If you are into “Kenting Everything” as I do, then you definitely heard of Chuhuo 出火 Scenic area before, however, if you tried to visit it – you might see something like this, at least for the recent years:
Something is going on at Chuhuo Scenic Spot, but what?
Chuhuo scenic area in Hengchun Township of Pingtung County is famous for the formation of flame due to the emergence of natural gas from underground.
The county government had spent 100 million Taiwan dollars to create a high-quality scenic park, and today a ground-breaking ceremony was held, of which it also ended the chaotic phenomenon of tourism including popcorn roasting and night fireworks.
People seen to be roasting popcorn on Chuhuo natural fire.
Chuhuo scenic area in Hengchun Township of Pingtung County was well-known because of the formation of flame due to the emergence of natural gas from underground, in addition to being the place for signing of the Treaty of South Cape.
After being assigned off the management of Kenting National Park five years ago, the scenic area turned into the state of “chaos”.
The county government invested 105 million Taiwan dollars to create a recreational park with geological landscape. The ground-breaking ceremony was held today, and the project would be completed in August of 2023.
Service centre, the Seqaro or Seqalu historical exhibition area, ecological jungle area, Chuhuo geological square, and dancing water area were included in the creation of a high-quality recreational scenic park, Pan Men-An (潘孟安) as the county magistrate said, adding that this also ended chaotic phenomenon of tourism such as popcorn roasting and night fireworks.
This photo offers a sneak peak on how Chuhuo scenic area will look in near future.
The county government had sought “Chuhuo Park and Life Experience Tourism Area Plan” from the Tourism Bureau of Ministry of Transportation and Communications of Taiwan for the improvement of public toilet as well as parking lot’s service facilities, Huang Guowei (黃國維) as the head of department of Transportation and Tourism Department of the county government said, adding that government had also planned the district into different blocks which included service centre, the Seqalu historical exhibition area, souvenir shop area, ecological jungle area, Chuhuo geological square, and dancing water area, of which those blocks were then connected by pedestrian footpath.
Hopefully, through the landscape renovation project, the past chaos would be solved, and these would not only improve the quality of tourism services in the whole county, but also allow local resident to have multiple places for resting.
The transformation process of the Chuhuo scenic area had been filled with twists and turns. In addition to the derivation into popcorn roasting, night fireworks, bottle rocket work, and other chaotic phenomenon of tourism, there had been incidents of tourists being bitten by straying dogs.
In the speech of Pan Men-An (潘孟安) as county magistrate, particular gratitude was given to the Ministry of National Defense for its assistance in allotted land, and to the Tourism Bureau for its subsidy and funding.
The project planned to add dancing water area to match Chuhuo geological square, of which these would form a special landscape of mutual living relationship between water and fire, he said, adding that it was also a place for signing of the Treaty of South Cape of Seqalu, hence worth a visit for tourists.
The county government also combined public transportation vehicles into the connection between the tourist attractions in Hengchun Township area as well as the surrounding adjacent parking lots, of which these not only promoted the development of the tourism industry, but also made the special geological landscape no longer declining in performance due to lack of management.
Because the county government was not the owner of the land in the past and the management lacked a legal basis, there were vendors from the parking lot, who grabbed the business opportunities to sell popcorn and fireworks for the convenience of tourists to bring in corn for baking, and to play with sparkler in the fire source area, Huang Guowei (黃國維) said, adding that after allotment of the land, the management would plan and design “tourist area” according to Tourism Development Act, and this was followed by establishment of Regulations for the Administration of Scenic Areas to officially prohibit the entrance of tourists into the fire source area, the conduct of firework activities, etc., with violators could be fined five thousand to one hundred thousand dollars.
The management of the area was planned to be outsourced in future, and it was estimated that there would be about seventy thousand tourists within one year in addition to a recovery of cost after ten years, Huang (黃) mentioned.