松涛水库 Sōngtāo shuǐkù is the largest reservoir in Hainan and one of the largest in southern China, and it lies at the southern edge of 儋州市 Dānzhōu shì, with its dam at 南丰镇 Nánfēng zhèn, about twenty minutes by road from the city centre at 那大 Nàdà. The name means the Pine Wave, and the local name for the water body is 松涛天湖 Sōngtāo tiān hú, the Pine Wave Sky Lake: a drowned hill country of wooded islands and long inlets, held back by an earth dam across the upper reaches of the 南渡江 Nándù jiāng, the river that runs north to 海口. It is a working reservoir and a scenery spot at once, and it is the one place in the city where the landscape is genuinely big.
The reservoir was built in the late 1950s and 1960s as the water supply and irrigation backbone of the north of the island, and it still is: the water it holds feeds the paddy and the rubber and the towns of several counties, and the dam is a serious piece of civil engineering rather than a scenic afterthought. What that produces for a visitor is a shoreline of dozens of kilometres, hills that stand as islands where the water has risen around them, and a wide, deep body of water that moderates the climate of everything around it. The forested catchments have never been cleared, so the water comes right to the treeline.
Most people see it from a boat. Small craft run out from near the dam into the inlets, and the trip is the point: the water is green and still, the islands are close enough to see the trees on them, and the hills recede in layers with the mist hanging in the folds. On shore there are the usual viewing points, a restaurant or two serving the reservoir’s own fish, and the dam itself, which can be walked. The fish, 松涛鱼, pan-fried or in a soup, is the local dish and the reason a lunch here is worth arranging rather than skipping; the 淡水 fish of the reservoir is what the restaurants on the bank are for.
The situation makes it a natural half day from the city and a natural pairing with the rest of what 儋州 has. 那大 is close, so a morning at the reservoir leaves the afternoon for the 石花水洞 or the 蓝洋 hot springs, both in the same quarter of the county, and the 东坡书院 and the salt fields are a full day in the other direction. Come for the boat in the early morning or the last hour of light, when the water is calmest and the hills are clearest, and stay for a fish lunch on the bank. Bring a hat and water, because the boat has no shade, and note that the reservoir is a protected drinking-water source, so swimming is not permitted.
Practicalities
Tickets. There is no charge to reach the dam or to walk the viewing areas, and the boat trips are sold separately at the quay, in the region of ¥50 to ¥100 for a short run out into the inlets, depending on the boat and the route.
Opening hours. The dam and the shore are open through the day, and the boat operators run roughly 08:00 to 17:00, more often at weekends and in the holiday periods. The scenery is best in the first hours after dawn, before the haze builds, and again in the last hour before sunset.
Getting there. 松涛水库 is at 南丰镇, about twenty minutes by road from 那大 Nàdà, the seat of 儋州市, and roughly an hour from 白马井站 Báimǎjǐng zhàn on the west ring high-speed line. A car or a taxi is the practical way, since the dam is outside the town and the shore road is long.
Closing day. There is no closing day; the shore and the dam are open every day of the year. Boat services may be suspended in bad weather or when the reservoir is drawn down for the irrigation season, and the jetties are sometimes closed during maintenance of the dam.
flowcloud would say that a river valley flooded on purpose to water the whole north of an island, which then turned out to be the most beautiful thing in the county, is the ordinary luck of large engineering, and that a reservoir which supplies a province and still has the grace to look like a lake of hills has earned both of its names.
Getting there: the dam is at 南丰镇, twenty minutes by road from 那大 in 儋州市, and about an hour from 白马井站 on the west ring line; a car or a taxi for the morning is the way to do it, and the boat trips are bought at the quay on arrival.