Frog Rock Audio Guide

Frog Rock: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Frog Rock

   Welcome to Frog Rock, one of the playful landmarks of Kenting, in Hengchun Township, Pingtung County, at the southern tip of Taiwan. It sits within Kenting National Park, and its Chinese name, Kenting Qingwa Shi, simply means Kenting Frog Stone. In this guide we will look at what gives the rock its character: how it came to stand alone, why it looks the way it does, and the coastal trail, plants and birds around it. Along the way you will also meet the Kenting Youth Activity Center, which sits right beside the coastal park and shares its shoreline. A good way to begin is with a simple idea. This is a rock that looks like an animal about to leap. Stay with me, and by the end you will know why it looks that way, and what it took for the sea and wind to carve it out.

2. 02

   A Frog Shaped by Wind and Sea

   Frog Rock rises roughly 60 meters high, and one commonly cited figure puts it at 61 meters. Its outline gives it the look of a frog about to jump into the sea. Look at it from the Sea Watching Building in the Kenting National Forest Recreation Area and you see its back view. From there the resemblance is strongest, down to the outline of the eyes, which are almost exactly froglike. Some people imagine the frog waiting to snatch a passing meal, or waiting for a playmate to dive in beside it. The frog has a stone neighbor, too. Frog Rock and DaGien Hill are both exotic rocks, meaning rocks that arrived embedded in the local Kenting argillite, a soft, muddy rock. They were once wrapped inside it, like nuts in a cake. Because these exotic rocks are harder than the argillite around them, the softer material wore away first. Wind and seawater worked on it over a very long time, gradually exposing the harder blocks until they stood alone. In other words, the sculptor here is erosion, and the frog is what was left when everything softer was taken away.

3. 03

   The Seaside Frog Rock Trail

   To meet the rock up close, follow the seaside Frog Rock trail, which runs from inside the Kenting Youth Activity Center down to the shore. As you walk toward the water, large rocks often stand on both sides of the path. These are igneous rocks, formed when lava cooled and solidified. Closer to the sea the stone changes character, and you meet coral limestone, a rock very common around Kenting. The trail is also a lesson in coastal geography. Along it you can see special coastal landforms such as coral reefs, sea cliffs and honeycomb rocks. Honeycomb rocks are stones pitted with small hollows, which suggests how persistently the salt air and the sea work on the shoreline. So a short walk takes you across several kinds of stone, from lava-born rock to ancient coral, before you ever reach the frog itself.

4. 04

   Coastal Plants, Bulbuls and a Minnan Style Neighbor

   The shoreline around Frog Rock is home to tropical coastal plants, including barringtonia, pemphis and sea lettuce. Another tree here is the Indiapoon beautyleaf, a plant that multiplies easily and often attracts Taiwan bulbuls to nest in it. So when you hear birdsong near Frog Rock, there is a good chance it is a Taiwan bulbul calling out a cheerful hello. Beside the coastal park stands the Kenting Youth Activity Center, which covers 15 hectares. It was designed by the renowned architect Dr. Bao-de Han and is known as a classical Minnan style complex, a kind of residential museum of architecture. Its main structure is made up of 17 differently styled buildings, including courtyard layouts such as the sanheyuan and the siheyuan. From the center you can look out over the Bashi Strait, and also take in the Eluanbi lighthouse, Maobitou and the beach sunsets. It is a quiet corner amid the bustle of Kenting, with blue ocean, blue sky, beaches and architecture all within sight.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Frog Rock is a reminder that landscapes are often made by what disappears. The soft argillite washed away, and the hard rock hidden inside it was left to leap. Before you move on, try seeing it from more than one angle. Does the frog look the same from the Sea Watching Building as it does from the shore trail? Can you pick out the eyes in its outline? Listen for the bulbuls in the trees, and notice how the stone underfoot changes from lava-born rock to coral limestone as you near the water. And when the day winds down, the sunset views along this coast are worth lingering for, with the Bashi Strait stretching out in front of you.