[easy-image-collage id=25330]
Shifen Special Scenic Area is located in Shifenliao between Shiding, Ruifang and Shuangxi in northeastern Taiwan. Administratively part of Pingxi District, New Taipei City, the terrain here has been carved by a tributary of the Keelung River, northern Taiwan’s largest and longest river, into a ravine with a dissected topography. The faults and rock formations have given birth to numerous waterfalls along the river extending north from Houtong to Sandiaoling and onwards to Shifenliao and Pingxi. Among the biggest and best known of these falls, and a popular visitor attraction, is Shifen Waterfall.
Shifen Waterfall lies between Dahua Station and Shifen Station on the Pingxi Railway Line in Pingxi District, New Taipei City. Torrents of water thunder down this curtain-type fall like a white satin sheet. As the water plunges into the large, deep pool beneath, it raises mists that often enshroud the falls. On sunny days, the mists paint dazzling rainbows in the blue skies: a sight that has earned the waterfall pool the nickname of “Rainbow Pond.” Because its bedrock slopes in the opposite direction of the water flow, Shifen Waterfall is a cascade-type waterfall similar to North America’s Niagara Falls, earning it the nickname of “Taiwan’s Niagara Falls.”
