Wuzhishan
Highest Mountain In Hainan And Part Of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park; A Sacred Peak Of The Li People In The Island'S Best Surviving Primary Rainforest · Wuzhishan, Hainan
Almost everyone who goes to Hainan goes to the beaches, and the interior of the island - which is mountainous, forested and inhabited by the Li people, who have lived here for three thousand years - is left almost entirely alone. Wuzhishan is its high point, five ridges rising like the fingers of a hand to about one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven metres, wrapped in the best surviving tropical rainforest in China: buttressed trees, strangler figs, epiphytes, birdsong you cannot place, and a humidity that makes the climb far harder than the numbers suggest. The mountain is sacred to the Li, and the towns beneath it are where their brocade weaving survives, a craft UNESCO placed on its urgent safeguarding list, and where a handful of elderly women still carry the facial tattoos that were once given at adolescence and have not been given since. The rainforest is now national park. Access to the summit has tightened accordingly.
Wuzhishan City, Hainan Li and Miao area, Wuzhishan, Hainan, China
Open daily in season, generally around 8:00-17:00 with last entry to the trails well before closing; tickets are bought at the scenic area gates. ACCESS TO THE SUMMIT ROUTE HAS BEEN RESTRICTED SINCE THE HAINAN TROPICAL RAINFOREST NATIONAL PARK WAS CREATED IN 2021 and may be closed or require a guide - confirm before planning a climb. TYPHOON SEASON FROM ROUGHLY JUNE TO OCTOBER closes trails, floods rivers and cuts roads. Start at first light: cloud closes over the ridges most afternoons and afternoon rain is normal.