Site Report: Yanbaru Natonal Park

Visits

• 2024-02-22: We drove from Naha making some stops on the way. There is some famous blue cave for snorkeling, and we found the place and rented wet suits. As soon as we got the suits on, the wind shifted, and the location was shut down. We were able to snorkel a bit on the other side of the rock which was fine but it was beginner swimming spot. Then we drove over to the Hiji waterfall only to find out that site closes at 3PM. Finally, we made it to the hotel and walked around next to there for awhile. I was walking on the road where I nearly stepped on a Habu. It hissed at me and then quickly slithered off into the forest. They said it was the "Lesser Habu" which I could not find online, of course.
• 2024-02-23: We met with a local guide to start out the morning. While I waited for him to arrive, there was an Okinawa Rail next to the parking lot at the hotel. Then the guide arrived, and he took us to a place to see the rails. We drove around to a few places, but nothing much was cooperating. He dropped us off early, so we decided to try out the Hiji Falls again. This time, they were open, and we walked into the falls next to the river. After spending a lot of time trying to get a good view of the Okinawa Robin, I was surprised to see one at eye level next to where we were walking. The last bird to find would be the Okinawa Woodpecker. We heard it a couple of times in the morning, but we were not finding it. There are some crazy backroads in the forest, and we ended up driving around who-knows-where in the forest. It was raining, and I was starting to think that we were driving around in circles. The GPS was not working, either. Eventually we found our way to the main road where we were promptly nearly head-on crashed by someone passing a slow truck. In the late afternoon, we explored some mangroves near the hotel. I don't think a lot of tourists make it to that place. We met the guide again for a night drive. He was still keen on seeing more rails, but by this time we had seen a bunch of them. The drive was good, the forest here is full of owls.

Species Seen

Lifelists

• Asia
• World

Trips

• Japan