Smangus: Sacred Trees & Communal Living

We found a 2,700 year old Ent named Yaya (mother) in the middle of Taiwan. The red cypress is the second tallest tree in Taiwan and largest in the ancient grove at Smangus. It would take 24 adults to circle her hand in hand. In total, the grove consists of twenty trees, all of which are over a thousand years old.

The grove resides near the village of Smangus, a little town made of thirty five families in the heart of Taiwan. It’s reported to be Taiwan’s most remote village; located four hours from Taipei up in the mountains, it might be. The only way to access the village is by car or bus and it’s literally over a few rivers, through the woods, up a mountain and across a landslide area. If you plan on making the trip, don’t eat too much before leaving or it might come back up during the last two hours, which is composed entirely of up/down switchbacks.



Far away from civilization, the future of the aboriginal village wasn’t looking good in the early 1990s. At this time, Smangus wasn’t on the map yet and most people had never even heard of it. The great trees hadn’t even been discovered; they were a thing of legend, a story for grandparents to tell their grandchildren. In a last ditch effort to save their community, the village collectively decided to invest in tourism. They started combing the woods, making trails and happened upon the grove of ancient trees, giving the village an accidental gold mine.

With the discovery of the ancient grove and the hiking trails complete, people started to pour in. In the early days of its success, families competed against each other to attract guests and it was very hard on such a small community. Poorer families were getting left behind and outside resort companies were sniffing around for way in. Basically, with its new found success, Smangus found itself in danger of losing itself again and the families came together one more time to form a collective.



Consequently, Smangus is Taiwan’s only example of successful communal living. Today, the cost of labor, expenses and incomes are divided equally between each family. Everything is shared. The system has worked and the village has managed to hang on to its own language, culture and aboriginal identity without losing itself to outside developers. Along with community effort, Smangus also survives on government grants and self-sustaining agriculture practices. The village has its own school, lodge, church and a handful of restaurants.

To preserve the integrity of the environment, Smangus capped the number of visitors allowed in the village each day. They started with 450, but soon reduced that to 250 to make sure the trees don’t suffer from heavy foot traffic. The trail for the ancient grove starts in town and then winds through bamboo forests, scenic overlooks, peach orchards, and mushroom farms. From the village and back, it’s 11 kilometers and takes about five hours to complete.

This isn’t a sweaty ascent hike; it’s just a beautiful walk in the woods and a great way to unwind from the city. There’s plenty of shade and rest stops along the way. Bring your own toilet paper, but you could risk leaving the sunblock at home. As you walk around, enjoy taking big gulps of the mountain air and keep your eyes peeled for Taiwanese pheasants. It’s not uncommon to see them near the trail.

Getting Around

As mentioned previously, the only way to the Smangus is with your own set of wheels, which we don’t have. So, when Taiwan Adventure Outings announced an upcoming trip for the village, we jumped on board. At the risk of sounding like an advert: we had fun, learned a lot, made new friends, bonded over German mind games and introduced the Europeans in our group to the camping tradition of s’mores! Success!

If you have your own set of wheels, you can book everything directly through the village’s website. For accommodation, you can stay in the village or in the new campground that just opened. Pick the campground. It’s in a beautiful spot overlooking the mountains and there’s a connecting path that joins it to the hiking trail.