Getting lost in the Dawu Mountain Nature Reserve
Cosmic canyon in Taitung abounds with wildlife, artwork and the ghosts of expeditions past
By Gregory McCann / Contributing reporter
Well that wasn’t a particularly auspicious start.
The town of Dawu deep in southern Taitung County is not, it turns out, the gateway to Dawu Mountain (大武山) Nature Reserve. From their reaction, it seemed that nobody in this tiny collection of indigenous-styled wooden houses and its post office had ever heard of the mountain.
So I headed out of town on my rented scooter and followed a road that appeared to lead into the interior. Rice fields, power stations, pretty mountain roads and birds, but no Dawu Mountain.