I have browsed through these Lonely Planet Blue List books before when I visited the book store but have not found anything in them that makes them really worth buying. However, none of the books I saw had anything about Korea in them which seems is pretty typical for these types of travel books but now in the 2008 edition Korea’s Mt. Jiri gets a mention:

Lonely Planet has selected Mt.Jiri for the wildlife section of its “Bluelist 2008.” Mt.Jiri is a sanctuary for the endangered Manchurian Black Bear. The influential travel book publisher chose 12 places to see endangered animals, and Mt.Jiri is listed as the place to go in October. The guide includes pictures of the Hwaeom Temple, Beomjonggak bell tower and a Manchurian black bear, and discusses the bears and musk deer in the mountain.

The last tiger was spotted in the mountain in 1944 and wolves are believed to be extinct, the guide says, but a few Manchurian black bears have survived. In fact, there are 17 Manchurian black bears living wild in the mountain, and eight being raised in a conservation center near the Hwaeom Temple. However, the chances for tourists to see the bears in nature while hiking in the mountain are slim. [Chosun Ilbo]

It is actually ironic that Korea gets featured in this book for the first time for wildlife of all things considering how little wildlife is actually left in Korea. I have been to Mt. Jiri a couple of times and have never seen any black bears but have seen deer each time I have been there though.

For those interested further information about the 2008 Blue Book is available on Amazon.

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