By Devang Parikh, Exchange Student,
Univ. of Technology, Sydney, Australia
On Friday, October 5, exchange students Joseph, Ryan and I went to Shiretoko National Park for a weekend trip. Although the Autumn semester at Sapporo University had just started, the three of us decided that if we were to go later in the semester, the weather would be too cold for us to enjoy the hiking and sightseeing that we planned to do.
With this in mind, we caught a 11:15 p. m. bus from the bus terminal near Sapporo TV tower. We went by night bus, something I had never experienced before and although it was going to be a long ride, it saved us time in that we arrived first thing next morning, and also money as we did not need to sleep anywhere that night. We were all quite impressed by all the facilities provided to us in the night bus; a blanket, footrest, drink holders and amazingly, a comfortable seat that reclined enough for you to feel as if you were lying down in your own bed― well, almost.
At 6:30 a. m. we arrived at Utoro, a little town that is the gateway for Japanese people and tourists alike wanting to go to Shiretoko National Park. We caught a bus at 8:00 a. m. to go see a famous waterfall about a 10 minute bus ride from Utoro bus terminal. I did not think the waterfall was that great. Ugly fencing had been placed all around the top part of the waterfall, presumably to deter bears from entering, but it took away some of the charm of what was supposed to be one of the "eight must see sights" in Shiretoko. We decided to go back to Utoro bus terminal, however the returning bus was at 11:00 a. m. so we were in a bit of a mess. In the end, we spent about one hour and twenty minutes walking the 8 kms back to Utoro. It was a long walk, but there was some interesting scenery along the desolate coastline. There were no houses or shops. The only signs of life were the cars that passed as we walked along the highway.
Having arrived back at Utoro bus terminal, we then caught a bus to see the "Five Lakes," which is perhaps the most famous sight of Shiretoko National Park. Despite it being noon, there was an annoying fog that hung above the lakes. Luckily, after an hour or so it lifted and by the time we reached the second lake, we witnessed some breathtaking scenery. There was crystal clear water, an abundant number of fish and an amazing number of various plants, shrubs and reeds that I had never seen before. Unfortunately, the forth and fifth lakes were closed due to bear activity, so we ended up going to the Youth Hostel earlier than expected.
After having checked in and putting our luggage in our room, we went for a walk and while on the look out for bears, we were lucky to see deer on three or four occasions. One of these deer was a male with massive antlers that was walking along the road. It made for a great photo opportunity and we all thought we were lucky to have seen deer in the wild. It had been a long Saturday so we went back to the Youth Hostel and slept.
Sunday was to be a long and exhausting day. In the morning after missing the bus, we ended up hitchhiking twice to get to the start of the hiking trail. On both occasions, the people were very friendly. The hiking was very muddy as it had been raining the previous week and I bought a bear whistle to deter any bears that might have been nearby. We arrived at the place we had wanted to go to―a little lookout from where we could see a beautiful lake in the foreground and a huge mountain in the background. On either side there were hundreds of trees on the hills all in the middle of shedding their leaves for the autumn. It was just something to really feast your eyes on, and we took many photos.
After this, we went on a cruise that took us around most of Shiretoko peninsula and we were lucky to see a baby bear scavenging around the coastline for food. It was interesting to see an area of Japan such as Shiretoko―an area with hardly any human interference, with an abundance of nature with forests, bears and deer along with rugged scenery. It was the complete opposite of something you would find in Tokyo, Osaka or even Sapporo and we were all glad we went.