Lake Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a species of requiem shark commonly found worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in ri ...
s
manta-ray
Manta rays are large Batoidea, rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, ''Giant oceanic manta ray, M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, ''Reef manta ray, M. alfredi'', reac ...
s, and
whale shark
The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, ...
s,
and smaller to medium-sized
cetaceans. The area was once a major wintering ground for
sperm and
baleen whales especially
humpback whale
The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hu ...
s that migrated into
Nan Wan and Banana Bay. Japanese whaling during
Japanese colonial days,
led to severe depletions or disappearances of whales in consequence. Today, no or very few whales may constantly migrate along Hengchun Peninsula and into the park's waters.
Dugong
The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest m ...
s, thought to be either fully or functionally extinct in Taiwan, were reported in the 1950s and 60s, and these were some of the last report of the species in Taiwanese waters.
The national park is an important stopover on the migration path of the
gray-faced buzzard.
Lighthouse
Eluanbi Lighthouse was completed in 1883, following requests from the American and Japanese governments to the Chinese government after several shipwrecks occurred in the 1860s (including the
Rover incident
The ''Rover'' Incident ( or ) occurred on 12 March 1867 when the American merchant ship ''Rover'', captained by Joseph Hunt who was accompanied by his wife Mercy G. ''Beerman'' Hunt, and en route from Swatow to Newchwang, was wrecked off the c ...
). Chinese troops had to be sent to protect the lighthouse during construction from attacks by local tribesmen, and the lighthouse was surrounded by a fort with cannons and a ditch for protection.
It is one of the rare examples in the world of a fortified lighthouse. The lighthouse itself is high and its light is above the tidal high water. The light flashes every 10 seconds and its range is .
Transportation
*
Bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
: Frequent buses link this park with
Kaohsiung International Airport
Kaohsiung International Airport () is a medium-sized civil airport in Siaogang District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, also known as Siaogang Airport (). With nearly seven million passengers in 2018, it is the second busiest airport in Taiwan, after T ...
,
Taiwan Railway Administration
Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) is a railway operator in Taiwan. It is an agency of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, responsible for managing, maintaining, and running conventional passenger and freight railway services ...
's
Kaohsiung Station
Kaohsiung Main Station () is a railway and metro station in Sanmin District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan served by the Taiwan Railways and Kaohsiung Rapid Transit. It is one of four ''special class'' stations, the highest class with the most services. It ...
and the
Taiwan High Speed Rail
Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) is the high-speed railway of Taiwan consisting of one line that runs approximately along the west coast, from the capital Taipei to the southern city of Kaohsiung. With construction and operations managed by a pri ...
Zuoying Station, a journey of 2.5 hours.
*Air: This park is served by the domestic
Hengchun Airport
Hengchun Airport () is an airport in Renshou Village, Hengchun Township, Pingtung County, Taiwan. The airport is near Kenting National Park and is the southernmost airport in Taiwan.
Due to its location, the airport frequently experiences stro ...
although flights are rare and are subject to cancellation due to the strong
Katabatic wind
A katabatic wind (named from the Greek word κατάβασις ''katabasis'', meaning "descending") is a drainage wind, a wind that carries high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity. Such winds are sometim ...
which is frequent in the Hengchun Peninsula.
In popular culture
*
Spring Scream
The Spring Scream () is an outdoor music festival held in early April each year at Kenting, Pingtung County, Taiwan. The festival showcases a variety of music styles from bands both from Taiwan and overseas. Each year the festival adds the na ...
: A well-known international rock-band festival held inside this park since 1995.
*Most parts of the 2008 film ''
Cape No. 7'' were filmed inside this park, and nearby
Hengchun
Hengchun Township is a township located on the southern tip of the Hengchun Peninsula in Pingtung County, Taiwan. It is the southernmost township in Taiwan. Hengchun is also the only urban township in the southern part of Pingtung County. Hengch ...
.
*Part of the 2012 film ''
Life of Pi
''Life of Pi'' is a Canadian philosophical novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist is Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, India who explores issues of spirituality and metaphysics from an early age. He ...
'' was filmed inside the park, which is not far from its director
Ang Lee
Ang Lee (; born October 23, 1954) is a Taiwanese filmmaker. Born in Pingtung County of southern Taiwan, Lee was educated in Taiwan and later in the United States. During his filmmaking career, he has received international critical and popula ...
's birth place.
Gallery
Image:Kenting National Park Beach 2.JPG, Beach view from Kenting beach
Image:Baishawan.jpg, Another beach in Kenting, Baishawan, White Sand beach
Image:Jialeshui-surf.jpg, Jialeshui beach in Kenting, the surfer beach
Image:Estv2.gif, East Coast in Kenting National Park
Image:Eluanbi.jpg, Cape Eluanbi
Cape Eluanbi or Oluanpi, also known by other names, is the southernmost point on the island of Taiwan. It is located in within the Hengchun Township in Pingtung County.
Names
''Éluánbí'' is the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pr ...
Image:鵝鑾鼻燈塔 屏東縣 歷史建築燈塔 Venation 2.JPG, Eluanbi Lighthouse
Image:Pacific Dabbling Plaza, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium 20110607.jpg, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
Kenting National Park WAN,CHIA-LIANG萬家良 92865.jpg, Water Buffalo
The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...
es
See also
*
Amorgos oil spill
The Amorgos oil spill began on 14 January 2001 near Kenting National Park, off the southern coast of Taiwan.
Cause
On 14 January 2001, the Greek merchant vessel ''Amorgos,'' lost power while en route from India to North China. The carrier was t ...
*
List of national parks in Taiwan
National parks of Taiwan are protected spaces for the nature, wildlife, and history under their current jurisdiction. Currently there are nine national parks in Taiwan, all under the administration of the Ministry of the Interior. These national p ...
*
Rover incident
The ''Rover'' Incident ( or ) occurred on 12 March 1867 when the American merchant ship ''Rover'', captained by Joseph Hunt who was accompanied by his wife Mercy G. ''Beerman'' Hunt, and en route from Swatow to Newchwang, was wrecked off the c ...
References
External links
Official websiteUU KentingKenting National Park on Taiwan Mag
Kenting Weekend CondeNast Traveler MagCoastal Observations: Erluanbi, Southern Taiwanin Shore & Beach, Vol. 75, No. 2, pp. 36–39 (ISSN 0037-4237)
Mount Dejian, Kenting, Pintung County, South Coast of Taiwan Coastal Photograph by
Hubert Chanson
Hubert Chanson (born 1 November 1961) is a professional engineer and academic in hydraulic engineering and environmental fluid mechanics. Since 1990 he has worked at the University of Queensland.
Research
Hubert Chanson is Professor of Civil E ...
in
Journal of Coastal Research
The ''Journal of Coastal Research'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research on coastal studies and processes. It was established in 1984 as ''Litoralia'', obtaining its current name in 1985. It is published by the Coastal ...
, Vol. 25, No. 3, May, p. 672 (ISSN 0749-0208)
{{Authority control
1984 establishments in Taiwan
National parks of Taiwan
Geography of Pingtung County
Protected areas established in 1984
Tourist attractions in Pingtung County