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Korea is not famous for its wildlife watching. So when I found out I had to visit in September 2006 for work and had a free weekend my excitement was containable. And when I spoke to a couple of Korean friends I pretty much gave up on the idea of trying to see any wildlife: they painted a bleak picture of a landscape devoid of anything mammalian. But in fact Koreans seem curiously apologetic about their country's environment. In reality it wasn't anything like that bad: I saw quite a lot of forested hills near the major highways that looked quite promising and that was in the most populated part of the country.

I returned to Korea in February and October 2007 and visited some of these forests.

Lagha Seals on Baeng Ryong Do Island
A quick Internet search suggested that a few hundred Largha Seals spend their summers near the island of Baeng Ryong Do (this is spelt in various ways in English but pronounced something like "bang re-yong doe"). The island is within tank shell range of North Korea and its a 4 hour trip by very fast (35 knots) catamaran ferry from Incheon. Several ferries travel there early each morning, between 7 and 8am, setting off again about 5 hours later.

This tank exhibit on Baeng Ryong Do island was pointing straight at North Korea

I took a package tour overnight to the island that included meals, a night in a comfortable but basic hotel and a bus trip around some of the sites. This - a full on Korean package tour - was an experience in itself.

Baeng Ryong Do

The seals begin to arrive in March and leave by late October. Numbers peak in August. I saw animals at several points around the coast during the weekend, though the major congregations occur at rocks off the north-east, north-west and south-east corners of the island.


Largha (Spotted) Seals

All the bus tours stop at the Shrine of Simcheon, and that was our first stop after lunch. By happy coincidence I bumped into the Korean Cetacean Research Institute their out on a field trip, and they had a scope set up to watch a few seals hauled out on the rocks - the Mulbeom Bawi (seal rocks) - that are off the north east coast. I saw a couple of other lone animals in the water off of the "airport" beach (the sand here served as a runway) and the "window rock". There were another 20 or so animals in the water by the Dumu-Gin Rocks off the north west coast, past which all the tours take a boat trip. I'd been told that I could hire a small boat when I arrived to take a personal tour of the seals here. But when I arrived I found out that the "small boat" was in fact a 50 seater fishing boat and would cost about $100 an hour to charter. So I stuck with the program. The cruise we were on slowed down momentarily as we went past at my request, but in any event the seals were quite skittish and I am not sure how much closer we could have got. I was also told that they spend most of their time in the water during September unless the weather is exceptionally warm.


Largha Seal

Seals also haul out off the south-east coast on the Youn-bong Rocks but I didn't visit there.

It could - in theory - be just about possible to see the seals in a day trip. You'd have to get the first ferry over, take a taxi straight to the Shrine of Simcheon with a scope, spend 10 minutes watching the animals then head back for the last boat that day for Incheon.

More information on the seals and their movements is here on the Seaturtle.org site.

Water Deer, Raccoon Dogs and Korean Hares Near Seoul
In late 2006, soon after I had uploaded my first Korea trip report to the web, I was contacted by Steve Karsen, an American naturalist who had spent many years in Korea. He gave me advice on some good sites near Seoul which I wanted to follow up on when I returned. I went back and I followed up. And Steve was spot on. I repeat some of his advice verbatim below and he is happy for people to email him direct.

In February 2007 I went back to Korea and met up again with my Goodwill Guide from 2006. He offered to help me visit Seosan Lakes and Daejon, on Steve's advice these were good mammal spots.

Seosan Lakes

Seosan Lakes: In February I spent 2 hours spotlighting at Seosan Lakes (about 2 hours drive west of Seoul) and saw 4 Water Deer and 3 pairs of Racoon Dogs. The latter were quite intolerant of the spotlight and I only got any sort of a view of the last pair (the first two pairs were each just 4 red dots moving around a paddock about 300 metres away and they have an annoying habit of disappearing from the spotlight beam in an apparently open field and cropping up several hundred metres away from where I had last seen them). The network of fields that lie next to the main highway from Seoul are the place to find stuff and there are a network of 2wd navigable dirt roads leading around and through the fields. One of the locals, who the people running the cafe found for us, came along to direct us. But he wasn't really needed. He claimed that Siberian Weasels were seen quite often in the area. Steve Karsen has seen Amur Leopard Cats here as well and so it is a particular shame that the area is being developed so heavily.

Shikchang Mountain

Daejeon City: Shikchang Shan mountain is a 15 minute cab ride east of Daejeon. I spent a couple of hours walking along a streamside track. I saw no mammals in the afternoon, but in the evening saw at least 5 Water Deer and 2 Korean Hares in woods at the moutain (contact Steve Karsen for more information on the precise location). No Raccoon Dogs which Steve Karsen said were common in the area, and which I was hoping to get a better look at. Steve has also seen an Amur Hedgehog and Siberian Weasel here.

Korean Hare

I was back in Daejeon is October 2007 and returned to the same area. I couldn't find any deer or hares but as I was walking back down the hill I watch a large mustelid come out of the streamside vegetation. Oblivious to my spotlight it walked to within a few metres of me and climb a tree, moved up a branch and disappeared into the canopy. It didn't have much in the way of distinguishing features and must have been a Japanese Marten, apparently very rare in Korea.

Getting Around
Although some people speak good English, most don’t, and it would be quite hard if you don't speak Korean to communicate with taxi drivers and so on. I managed to get a Goodwill Guide, courtesy of the Korean National Tourist Office, a Mr Kim Doo Chull. This is a free service the tourist office provides whereby they match tourists up with volunteer guides who will accompany you so long as their expenses are covered. Kim was excellent and couldn't do enough to help me.

Kim, the Goodwill Guide, and the Tour Bus

Korea and other wildlife watching
Korea was something of a culture shock. The people were nearly all extremely friendly and the service in shops and hotels was spectacularly good (itself a culture shock after Paris). The food was interesting and tasty (at least initially). But there is only so much fermented cabbage and fish I can eat, especially for breakfast.

From talking to people there it seems that some other good areas for mammal watching are the DMZ (the demilitarized zone between South and North Korea) which is empty of people and rich in wildlife as well as the occasional landmine. I have no idea whether it is possible to visit there, though I know you cannot just rock up for a hike and so would need to make arrangements before hand at the very least. I am making enquiries. Mount Odae, nearer to Seoul also sounds like it might have a few animals living on and around it, and you can visit there without getting shot.

The guys from the Cetacean Institute also say that Finless Porpoises are the most common cetacean in Korean waters and are quite abundant, especially in the south.

According to Steve Karsen, Raccoon Dogs, Weasels, Hares and Water Deer almost always live in the same habitats i.e. open woods, woods along streams, marshy grassland/ricefield ecotone etc. If you have a reasonable choice I'd search hardwood areas since it seems to be harder (In my experience anyway) to find mammals in extensive Korean Red Pine woods. Maybe it's because they are sometimes rather dry. Anyway I've seen much less "sign" and mammals in pines. Woods that are somewhat scrubby make better hare habitat. I suggest that you check out habitats during the day and search with a spotlight at night. You could find these species around Seoul, but it might be a hassle because of the heavily urban setting: Pukansan National Park is there but tends to be very heavily used (although I'm certain that all four species are there). It could be hard to get in there at night-some national parks are more picky than others about their closing times. There are very definitely wilder mountainous areas east of Seoul but I've never been there so couldn't reccommend anywhere specific...

Church and chilis, Baeng Ryong Do