Eluanbi Lighthouse

Eluanbi Lighthouse

Eluanbi Lighthouse is a cultural tourism attraction.

Eluanbi Lighthouse is located within Kenting National Park and serves as an important navigational reference point for night vessels in the southern waters of Taiwan. The lighthouse is entirely white and circular in shape, consisting of four levels with 15 iron steps per level. It stands 18 meters tall with a base circumference of 110 meters, towering like a giant on the coast. The light inside the tower flashes automatically every 10 seconds, with a range of up to 20 nautical miles. As the largest maritime lighthouse in the Far East, it is hailed as the "Light of East Asia." During the day, visitors can climb to the top of the lighthouse and gaze out at the vast blue expanse of the Pacific Ocean, Taiwan Strait, and Bashi Channel, where the sea and sky merge into one. On clear days, the Qixingyan (Seven Star Rocks), which lie isolated amid the waves at the southernmost tip of Taiwan, can be faintly seen, and occasionally whale pods can be spotted playing in the sea.

Measured from the high-tide mark to the center of the light, Eluanbi Lighthouse stands 56.4 meters tall. The white circular iron tower has five levels: the first level stores kerosene, the second houses a Gatling gun, the third serves as a rest area for foreigners, the fourth contains a forestry gun, and the fifth level holds the lighthouse light source. Originally, the Eluanbi Lighthouse used a gasoline-fueled incandescent lamp that emitted a brightness of 1,000 candlepower, which was amplified to 6,500 candlepower through a reflector, with a range of 10 nautical miles. After four modifications, today in 1998, a 1,500-candlepower bulb, when passed through a large rotating lens, produces a light intensity of 1.8 million candlepower, reaching a range of 27.2 nautical miles. It is currently the most powerful lighthouse in Taiwan in terms of light emission.