Taiwan - Botany Expedition - Searching for Ferns, Bananas and Palms during autumn 2020

Arrive Taipei - International arrivals in Taipei land in Taoyuan airport which is 43 km from our hotel in Taipei City. There are regular buses to Taipei. I highly recommend arriving a day or so early to overcome any jet-lag you may have, but if you arrive on the day and if you arrive in the airport before 13:30 local time I can collect you from the airport as I pass through. The start time of the tour is 15:30 hours, meeting in the lobby of the hotel where we have brief introductions before taking a stroll through the Taipei Botanical Gardens before dusk when we will return for dinner.

Accommodation: Comfortable city hotel with breakfast.

Yangmingshan, then to Yilan lowland forest - We'll set off early in the morning after breakfast to drive up Yangmingshan. Yangmingshan is a small volcanic mountain north of Taipei approximately 805 meters above sea level and is famed for its smoking fumaroles, sulphur crystals, hot springs and spectacular landslide terrain formed by post-volcanic activity. We're here to look for Isoetes taiwanensis, Cyathea hancockii and Cyathea metteniana. We then drive down the southeast to Yilan where we stop for lunch before making wild camp in hammocks in lowland forest, which is a good location for seeing Taiwan serow, the newly discovered Yilan banana Musa itinerans var. kavalanensis and a huge number of low elevation ferns including treeferns Cyathea lepifera, Cyathea spinulosa and Cyathea podophylla. Other interesting plants include an enormous-leaved Tetrapanax papyrifer.

Accommodation: 1 night in hammocks in lowland forest.

Mountain driving with frequent stops then 2 nights at Dasyueshan - We will wake to the odd Taiwan serow walking through the forest. We have quite a long day's driving ahead. Not because it's a long way but because the road over the mountains is slow and winding. After we've made our own breakfasts we have time for a short walk before we set off. The first 74 km leg can be done in 2h 14 min., but we'll take longer due to frequent stopping to see what we can see. The next leg of the journey is a 2h dash down the freeway. Then the last leg is 36.3 km, 1h 15 min. (a good 2h for us), a tortuous ascent back up into the mountains to the Forest Recreation area of Dasyueshan at 2,250 m. Today, during the drive we will have seen the Arenga palm Arenga engleri and three more wild bananas Musa itinerans var. formosana, Musa itinerans var. chiumei and Musa itinerans var. chinensis. Now in the high and wet Dasyueshan forests we will be overwhelmed with the number of ferns to be seen.

Accommodation: 2 nights in a forest lodge.

Day of mountain driving then overnight at high elevation wilderness - The main cross-island road (Highway 8) across the centre of Taiwan is permanently closed due to earthquake damage which means we have a much longer detour to make via Nantou. So we have a choice this morning - stay in Dasyueshan for an hour or two to catch anything we may have missed or visit Sun Moon Lake in the very centre of Taiwan, or both! We will then proceed to drive over the central mountain spine of Taiwan at the Hehuan mountain pass, at 3275 m the highest road in East Asia. This is our first chance to look for high elevation alpine ferns.

The objective is to spend a night in the hammocks at high altitude in the forest during the descent on the other side of the pass before heading down to the east coast tomorrow.

Accommodation: 1 night in hammocks in highland forest.

A slow day of mountain descent and coastal driving - Today, after what would have been a chilly night on the mountain we drop down to the east coast through the awesome marble cliff scenery of the Taroko Gorge to the hot and humid coastal lowlands where we will focus on the quite different east coast flora. Mountain bananas and Arenga palms grow at much lower elevation on the east coast, and Woodwardia prolifera is widespread. We may have time to hike to see the rare and prehistoric Cycad trees (Cycas taitungensis), and we will have by now seen the climbing rattan palm Calamus formosanus.

Accommodation: 1 night in comfortable hotel.

Catch the flight for one night on Lanyu Island - Our next destination will offer a striking contrast to what we have seen so far, the flora of the island of Lanyu is that of the Philippines, the climate is tropical and the island's facilities are not so well developed. The island holds a series of special plants including Cyathea fenicis and the giant Angiopteris palmiformis ferns, but also the endemic Pinanga tashiroi palm and some interesting bananas. The 46 square kilometre island is 65 km east of the southern tip of Taiwan and about 110 km north of the Batan Islands of the Philippines. To get there requires a 20 minute flight on a small aircraft.

You now have a choice of what to do. Most people who visit Lanyu stay close to the small road that encircles the island. Most of my botany work over the last 10 years has been in the steep forested interior of the island and you now have the opportunity to hike in to the rain-forest with me and sleep in hammocks for one night or stay in a guest house if you can't manage the reasonably difficult hike. The group can divide into those who want to hike in and those that don't.

The main transport on the island is motor scooters, if you are able to ride one of these (they're not difficult) then bring along an international driving licence. It saves a lot of walking if some of us can ride and carry the others as pillion passengers. Like I said the hike into the jungle is steep and uncomfortable, I feel that anybody could do it if they are willing to push themselves a little. We have two choices of where I could take you in - the easier route is up to Tian-chi pond at about 300 m, the harder destination is to 552 m (the highest elevation on Lanyu) on Hong-tou mountain, where I can show you the orchids and the critically endangered Pinanga tashiroi palm tree endemic to the island and restricted at elevation.

Please note, bad weather or military manoeuvres in the area could cause cancellation of the Lanyu portion of the tour.

Accommodation: 1 night in hammocks or 1 night in simple guest houses.

Return to mainland and head south - After returning to the mainland we will head for the south of Taiwan at Kenting, where we can hopefully recover from our tropical island excursions.

Kenting is a popular Taiwan holiday destination. You might enjoy a stroll along the night market in the evening. Where we're staying is at the top of the hill in the botanical garden of the forestry research station. An interesting place to walk around. While in the far south we'll visit the southerly most point and see the wild date palm Phoenix loureiroi var. loureiroi.

Accommodation: 2 nights in comfortable chalets at the botany research station

Back into the southern, drier mountains - The place I want to take you today is seldom ever visited by anyone, the cloud-forest here is the only place in Taiwan that the rare tree-fern Cyathea loheri can be found. To get there (if the road's open) we'll travel up through the drier forests of the south with spectacular views on the way.

Accommodation: 1 night in hammocks.

Visit Yushan National Park, the highest elevation of the tour - We will now head to the Tataka Recreation Area in Yushan National Park for additional high mountain specialities. On the way to Yushan we'll make a couple of little detours and stops, first to a lowland mud-volcano to see what plants we'll find in the lowlands, then a short hike into the low mountains to see Calamus beccarii. Yushan National Park is known as 'the ridge of the roof of Taiwan'. From here we will be able to see Yushan Peak, also called Jade Mountain, which, at 3952 metres, is the highest mountain in East Asia.

Accommodation: 1 night in comfortable hotel.

Visit Xitou National Forest - This wet forest is home to a plethora of ferns, and also the area where the mountain banana Musa itinerans var. formosana occurs at its highest elevations in the conifer forests. Speciality ferns include Asplenium wilfordii, Colysis hemionitidea, Cyathea spinulosa, Cyathea podophylla, Angiopteris lygodifolia and many many more.

Accommodation: 1 night in comfortable forest lodge.

The last day of the tour, anything we can fit in before we depart - By late morning we will have to leave the high mountains and return to the lowlands and drive back north. We could visit the Taichung Botanical Gardens today. Depending on what time people have their flights out. Today we head back up to Taipei, passing Taoyuan airport on the way up. Some people might want to depart at this time. On return to Taipei the tour finally ends. Those who are staying in Taipei now depart. If anyone needs a lift to the airport I can drop them off as I pass by.