Japan
Iriomote
A jungle island where the wildcat skulks, rivers run through mangroves and no road crosses inland.
Iriomote is jungle, and the jungle is not negotiating. A mountainous forest core gives way to mangrove rivers that twist inland beneath canopies so dense the water runs black, and the only road hugs the coast. The Iriomote cat — around a hundred left, found nowhere else on Earth — skulks through the undergrowth at dusk, and the road signs beg you to slow down for it.
Iriomote is the wild heart of the Yaeyama Islands at the far south-west of Japan, one of the four areas of Okinawa and Kagoshima that UNESCO listed as natural World Heritage in 2021 for their biodiversity and endemic species. Kayaks and canoes drift through the mangrove maze, and boats run up the Urauchi River from the mangroves into jungle waterways as birdsong breaks through the morning mist. The rivers' upper reaches hold two waterfalls reached on guided treks: Pinaisara, at 55 metres the highest in Okinawa, with a view over the whole island from the top and a pool at the base, and Mariyudu, the largest by volume, spilling in two tiers into a wide basin. From late February to late April the endemic Yaeyama firefly lights the forest after dark, and a sighting of the cat, if it ever comes, is treasure.
Solo
Kayaking the mangrove rivers with a guide, beneath roots and bird calls, ranks among Japan's wildest solo experiences. The jungle asks for self-reliance and pays it back.
Friends
River kayaking, the trek to Pinaisara, a firefly night in spring and the outside chance of the cat give a group of friends an expedition that is remote in fact, not just in feel.
- A mountainous jungle core, mangrove forests and the coast are all there is — the road never crosses the interior.
- The Iriomote cat, around a hundred left, lives only here — road signs warn drivers at every turn.
- Kayak routes wind through mangrove rivers where the canopy closes overhead and the water turns mirror-still.
- Pinaisara, Okinawa's highest waterfall at 55 metres, is reached by kayak and a short jungle trek, with a pool at the base.
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