Ride to Banna Park

Photo Diary: 22nd Sep 2009. We're approaching the end of September and every morning the NHK weather forecasters have been talking about how temperatures have been dropping across Japan as we move from summer into autumn. Not so on Ishigaki island however where daytime temperatures are still hovering at around 32-33 degrees centigrade. With the exception of a few short sharp showers we've barely had any rain for about a month now and my recollection of what it feels like to be cold is rapidly fading. In fact, it occurred to me the other day that many of the islanders here have probably never felt cold in their entire lives.

 

When you live on an island like Ishigaki where the weather is beautiful most days and you've got incredible beaches on your doorstep it's quite easy to fall into the 'I'll do it tomorrow' mentality, where staying at home can somehow seem more attractive than going out and facing the punishing afternoon sun. I got caught in this trap a few weeks ago, but I managed to escape after completing the Japanese section of my site.

 

Today I decided to take a ride up to one of my favorite spots on the island, Banna park (or Banna Kouen, as it's known in Japanese). This is a huge park which is situated around the side of a mountain not far from the city. At around 8km the journey there by bike is pleasant, although to be honest I could do without the steep inclines.

 

My main reason for going today was to take pictures of insects, particularly butterflies. Banna park is known for its diverse butterfly population and I've found a spot situated in a zone called Forest Passeo which never disappoints when it comes to finding interesting species, some of which are easier to photograph than others.

 

It was actually a dragonfly which caught my eye today. For some reason this guy didn't seem phased by my macro lens being positioned about 10cm from its head as I snapped away. If anything I was probably more uncomfortable given the knowledge that I was standing in thigh-high weeds in an area known to be inhabited by habu snakes. Wearing shorts probably wasn't a fantastic idea either. 

 

The strangest thing about banna park is that very few people seem to go there, which is a shame as it's a great place for families to spend an afternoon. I spent around 2 hours taking photos today and the only thing to keep me company was the cacophony being produced by chirping insects and croaking toads.

 

After taking around 50 photos I got on my bike and road around to the other side of the mountain and began to make my way back home. I stopped to enjoy the view from the north-west side of banna park, with Mt.Omoto and both the northern and southern coasts being visible in the distance.

 

I finally saw some other human faces as I rode past the adventure playground. They've got some pretty coll stuff here, and to be honest, if nobody was around I'd probably be tempted to park the bike and have a quick climb around. Actually, I often do a few laps of the concrete BMX track on my mountain bike. Today I settled for a seat on a bench and a can of grape Fanta (I don't remember ever seeing this on sale in England).

 

Three hours after setting off I finally made my way down the long hill back to the city. This hill felt like the ultimate reward for all the uphill peddling which I'd done over the last few hours and the familiar view of the Ishigaki city approaching from the distance was a welcome sight.