The best forest trip ever in Daxueshan - Day 2

Dear guys,

The second day in Daxueshan, Dongshih Forest District Office is such an unforgettable day. Due to the heavy rain last night that makes the road slippery, the original plan of climbing the Shaolai mountain trail is cancelled (the blue line). Instead, we walk the Siaosyue Mountain trail, in which there are lots of magnificent forest scenery (the right-hand green line).

Olga leads us to this platform, from which I could see the nearest town. It is early in the morning at around 7a.m and the atmosphere is wonderful. Feeling the breeze and a pool of sunlight over my face is so much happy.

The platform view

Fantastic view

There is something truly magical about the sky and the cloud which really steals my heart!

The best forest trip ever in Daxueshan - Day 1

Hi guys, 

I'm going to write about our first day in Dongshih today. For (soon to be) obvious reasons, I'm going to include as many photos as I can. We left Aowanda on the 25^th July and travelled through surrounding mountains. It was really quite beautiful, we even visited aboriginal village. Then we slept in Taichung and headed for Dongshih the next day. Altitude in Dongshih is higher than altitude in Aowanda (Dongshih Nature Center is located 2275 metres above sea level), so the road was quite long and not easy to handle. When we finally got there, I was mainly surprised by the temperature, it was roughly 20 degrees. Shortly after our arrival we went on a first trail. We were supposed to reach Small Divine Tree, 1000 years old Red Cypress. I realized right away that Dongshih is really special place. Mist surrounded us, so we couldn't see too far away, but, in exchange, we got the feeling of being in a fairly tale. The Small Divine Tree was beautiful and it was interesting to think about all the stuff this tree lived through, how many people saw it, touched it.

Small Divine Tree, 1000 years old

Aowanda+Dongshih interns!

After lunch we went to see the second trail. We had to drive for couple of kilometers. I still think that was the single most beautiful place I have ever been to.

We have seen...

Syueshan Sacred Tree (1400 years old)

  

Tianchih

Common Foxglove, poisonous flower we were not supposed to touch

Mist was seen everywhere, and we couldn't see too far down, so it felt like we were on a small island, floating in the mist. And the 1400 years old tree was like this...center of the island, and by extension, of our small universe. The word „magical“ came to my mind a lot. They say that a picture is worth 1000 words, so...

On our way back to our cars it started raining. Even though I had a raincoat, I decided to not put it on and just enjoyed the rain. 

That's it for today,

See you soon:)

Sam

Kids love "Leave No Trace" - Day 3

Dear guys,

The last day of the camp was really short because the kids left at around 3pm. They woke up early in the morning and walked to the adjustment pond to watch birds with binoculars. Then, they made use of solar energy to boil eggs, etc. The most memorable part was the time when everyone looked back the past days’ actitivies through pictures. I think kids have really got out of something after taking part in this camp, not only the attitude and knowledge about nature, but also new friends from all over Taiwan. 

Kids went bird watching early in the morning

Aowanda looked absolutely wonderful in the morning!

The last day of the camp really made me sad because I couldn’t get to know more about those lovely kids. I wish they still kept in touch with each other after this camp and enjoyed the rest of this summer. In my opinion, this camp was successful in terms of creating diverse activities for kids to discover the nature here in Aowanda. However, it would be great if they could take part in more games because I didn’t see much interaction between different teams.

Kids love "Leave No Trace" - Day 2

Dear guys,

Here are some moments of the second day of Leave No Trace camp.

Food preparation for lunch out in the forest

Everybody is ready for the day out

Volunteer teacher tells kids about nature

Happy cooking time together

Main dish: noodle and vegetables

 After the lunch, everybody just relaxs and enjoys the cool weather out there :D

Kungfu crane, maybe? :P

Almost touch the bark!!

Love triangle :D

Then, everyone turns back to the bird-watching platform, getting ready to walk across the suspension bridge.

"Frog with wings" group

1, 2, 3, now turn your head back please 

No more than 50 people should walk across it at a time

Pause to admire the surrounding landscape

They head to the pine tree area to take part in an activity involved digging the cat hole. It is used to bury the human waste. :)

The pine tree area

It's easy, just digging in the ground

See if it is big enough :D

Then just do it =))) and cover it up with soil

In the evening, kids discuss about the seven principles of Leave No Trace through drama.

Watching attentively

Speaking up now

Role-playing

And recording

That's it for the second day of the camp! :)
See you later!
Flora

Kids love 'Leave No Trace"! - Day 1

Dear guys,

The third week working in Aowanda was marked by the “Leave No Trace” camp. It lasted three days and involved kids aged from 13 to 15 from all around Taiwan.

The detailed schedule of the camp was prepared very carefully beforehand. I was assigned as a photographer and I was supposed to record every moments during the camp. Thanks to the high-quality camera, my pictures didn’t look so bad! Here is the camp story through pictures.

Day 1:

Right after arriving at Aowanda, kids were grouped into four groups and then led to their rooms. 

Group 1: Panda (aka Simon) & Elephant (aka Maggie)

Group 2: Wei & Snail

Group 3: Spider and Calf

Group 4: GuaGua (aka Erik) and Swallow

Mr Spider overviewed about the rules during the camp before the first lunch in Aowanda’s restaurant. After lunch, kids played some warm-up games to get to know each other and their team leaders. For example, they had to transform a bowl of ice into a bottle of water. It was so fun watching how creative they were to find the solution.

Using magnifying glass

The next activity was drawing wooden name tag. Each kid was given a round piece of wood to write their names on as well as to draw certain pictures such as their teams’ symbol. For example, the symbol of Swallow and Gua Gua team is a frog with wings as a combination of swallow as a bird and Gua Gua as a frog.

They look so similar :)

Left: Frog with wings

After that, there was a series of indoor activities. Mr Spider gave a lecture about seven principles of Leave No Trace. Ms Swallow guided kids materials and things needed for a trekking day in the forest. Some kids listened attentively while others were so tired that they couldn’t help falling asleep.

Mr Spider lectured LNT

Umm~~~

Ms Swallow guided how to pack up

In the evening, making bonfire and watching stars were main activities. The bonfire was not a big one because it was used to educate children to protect the forest. Kids were asked to make a promise of respecting the environment. I remembered two special moments when everybody kept silence and followed their own thoughts. The first one was the dying out of the bonfire and the second one was the time when everybody lied down on the ground watching the star sky. Such  peaceful moments were really very precious in anyone’s life.

Throw a wish into fire, maybe?

I wish the fire was bigger :P

Unique star-watching style

Day 2:

Second day was such an intense day including both indoor and outdoor activities namely packing up for the lunch in the forest, walking to bird-watching platform, cooking lunch in the forest, walking through the Suspension Bridge, digging the cat-hole in the pine tree zone, brainstorming ways to adapt with “Leave No Trace”’s principles, watching home-made drama and recalling forest etiquettes.

Day 3:

The last day of the camp was really short because the kids left at around 3pm. They woke up early in the morning and walked to the adjustment pond to watch birds with binoculars. Then, they made use of solar energy to boil eggs, etc. The most memorable part was the time when everyone looked back the past days’ actitivies through pictures. I think kids have really got out of something after taking part in this camp, not only the attitude and knowledge about nature, but also new friends from all over Taiwan. 

Stay tuned for more pictures...
All the best to everyone,
Flora.