On our second day in Yakushima, we had organised a kayaking guide up the Anbo river. Following our emailed instructions, we met Akira at the Anbo bridge at 9 in the morning. After kitting out in our life jackets and some foot gear, we got into the kayaks and paddled upstream. The first part of the river was beautifully calm, the water clear and the rowing was easy. We went past some mini falls of water coming from the rock faces, and a small sandy river-beach. Halfway up, we started to go towards some small rapids and had to paddle quite hard to get past, at one point the water was pushing so strong it took almost 10 attempts to get the kayak through the rapid! I have never kayaked against the current before so it was difficult for me! We saw in the distance another group was not so lucky and could not get past the strong rapid. We sat smugly on the rocks drinking our tea and eating cake thinking how superior we were, until later in the car park we saw the group were middle aged to elderly women. Haha! The Japanese will always surprise me with how active their older generations are!
Our guide Akira was a lovely guy, and just like the rafting guides we met in Shikoku, we are completely envious of his life! To be healthy, fit, kayak and guide for your occupation and live on one of the most stunning locations on earth – what a dream! Funnily enough, he had also been to Melbourne just like the owner of our accommodation that night, and had a great grasp of English – such a small world.
Anbo River Yakushima
After our morning of kayaking, we decided to visit one of the walking trails for the rest of the afternoon. We picked Yakusugi land as it had a number of shorter trails. However, being the first time we witnessed the Yakushima forest, our walk ended up taking much longer than anticipated. The trails have time guides which are a little hard to follow as it is hard to know what to base your walking speed on – a hiking expert, someone with a good fitness level, someone unfit – or the slowest of the lot – me, a person who is absolutely in awe of moss covered trees and is armed with a camera. I could not walk two metres without stopping to take more photos. Every angle was amazing, every new step presented another incredibly beautiful scene. I was like a kid in a candy store and even though it rained the entire time we walked and took photos, (my poor camera) the whole walk was just magical. Saying that, it was raining which made it super hard for me to take photos so I wasn’t able to capture how gorgeous it all was, but all the more reason for you to go and experience it yourself.
Yakusugi Land Yakushima
The trails go past a number of cedars, including the 1800 years old Butsudasugi Cedar as well as the stumps and remains of tree sampling from Japan's fuedal clan era.
Yakusugi Land has 4 different walking courses, starting at 30 minutes long, then to 50 min, 80 min and 150 mins. The walking tracks are very easy with paved rock and raised wooden platform walkways, suspension bridges and signs/benches along the way. It is open from 9am - 5pm and entry is ¥300.
Yakusugi Land Yakushima
That night we drove around to see if we could find any restaurants, most seemed to be tucked away and quite intimidating to enter with no signage or prices so we went to a yakiniku restaurant on the main road of Anbo which looked inviting. Not a bad choice at all as our dinner was great. We could not read any of the menu so asked the girl to bring us a selection of her choice. We had to eat quickly as we were due at another side of the island at Nagata Inaka-hama beach to view the loggerhead turtles laying eggs!
Yakiniku Restaurant Yakushima
That morning we had asked Ryosaku of Morinokokage to book the turtle viewing tour for us. We had to drive to Nagata beach for a briefing at 8pm - I recommend you leave ample time to reach the beach, it will most probably be very dark and wet while driving there. We made it just in time for the briefing but unfortunately the entire thing was in Japanese of course! However they were obviously going through instructions on what we were going to see, and not to stray from the group/talk/touch/take photos etc. Once the briefing was over we grabbed our umbrellas and followed the rest of the group who made their way down the beach in a single file up to a large loggerhead turtle who had already dug her hole to start laying in. We stood there watching her lay eggs for what seemed like a very long time - during this the guides talked and talked and talked - no doubt telling everyone fascinating facts on the turtles, as we were unable to understand anything (besides Tamago = egg) we just stood and watched, a bit sad that we were missing so much interesting information! The fee was only ¥700 each so it is still definitely worth going to to witness these beautiful animals close up and contribute to the conservation efforts. Although I felt a little perverse watching such a private moment for the turtle, I was blown away by how big it was and how absolutely gorgeous its face was.
Activities
Kayaking: Spinnakers Kayaking
Web: http://yakushima-kayak.com/ (might need to use google translate)
Price: ¥8,000
Booking: spinnaker@yakushima-kayak.com
Yakusugi Land
Price: ¥300
Times: 9am - 5pm
Turtle-viewing: Nagata Turtle Council
Web: www.umigame-kan.org (might need to use google translate)
Price: ¥700
Booking: 090-8768-4281 - I would recommend getting your hotel to book this for you. You must book in advance.
Times: Laying season is May 15 - July 31.
Accommodation
Hotel: Morinokokage Cottage
Price: ¥10,500 - 5,250 per person for Type-C Room
Location: 891-4312 292-9, Funayuki, Yakushima-cyo, Kumage-gun, Kagoshima-ken
Additional: You can book bentos, bbq, breakfast and car hire through Morinokokage.
Web: http://www.morinokokage.net/english.html
Booking: We booked through via email oshirase@morinokokage.net.
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