Shiretoko National Park (知床国立公園) covers most of the Shiretoko Peninsula at the northeastern tip of the island of Hokkaidō, Japan. The word "Shiretoko" is derived form an Ainu word "sir etok", meaning "end of the Earth".
One of the most remote regions in all of Japan, much of the peninsula is only accessible on foot or by boat. The park is best known as the home of Japan's largest brown bear population. The park has a hot springs waterfall called Kamuiwakka Falls (カムイワッカの滝). Kamui wakka means "water of the gods" in Ainu.
The forests of the park are temperate and subalpine mixed forests; the main tree species include Sakhalin fir (Abies sachalinensis), Erman's birch (Betula ermanii), Mongolian oak (Quercus mongolica) with Siberian Dwarf Pine (Pinus pumila) thickets.
In 2005, UNESCO designated the area a World Heritage Site. It also advised that Japan should jointly manage the environmental regulations together with Russia, in effect creating a "transborder" park. This is because the waters adjoin and include Kunashiri, one of the 4 Kurile islands invaded 2 weeks after WWII by the former Soviet Union and part of an on-going dispute.
One of the most remote regions in all of Japan, much of the peninsula is only accessible on foot or by boat. The park is best known as the home of Japan's largest brown bear population. The park has a hot springs waterfall called Kamuiwakka Falls (カムイワッカの滝). Kamui wakka means "water of the gods" in Ainu.
The forests of the park are temperate and subalpine mixed forests; the main tree species include Sakhalin fir (Abies sachalinensis), Erman's birch (Betula ermanii), Mongolian oak (Quercus mongolica) with Siberian Dwarf Pine (Pinus pumila) thickets.
In 2005, UNESCO designated the area a World Heritage Site. It also advised that Japan should jointly manage the environmental regulations together with Russia, in effect creating a "transborder" park. This is because the waters adjoin and include Kunashiri, one of the 4 Kurile islands invaded 2 weeks after WWII by the former Soviet Union and part of an on-going dispute.
Community Trips
This was part of my first (and so far only) guided photography tour. This was close to the last location we stopped at in our winter tour of eastern Hokkaido. When we were about to pull into the empty parking lot just after sunrise our leader spotted a fox walking down the middle of the road in front of us. I still had all my gear packed up from the night before,...
