Taiwan’s Taroko Gorge is one of Asia’s Scenic Wonders

Towering marble cliffs – formed millions of years ago – soar up to 3,000 feet along Taiwan’s Taroko Gorge. One of Asia’s natural wonders and the most popular scenic attraction on this island nation, the gorge – with the Liwu River rushing through it – continues for about 12 miles through deep canyons with lush vegetation, hiking trails and an extensive variety of animal and plant life. Taroko, or tailuge in the Ami dialect, means “beautiful” and the Taroko National Park, in the central East Coast area, certainly offers the visitor some spectacular vistas along with 27 of the island’s highest peaks.

A Ming Dynasty-style arch marks the entrance to Taroko Gorge. Only two miles down the road, the Eternal Spring Shrine sits high on a cliff commemorating the hundreds who lost their lives building the Central Cross-Island Highway from 1956 to 1960. A plume of water flows from under the shrine down the cliff face. Behind the shrine stone steps lead up to Guanyin Cave and Changuang Temple. The highway twists and turns for miles with various stops along the way. Home to the Atayal people, the area, now the Puluowan Recreation Area, offers a number of hiking trails for active travelers. Some of the most dramatic scenery can be found in the Swallows’ Grotto of this “marble valley.”

A gigantic grotto of karst, it has towering cliffs frequented by thousands of swallows depending on the season. A little further on, visitors can stroll for about a mile through a remarkable feat of engineering, the “Tunnel of Nine Turns” Trail – a road of short tunnels and overhanging rock carved out of the marble cliffs. The stone walls of the valley stand so close, they only allow a few rays of sunlight to filter down to the floor of the gorge. Waterfalls cascade off the cliffs and trees cling to the vertical surfaces. The scene could come from a Chinese brush painting. A suspension bridge guarded by two stone lions with a pagoda perched on a nearby hill is the last stop before Tienhsiang.

December 1, 2005   Posted in: Taiwan