Up the river; 31/03

March 31, 2024

Jon and Hisami (who run Feel Amamitours) picked us up from the hotel on Naze and drove us to the start of the walk.

We got in our wetsuits and started to walk upstream, occasionally swimming too to cool down as the sun was still out.

We saw an eel swimming in the river. They explained how because one side of the riverbank had been concreted in response to a flash flood several years ago, some wildlife such as the rabbits couldn’t cross easily or get to where they wanted to go.

There were several places where we jumped in the river, and about halfway up the concrete stopped.

Hisami San had brought us bento boxes which were delicious. We continuing walking to the final waterfall, which looked completely glorious.

We swam under the falls to sit behind it, the water cascading around our faces making a tremendous noise, it was really quite thrilling.

Jon and I climbed a to the ledge above, where there’s another waterfall. We were thinking of jumping down to the first pool, but the water wasn’t quite deep enough.

Heavy rain was forecast for later in the afternoon, so we started our way back to the car, this time swimming a bit more and letting the current push is downstream.

Jon and Hisami live in Katoku and are a core part of the campaign to preserve it. Jon grew up in France, and is a software developer by trade. He found Katoku on Google Earth in 2010 and noticed how rare it was in terms of not having artificial sea defences built, and visited, and then moved.

He explained that because the local council has paid for the concrete blocks, if they are not put in place, they have to return the money used for the concrete back to the central government of Japan, which is one of the reasons they are so keen to have the Katoku development happen. He showed on Google Earth where these blocks had been ‘hidden’ nearby.

E.G. Of huge tetrapods on the coast, taken a few days ago, apparently likely designated to be placed on a nearby island where they are building a US Army base

It was such a fun day. We explored a beautiful part of Amami, with the most amazing swimming ponds and waterfalls.

The weather going back to the ferry was similar to the weather we had coming over — heavy rain. Fortunately I think the dockworkers took pity on us standing with the bike in the rain waiting to board, that they let us on before the cars.

We will arrive in Kagoshima around 8am on April 1st.

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0