Gangala Valley

The valley formed when a cave system several hundred thousand years old fell in, and subtropical forest has grown over the floor. Archaeologists keep digging here because it may have been home to Minatogawa Man, who lived in the south of the island about 20,000 years ago, and the excavation has turned up fishhooks about 23,000 years old that the operator calls the oldest found anywhere.

Tours start in the Cave Café, which opens out of a cave below the entrance plaza, and walk through a forest of akagi trees past a banyan that has crept across the ground on its aerial roots. Guides stop at a women's cave where people pray for a good marriage and a safe birth and at a men's cave tied to prayers for children's growth. The walk climbs to a tree terrace that looks down the valley toward the spot where Minatogawa Man was found and finishes in the Bugei cave, where traces of ancient people remain.