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Showing posts with label Wetland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wetland. Show all posts

Saturday, November 02, 2013

Lake Toro (塘路湖)

As my tour guests asked me to drop by somewhere beautiful on the way back to Kushiro,  I chose Lake Toro (塘路湖).

Now is the best season to see autumnal leaves around here!

 We enjoyed trekking around the lake for a while.......

How beautiful and peaceful the lake is!!

Actually I sometimes come here during the summer time, because this lake is a famous spot for...............

canoeing!! I really love outdoor sports very much!

We were so excited to encounter wild animals such as red foxes......

■Where is Lake Toro (塘路湖)?


View Larger Map

■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?
I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Friday, May 04, 2012

Miyajima-numa (宮島沼)| Wetland Designated under Ramsar Convention | Bibai

"Miyajima-numa (宮島沼)" is a wetland designated under Ramsar Convention. We visited here today to see white-fronted geese flying off the wetland!
First, we dropped by the visitor center, and learned the number of the waterfowls!

The number of white-fronted geese reduced to almost nearly half compared to the one at its peak! According to the field news today, they flew off the wetland at 4:40 a.m. just after the sunrise, and returned here between 17:00 and 18:30.

Let's go to "Miyajima-numa (宮島沼)", which is the largest and northernmost wetland for their temporary residence!

They fly off their residence all together very early in the morning! How beautiful they are! Actually during the season, a lot of professional and amateur photographers come here at around 4:00 in the morning to take pictures of their morning takeoff.

In the evening, they returned to this wetland little by little............

I love this V-shape formation in the sky!!! Beautiful!

■Where is "Miyajima-numa (宮島沼)"?

View Larger Map


■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?
I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Kiritappu Wetland Center (霧多布湿原センター)| Visitor Center & Cafe | Hamanaka

The Kiritappu Wetland is a mire with an area of 3,168ha, located in Hamanaka town in the eastern part of Hokkaido.

It is the third largest wetland in Japan and was designated as a site of international importance under the Ramsar convention in 1993.

Today, I'll show your its visitor center↓

Look at the real kelp seaweed hanging from the ceiling! It's longer than what I imagined. Interesting! The quality of the local kelp is very high and it is one of the popular souvenirs in this town.

 The center has a shop which sells local products.

If you are interested in the history of the wetland, how about the profile of earth layer?

We can learn red-crested cranes in and out of this facility.

The sofa is as big as the nest of the crane! What a great idea to learn the size of it!

When we go out to the deck, we can enjoy Kiritappu wetland!

Look at the uninhabited island, named Kenbokki Island. We landed the island last year through an eco-tour organized by Kiritappu Wetland Trust (NPO).

There are a lot of red-crested cranes around here and

we can observe the birds nearby.

 How beautiful they are!!!

On the second floor of the facility, there are a lot of items we can play with. For example, this is a unique height scale, with which we can compare our height to wildlife's height.

The play equipment was created by local fishermen! Wow! Wow! Wow! How skillful they are!

 There is a cafe on the 3rd floor.

and we can enjoy local food! As we ate with the center staff and our staff members altogether, we ordered all of the dishes at the cafe! Hahaha!

Yachimanako chowder
They use a lot of local milk produced Komatsu ranch and Takanashi butter in the bread baked by "Kona no Mi (粉の実)", a famous bakery in this town.
(*Takanashi Dairy Co. is one of the sponsors for the wetland)

Yummy x 2!!!


■Hamanaka Beef curry
Hamanaka is famous for its seafood as well as its beef! Is the town the heaven???

■Sunset curry (seafood curry)
I don't have to explain about it! Of course the local seafood goes well with curry!!!

■Pizza toast with venison salami
Iwamatsu Farm, a local vendor, specializes the local venison. Their meat products such as salami as well as raw venison are very popular around this area!
If you are interested in deer hunting, they serve deer hunting guide service, too.

■Rice with "rich" butter and local soy sauce
Collaboration between Hokkaido rice, Takanashi rich butter, and special kelp seaweed soy sauce is very recommendable. This is very simple, but we can enjoy each high-quality ingredient fully!

■Kelp toast
Local kelp and rich butter are on the toast! The local kelp has a lot of umami. As I really love it, I made kelp toast at home after this business trip!

■Honey toast with Häagen-Dazs
Do you know that milk in ice cream of Haagen-Dazs Japan is 100% from this town, Hamanaka? That's why the bread is topped with large amount of Haagen-Dazs ice cream!! Honey is produced in Hokkaido! The bread is baked by "Kona no Mi (粉の実)" in the town. We can enjoy very local ingredients with this dessert!

We ate a lot................

■Kiritappu Wetland Information■
Please refer to my previous posts!
*Genaral information on Kiritappu Wetland→click here!
*Inn Yorimichi→click here!
*Okubiwase Wild Bird Park→click here!

■Where is "Kiritappu Wetland Center (霧多布湿原センター)"?

View Larger Map


■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?
I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Okubiwase Wild Bird Park (奥琵琶瀬野鳥公園) | Kiritappu Wetland | Hamanaka

Are you interested in bird watching? If so, I recommend "Okubiwase Wild Bird Park (奥琵琶瀬野鳥公園). This is a wonderful spot to observe wild birds.

Depending on the season, we can enjoy a lot of kinds of wild birds coming to Kiritappu wetland.

It is located near a river and has different scenery from the one from other observation decks in this area.

We can enjoy red-crested cranes,

gray herons,

black-faced buntings, stonechats, goosanders................. to name a few!!! 

This area was successfully purchased recently by Kiritappu Wetland Trust, an authorized specified non profit organization, with the cooperation of Seven Eleven Japan Green Foundation, in order to protect wild birds.

If you have time, please drop by the office of Kiritappu Wetland Trust.

It provides information on the wetland to visitors. If you are hungry, why don't you eat something delicious at the cafe at the same facility!!!

I recommend rice ball with fresh sea urchin! Yummy x 2!!! The sales at the cafe and souvenir corner is used for the wetland conservation program.

If you are interested in their activities and the wetland itself, please refer to my previous post→click here!!!

Kiritappu wetland is a very very beautiful wetland in Hokkaido. Why don't you visit here when you come to eastern part of Hokkaido.


■Kiritappu Wetland Information■
Please refer to my previous posts!
*Genaral information on Kiritappu Wetland→click here!
*Inn Yorimichi→click here!
*Kiritappu Wetland Center (visitor center)→click here!

■Where is "Okubiwase Wild Bird Park (奥琵琶瀬野鳥公園)"?


■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?
I'll guide you! Plz click here!

Sunday, November 06, 2011

Hosooka Visitors Lounge & Observatory (細岡ビジターズラウンジ・展望台)| Kushiro Wetland

Kushiro wetland was designated as a Ramsar wetland site in 1980, for the first time in Japan, and we can enjoy wildlife including red-crested cranes in the site!

I've joined the eco-tour in the area, and will show you a wonderful experience today! First, we entered the forest on the hill.

We've found a seashells!!! 5,000 years ago, the site was near the coastline and we've observed shell mounts and pit dwelling sites constructed in Jomon Era!

The guide asked us whether we know the way to measure trees' age without cutting it........... Actually I didn't know that. The only way to measure the age that I knew was to cut trees in order to count the number of annual growth rings................

Look at this tool↓ We can get a tiny a sample of trees!!

This is the actual sample↓It is as small as "Pocky", but big enough to count the rings! How amazing it is!!

Then we went to Hosooka Observatory.

How huge the wetland is!!! It is the largest wetland in Japan (19,357ha). It is a Ramsar wetland as well as a national park in Japan.

We've found red-crested cranes in the site!

How beautiful they are!

Just for reference..................
This is the pic taken in the summer time↓

Tourist trains very slowly run across the wetland and we can enjoy the site nearby!

This is the pic taken in the winter time↓

We can enjoy the contrast between the black & red parts of cranes and very very white snow!!

Well, well, well, after observing the nature, we visited Hosooka Visitors Lounge.

A lot of red squirrels are running around this area!

How cute they are!!!

I was so excited to see wild squirrels nearby!

I really felt we were in the place blessed with nature!

Let's enter the lounge! We can learn the ecosystem, get information, buy souvenirs, and take a rest here. I really recommend to come here to keep you worm especially in the winter time! They serve hot coffee and you can drink it in the warm space!

Do you want to create something special? How about wood-carving? This Hokkaido-shaped wood board is a postcard and you can carve anything on it!

The director of this lounge showed us how to carve it..........

and we tried in the same way, but............... Hahaha! Anyway this is a good memory for us!!!

Last but not least, we enjoyed wild vine soft ice cream here!! Yummy x 2!!!

■Where is "Hosooka Visitors Lounge & Observatory (細岡ビジターズラウンジ・展望台)"?

View Larger Map


■Tour guide information■
Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?
I'll guide you! Plz click here!