Wild Taiwan. Be a True Wilderness Explorer in Hualien

Text & Photography / Li Xinyi

“Are you an indigenous person?” When asked this question in Taiwan, who can claim they have absolutely no indigenous blood? Taiwan’s indigenous peoples are divided into mountain and plains indigenous peoples. Broadly speaking, the plains indigenous peoples are the Pingpu tribes, which had assimilated with Han Chinese long ago. Some even suggest that over 80% of Taiwanese people have Pingpu ancestry. Regardless of the statistics, the desire to seek out pristine nature and roam the wild remains unchanged.

As Taiwan’s last stretch of untouched coastline — the Alangyi Ancient Trail — faces the threat of disappearing, there is a group in Hualien who preserve the original indigenous way of life, knowing how to live humbly in the mountains and forests and learn wisdom from their ancestors. On this trip, we drove to Hualien to explore Wild Taiwan — snorkeling, cliff diving, becoming hunters, and immersing ourselves in a truly primal coastal lifestyle.