The Ecological Park and Wetland
Restored 2000s
On the far side of the lake the lawns give way to something wilder: dense thickets of native trees, reed beds along the shore, and a boardwalk that threads through them so that you can walk without disturbing the birds. Egrets stand in the shallows, night herons roost in the branches, and in the wet season you may see kingfishers and the occasional turtle sunning itself on a log. This is the ecological park, the part of Neiweipi where the city chose to restore the original wetland rather than to landscape it, and it is one of the few places inside Kaohsiung where you can hear frogs.
The restoration followed a simple principle: plant what grew here before, shape the shore so that water levels can rise and fall, and let the animals return by themselves. Look at the trees, which are mostly local species such as banyan, Formosan ash and the flowering trees that colour the park in spring, and at the way the paths are kept to the edges. Signboards along the boardwalk identify the plants and the birds you are likely to see. The museum describes the result as a living ecological system, and it has been used by schools as an outdoor classroom since it opened.
The ecological park is quietest early in the morning, when the birds feed, and it is worth carrying binoculars if you have them. It is also the connection between art and landscape that the museum has built its identity on: several of the outdoor sculptures stand at the edge of the wetland, and the museum's exhibitions on Austronesian and environmental themes often begin with the view from here.
Did You Know? The wetland was replanted with native species and left to recolonise on its own, and egrets and night herons now nest within sight of the galleries.
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