The Water Forest is the most unusual landscape feature in the Xiaoqikong area: subtropical forest growing in flooded ground, with the trees standing in turquoise water up to their knees, their roots spreading across the submerged floor. The water is clear enough to see the bottom throughout, and the reflections of the canopy on the still surface create the disorienting impression of looking both up and down simultaneously.
The boardwalk path through the Water Forest passes at water level, giving direct views into the flooded root systems of trees that would be unremarkable on dry land but become extraordinary in this setting. The combination of dense subtropical vegetation overhead and perfectly clear turquoise water at foot level is genuinely unlike any other forest environment. Photography is difficult because every composition includes both the reflected sky and the submerged tree roots, and most attempts to resolve the exposure end up either burning out the sky or losing the underwater detail.
The Water Forest is the terminus of the main Xiaoqikong walk and is at its most impressive in the morning when direct sun hasn't yet reached the canopy and the reflections are at their clearest.