The Dapeng Bay was listed as the fourth “national scenic area” of Taiwan by the Tourism Administration under the Ministry of Transport and Communications in 1992. In November of that year, the MOTC made an announcement about its actual land coverage and the services to offer. In November 1993, the Dapeng Bay National Scenic Area was officially inaugurated. Since then, the area’s administration office has held many a tourist and leisure activities, natural and ecological tours, and environmental education events.
The Dapeng Bay National Scenic Area is located in subtropical southern Taiwan, right at the border between Donggang and Linbian Townships in Pingtung County. Warm and pleasant all year round, it is suitable for holding water activities, biking tours and tourist events. The area is especially famous for its lagoon landscape. The mangrove forests here host diverse wildlife, including fiddler crabs. Today, it is even equipped with a recreational yacht port, in addition to tourist and educational facilities. The Dapeng Bay is a great place for all. No matter you are an ocean lover, cultural geek or environmentalist, the bay has something for you. Modern and inspiring, the Dapeng Bay National Scenic Area is sure to fulfill your dreams.
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Why wetlands are important
For a long time, wetlands were taken as petty, useless areas around the world. They were even used for dumping trash. But nowadays, people have come to realize their values. They can modulate water intake, stabilize the Coastal ecological system, and serve as habitats for animals and plants. Guided tours may be held at wetlands to promote environmental restoration, too.
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Dapeng Bay
Name
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Area
(hectare)
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Volume
(CMD)
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How it works
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Datan Wetland
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6.0
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5,961
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Purifies polluted water on sunny days
Discharges floods on rainy days
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Pengcun Wetland
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10.0
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9,293
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Purifies polluted water
Serves as an ecological tourist spot
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Right Bank Wetland(Youan)
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8.3
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10,867
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Purifies polluted water
Serves as a natural habitat
Preserves the nature
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Left Bank Wetland(Zhuoan)
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8.3
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6,782
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Purifies polluted water on sunny days
Discharges floods on rainy days
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Cifong Wetland
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9.5
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9,158
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Purifies polluted water on sunny days
Discharges floods on rainy days
Preserves the nature
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Mangrove Wetland(Hongshulin)
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13.5
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This natural wetland is precious in its own right
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Mangrove Wetland
This wetland covers 13.5 hectares of land and is situated west of the Dapeng Bay. Mangrove recovery is much emphasized here. In fact, it is with the recovered mangroves that much water has been purified here. The Mangrove Wetland is right next to the Dapeng Bay Bridge. In other words, it strides across a river mouth and a lagoon and therefore includes both types of ecology. This is a relatively new constructed wetland, but it has lots of potential. In days to come, it shall be able to serve as an ecological tourist spot for its high level of biodiversity.
Birds
The most commonly seen species, among others, are Chinese Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis), Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus), Yellow-bellied Prinia (Prinia flaviventris), Tawny Prinia (Prinia subflava), Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), Great Egret (Ardea alba), and Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea).
Plants
Other than lush mangroves, blinding tree, Indian almond, seaside clerodendrum, downy sophora, fragrant pittosporum, Cuban bast, swamp gelonium, sea mango, and simpleleaf shrub also grow here.
Other species
As many as eight of the 11 kinds of fiddler crab are have been found here.
Bowed fiddler crab, milky fiddler crab, orange fiddler crab, triangular fiddler crab, and Dussumier''s fiddler crab are among the most common ones. As a Chinese saying goes, it is no use finding fish on a tree. But you can well break that saying by finding small mudskippers on land. You can also find butcher land crabs, nicknamed as “the big silly dogs” by the locals, building their burrows at high tides. Finally, there are crab-eating frogs only found in this part of the country. The Mangrove Wetland’s ecology is simply amazing.
Datan Wetland
Datan Wetland is at the northeast of the Dapeng Bay and near Provincial Highway 17. Because it is located at a rather low-lying area, an ecological detention pond is set to work with its wastewater treatment system. The Datan Wetland serves as an ecological detention basin during the rainy season. At other times, it treats household and aquaculture wastewater.
The wetland covers six hectares of land. There is respectively one inlet on its east and west end, a sedimentation tank, a sub-surface flow filter using gravel stones, a mangrove swamp, a shallow-water ecological area, an ecological island area, a deep-water area, and a main outlet.
Birds
Black-winged stilt, Chinese little bittern, cinnamon bittern, little egret, grey heron, little ringed plover, Kentish plover, and wood sandpiper.
Plants
Black mangrove, white-flowered mangrove, red mangrove, blinding tree, and kandelia (kandelia obovata) grow in the shallow waters of this wetland. The photosynthesis-induced biofilm creates a friendly living environment for decomposers in a food chain like algae, fungus and microorganisms, which then decompose bad ingredients in water like ammonia, nitrogen andphosphorous. Along the embankment, Palaquium formosanum Hayata, Indian almond, Cuban bast, poonga-oil tree, large-leaf banyan, mango, Alexandrian laurel, silvery messerschmidia, macaranga, and sea lettuce are common.
Pengcun Wetland
Before this 10-hectare land is turned into a wetland, it used to be a police head quarter farm during the Japanese Rule. The Pengcun Wetland is located on the border of Linbian and Donggang Townships. Water from Nanpupi is purified by the nature here before being discharged into the Dapeng Bay Lagoon. It is equipped with surface-flow detention ponds of various depths. Such is good for strengthening biodiversity.
The wetland can be divided into a water zone and a land zone:
The water zone:The water zone contains two wetlands with different functions. The northern wetland is set for leisure purposes. It is composed of three deepwater ponds, one shallow water pond, an effluent pond, and some drains. The southern wetland is set for wastewater treatment. It is composed of a water-intake channel, a regulating pond, a gravel filter pond, a vegetated filter strip, a deepwater pond, and a swamp.
The land zone:This zone covers 4.62 hectares of land. There is a visitor center and a self-guided trail open to all. Along the trail, explanatory texts on the natural surroundings and leisure spaces are set. There is also a 600-meter restricted trail only open to researchers and wetland management staff.
Birds
This zone covers 4.62 hectares of land. There is a visitor center and a self-guided trail open to all. Along the trail, explanatory texts on the natural surroundings and leisure spaces are set. There is also a 600-meter restricted trail only open to researchers and wetland management staff.
Plants
Pengcun has the most diverse plants of all the wetlands in Dapeng Bay. Some of the common plants are: black mangrove, white-flowered mangrove, kandelia (kandelia obovata), blinding tree, seaside clerodendrum, headache tree, Cuban bast, compact glossy privet, and Christmas berry tree. Because this is a former military area, it is also easy to find lush old banyan trees that look like giant umbrellas, as well as coconut, mango and beef wood trees.
Right Bank Wetland (Youan Wetland)
The Youan Wetland is located on the east of the Dapeng Bay and the right of the Linbian Drain. This eight-hectare constructed wetland is divided into two sections to treat wastewater from the New Datan Drain, Datan Highland, and New Nanpupi, and to be used for wastewater treatment and recover wetland ecology. It purifies water, accommodates animals and plants, and provides scenic views all at once.
Birds
Little egret, great egret, intermediate egret, grey heron, cattle egret, whimbrel, and pacific golden plover.
Plants
The Youan Wetland sets a wonderful example for all other wetlands in the Dapeng Bay in terms of water purification. There is a hiking trail with lush black mangroves on both sides. There are also round-leaf banyan, seaside clerodendrum, Cuban bast, rose wood and sea lettuce that can indicate the status of a wetland.
Left Bank Wetland (Zhuoan Wetland)
The Zhuoan Wetland is located on the east of the Dapeng Bay and the left of the Linbian Drain. This eight-hectare constructed wetland mainly deals with wastewater from the Linbian Drain. All wastewater enters the wetland with natural turbidity currents before being discharged into the Cifong Wetland.
Birds
The most common birds here are great egret, little egret, and cattle egret. Great reed warblers can be found in the mangrove zones. Migratory birds like ruby-throat, daurian redstart, shrike also spend their wintertime here. Every April, numerous great crested-terns would make a stop here, resulting in a magnificent scene. Over the past years, bean geese and black-faced spoonbills have appeared.
Plants
The Zhuoan Wetland has only been recently constructed. There is a scenic pavilion where you can overlook the surroundings and ride bicycles. Black mangrove, blinding tree, seaside clerodendrum, Cuban bast and sea lettuce can be found here.
Cifong Wetland
The Cifong Wetland covers 9.5 hectares of land. It is located at the southeast of the Dapeng Bay and beside the Cifong Community. Water from the Zhuoan Wetland would flow into to this area through the Linbian Drain from the north before being discharged into the Dapeng Bay. The Cifong Wetland serves as an ecological detention basin during the rainy season. At other times, it treats household and aquaculture wastewater.
The first half of the wetland is used for wastewater treatment. It is equipped with a sedimentation tank, a sub-surface flow filter, and a mangrove swamp. The second half of the wetland provides leisure scenic area, ecology protection area, and mangrove recovery area.
Birds
The first half of the wetland is used for wastewater treatment. It is equipped with a sedimentation tank, a sub-surface flow filter, and a mangrove swamp. The second half of the wetland provides leisure scenic area, ecology protection area, and mangrove recovery area.
Plants
The Cifong Wetland has only been recently constructed. There is a scenic pavilion where you can overlook the surroundings. The common plants of this wetland are: black mangrove, blinding tree, seaside clerodendrum, Cuban bast, and sea lettuce.