Kayoufeng Waterfall (卡悠峰瀑布 [Kǎyōufēng Pùbù]) or Neishi Waterfall (內獅瀑布 [Nèishī Pùbù])

Shizi / Fangshan / Kenting / Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taiwan

About Kayoufeng Waterfall (卡悠峰瀑布 [Kǎyōufēng Pùbù]) or Neishi Waterfall (內獅瀑布 [Nèishī Pùbù])


Hiking Distance: 1.1km round trip
Suggested Time: 45-60 minutes

Date first visited: 2016-10-29
Date last visited: 2016-10-29

Waterfall Latitude: 22.29719
Waterfall Longitude: 120.70034

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

The Kayoufeng Waterfall (卡悠峰瀑布 [Kǎyōufēng Pùbù]; I’ve also seen it spelled Keyoufeng) was probably my favorite waterfall of Southern Taiwan.

The waterfall was big as it was said to be 40m tall and fanning out to what appeared to be at least a width of 10m or greater.

Keyoufeng_Waterfall_109_10282016 - Kayoufeng Waterfall
Kayoufeng Waterfall

As you can see from the photo above, the people getting close to this waterfall were dwarfed, which further reinforces its size.

However, aside from its size, those people probably had the right idea given the hot and steamy climate of Southern Taiwan.

The Kayoufeng Waterfall really was a great place to cool off as it sent spray all over the place when we showed up at the end of an unusually warm October in 2016.

For that reason, it wasn’t surprising that this place was very busy and justifiably so!

This popularity also made for some interesting moments during the drive to get here, which I’ll get into later in the directions below.

Hiking to the Kayoufeng Waterfall

Keyoufeng_Waterfall_018_10282016 - Mom going up the many steps en route to the Kayoufeng Waterfall
Mom going up the many steps en route to the Kayoufeng Waterfall

From the car park, we hiked up a pretty well-made trail that went uphill and ascended quite a few steps along the way (said to gain about 70m in elevation).

According to the signage, the trail was 510m each way (or 1.1km round trip) taking about 30 minutes in each direction (or about an hour round trip).

The falls was said to be at an elevation of 260m above sea level.

While these distances seemed modest, it was the stifling heat and humidity that made this hike deceptively more tiring and sweaty than at first glance.

Keyoufeng_Waterfall_140_10282016 - Looking back down the valley from the hot and sweaty ascent up to the Kayoufeng Waterfall
Looking back down the valley from the hot and sweaty ascent up to the Kayoufeng Waterfall

The trail skirted the western banks of the gorge carved out by the Ashiwen Stream (阿士文溪 [Āshìwén Xī]).

As we went further up the trail, the views became even more scenic as we looked downstream back towards the valley.

The most dramatic part of the trail was towards the top of the climb when we ascended along some metal steps.

This was where we were able to see some intermediate cascades on the Ashiwen Stream while the views back down the valley kept getting better.

Keyoufeng_Waterfall_131_10282016 - Approaching the viewing platform as well as the base of the Kayoufeng Waterfall
Approaching the viewing platform as well as the base of the Kayoufeng Waterfall

The metal steps then skirted the ravine before rounding another bend as the gorge closed in.

With another 100m more or so to go, we started to see the Kayoufeng Waterfall up ahead.

Eventually, we’d reach the lookout area where there was a platform that we could climb up to for a more elevated look at the waterfall.

Down below, we also noticed the continuation of the trail leading right to the waterfall’s base.

Keyoufeng_Waterfall_068_10282016 - Mom cooling off as she approaches the base of the Kayoufeng Waterfall
Mom cooling off as she approaches the base of the Kayoufeng Waterfall

There was enough volume down there that the Kayoufeng Waterfall was throwing up a lot of mist when we were there, which made it a bit difficult to take photos the closer we went.

During our visit late morning visit at about 10:30am, the sun was coming in and out of the budding tropical clouds.

When the sun’s light did refract in the mist, we managed to see some faint rainbows off to the side.

Anyways, this was quite the popular spot, especially since we were here on a Sunday morning.

Keyoufeng_Waterfall_136_10282016 - Mom headed back after having had her fill of the Kayoufeng Waterfall. The views on the way back to the car park were incredible!
Mom headed back after having had her fill of the Kayoufeng Waterfall. The views on the way back to the car park were incredible!

So as more and more people were showing up as we had our fill of the falls, we returned to the suddenly busier car park.

Overall, we wound up spending a little over an hour away from the car so the signs were pretty spot on in terms of the time commitment here.

Authorities

The Kayoufeng Waterfall resides near the town of Fangshan in the Pingtung County, Taiwan. To my knowledge, it is not administered by an official governmental authority. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Taiwan Tourism Bureau website.

Keyoufeng_Waterfall_009_10282016 - Right off the bat, the Kayoufeng Waterfall Trail started climbing, which made for an already sweaty hike in the steamy Southern Taiwan climate
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_016_10282016 - Mom trying to keep the sun out of her head while making this sweaty climb to the Kayoufeng Waterfall
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_026_10282016 - The higher up the trail we went, the more of the Kayoufeng Waterfall's stream we could see amidst its jumble of giant boulders
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_029_10282016 - Looking back at the valley as we were in perhaps the most scenic part of the Kayoufeng Falls Trail
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_032_10282016 - Approaching a bend as the gorge was closing in near the top of the climb to the Kayoufeng Waterfall
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_035_10282016 - Finally starting to see the impressive Kayoufeng Waterfall up ahead after all that climbing
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_036_10282016 - This signpost on the approach to the Kayoufeng Waterfall indicated that we had just walked about 400m to get to this point
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_043_10282016 - Getting closer to the Kayoufeng Waterfall
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_055_10282016 - Finally at the impressive Kayoufeng Waterfall
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_065_10282016 - Mom cooling off as she approaches the base of the Kayoufeng Waterfall
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_083_10282016 - Other folks following Mom's lead and going right into the mist to get as close to the Kayoufeng Falls as they could
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_084_10282016 - This person probably went as close to the Kayoufeng Waterfall as any other person we saw during our October 2016 visit
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_098_10282016 - Looking back down from the Kayoufeng Waterfall viewing platform at the viewing area where an increasing number of visitors were gathering on the Sunday morning we were here
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_101_10282016 - Context of people checking out the Kayoufeng Waterfall as seen from the viewing platform
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_105_10282016 - I noticed a faint rainbow starting to show up on the lower left of the misty generated by the Kayoufeng Waterfall whenever the sun started to show itself from the tropical clouds
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_113_10282016 - Context of Mom checking out the Kayoufeng Waterfall from the lookout platform
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_126_10282016 - At attempt at a long exposure shot of the Kayoufeng Waterfall when the clouds momentarily covered up the intense tropical sun
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_133_10282016 - After having our fill of the Kayoufeng Waterfall, Mom heading back down towards the trailhead
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_144_10282016 - The nice thing about the return hike from the Kayoufeng Waterfall was being able to enjoy the views all over again
Keyoufeng_Waterfall_150_10282016 - We noticed this interesting butterfly while making our return hike down from the Kayoufeng Waterfall


The Kayoufeng Waterfall was between the town of Kenting (墾丁 [Kěndīng]; at the southern tip of Taiwan) and the city of Kaohsiung (高雄 [Gāoxióng]), which was like the capital of Southern Taiwan.

The closest town was the Fangshan Township (枋山鄉 [Fāngshān Xiāng]) though the falls was technically in the Shizi Township (獅子鄉 [Shīzǐ Xiāng]).

Since we made the drive up here from Kenting, I’ll describe that route first.

Then, I’ll discuss how we would have driven south from Kaohsiung via Pingtung (屏東 [Píngdōng]).

Driving from Kenting to Kayoufeng Waterfall

So from Kenting, we drove north on the Tai-26 highway for about 34km.

Then, we kept left to continue north on the Tai-1 highway.

We continued driving for about the next 9km to the first turnoff (Guozhong Road or 國中路 [Guózhōng Lù]) on the north side of the Fangshan River (枋山溪 [Fāngshān Xī]).

There was a traffic light here.

I didn’t recall the signage for this turnoff was obvious so just keep in mind these landmarks so as to not miss this turn.

That said, we did notice a small and easy-to-miss sign for Kayoufeng Waterfall in Chinese when we were waiting at the stoplight on the way out.

Next, we followed the Guozhong Road for about 4km as it skirted the Fangshan River’s northern banks.

This road might be flood prone during a typhoon or heavy downpour as we saw evidence of water damage on parts of this road.

Then, we noticed there was a signpost for the Kayoufeng Waterfall at a turnoff to the left.

Taking this turnoff, we then followed along a narrower road (mostly single-lane) for nearly the remaining 4km to its end.

Keyoufeng_Waterfall_003_10282016 - Arriving at the car park for the Kayoufeng Waterfall
Arriving at the car park for the Kayoufeng Waterfall

That was where we arrived at the car park for the Kayoufeng Waterfall.

Given how narrow and dicey this final stretch of road was, we had to be real cognizant of blind turns, especially given how much traffic in both directions was on this road.

We definitely paid attention to those circular mirrors at these blind turns.

Speaking of the traffic, the single-lane road was narrow enough to create a lot of awkward passes as vehicles going in opposite directions had to really squeeze past each other with hardly any pullouts or shoulders to make this pass easier.

Anyways, this drive took us a little over an hour to cover this 50km drive.

Driving from Kaohsiung to Kayoufeng Waterfall

If we were coming from Kaohsiung, we would take the Tai-88 Expressway east to the Tai-3 Expressway in Pingtung County.

Then, we’d drive south on the Tai-3 Expressway before getting off at the 187.

Then shortly after driving east on the Route 187, we’d then turn right and drive south on the Tai-1 highway for the next 30km eventually reaching the town of Fangshan.

We’d then turn left onto the narrow Guozhong Road (before Tai-1 would cross the Fangshan River).

Keyoufeng_Waterfall_155_10282016 - The car park for the Kayoufeng Waterfall when it seemed to be busier than when we first showed up
The car park for the Kayoufeng Waterfall when it seemed to be busier than when we first showed up

Finally, we’d follow the directions as above to reach the car park.

This drive would take at least 90 minutes.

Finally, for some geographical context, the Fangshan Township was about 68km south of Kaohsiung or 56km south of Pingtung City (both about an hour’s drive), 45km north of Kenting (under an hour’s drive), and 103km southwest of Taitung (about 2 hours drive). Kaohsiung was 362km from Taipei (over 3.5 hours drive or over 2.5 hours by train) and 111km north of Kenting (under 2 hours drive).

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Checking out the falls first from a lookout deck before descending closer to its base where the mist got all over the lens

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Tagged with: shizi, fangshan, kenting, kending, kaohsiung, gaoxiong, pingtung, county, southern taiwan, taiwan, waterfall, swimming



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