Tall buildings. A shopping mall. Warehouses.
Dockyards with mountains of shipping containers. Wedding chapels.
Even a discount food store. And then, surprisingly, this oasis of
green tranquility.
Osaka Nanko Bird Sanctuary is 19 hectares of wetlands and woods
in which 237 species of birds, either permanent residents or
transients, have been spotted so far, including over 50 species of
shore birds. There are tidal flats, a freshwater pond, woods,
trails, two observatories, a visitor center, and now, a
geocache!
The sanctuary is an easy, level, 0.5-mile (0.8-km) walk from the
Trade Center-mae station on the OTS Line. It's only a little
farther from Cosmo Square on the Chuo Line if you don't want to
bother with transferring to the tram. Or, if you're doing my other
caches near the Nakafuto station, there is a hut near N34 38.159
E135 24.951 which usually contains bicycles which may be borrowed
free of charge for riding only to the bird sanctuary. (PLEASE NOTE:
The bicycles are currently unavailable)
The visitor center/main observatory is open from 0900 to 1700
every day but Wednesday. However, the north observatory and the
part of the sanctuary that contains the cache seem to be available
24 hours a day. The cache is within 50 ft. (15 m.) of an excellent
trail. As you approach the cache, you may be tempted to bush-whack
the remaining distance. BUT, if you continue a bit on the main
trail, you will find a faint side-trail that leads directly to the
cache site. If you take the side-trail, be careful where you step
or you may soak your feet.
I rate this cache a 2-star difficulty because heavy overhead
foliage may make your GPS position wander about. But there is one
obvious cache-hider's favorite spot at the end of the side trail,
and if you're still having trouble, the encrypted hint below is a
bit of a spoiler.
After finding the cache, continue on to the north observatory
for a great view of the tidal flats, and then back to the main
visitor center/observatory (if open) for some indoor exhibits and a
view of more of the sanctuary.
(Note of no particular importance unless you're a trivia buff.)
I intended to name this cache "For the Birds" until I discovered
that geocaching.com already lists 3 pages of caches with that
title. I decided to go with the longer title, "Strictly for the
Birds," from which the shorter phrase is derived. It turns out that
this phrase is of relatively modern origin. Just for fun, can you
tell me where this phrase is thought to have first appeared?