Yakushima---Day Two

Today we rented a car and drove the perimeter of the island. 75% of the island is covered with thickly forested mountains. Yakushima's towering mountains catch all the inbound rainclouds, giving it one of Japan's wettest climates. It is said to rain here 35 days a month.

There were plenty of macaque monkeys along the roadside grooming themselves.




We drove up a mountain pass to Yakusugi Land and hiked in the millennia-old cedar forest. We saw this shika (Japanese deer) along the way.



There we saw Buddha-sugi, an 1,800 year old cedar.

Afterwards we hiked to Ohko-no-taki waterfall, over 80 meters high.

Much of the road was single-lane and perched atop a cliff. We had to stop many times due to the monkeys and deer lounging on the road. They seem to have a nice relationship. The monkeys swing above in the forest canopy drinking the nectar from camelia flowers. When finished, they toss the flowers to the ground and the deer eat them. Because of this, deer and monkeys are usually seen together.

What wasn't pictured here today was the beach we went to, the best little coffeeshop on the island, and the incredible Thai massages we got along the way.