Nature in the New Territories

Its white wings flap gracefully, its elegant crested neck extends forward, and its long black beak opens and shuts like tongs. This is the black-faced spoonbill, and it’s one of the 400 or so bird species that visit Mai Po Nature Reserve, part of a site that has been actively conserved under the international Ramsar Convention since 1995, and which sits on the border between the New Territories and the Mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The gei wai are still operational, carefully managed by WWF, who use time-honoured techniques to harvest shrimp; techniques that are sustainable, and respectful of the reserve’s winged residents. WWF has been managing Mai Po since 1984, and it has been under Lau’s thoughtful supervision since 2016.

Access to Mai Po is restricted; visitors apply for a permit with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, or they can get on-site help at the Peter Scott Field Studies Centre. Mai Po does offer guided group tours, and this is the simplest way to gain access to the area. Book these through WWF Hong Kong’s website.

Getting to the area beyond the fence, however — the land between Hong Kong and Mainland China — is harder. You can apply via WWF for a permit from the Hong Kong Police Force, but it’s a lengthy wait. WWF also offers guided tours to visit this lushly beautiful mangrove belt and see Deep Bay’s mudflats, which are populated by thousands of birds, including pied avocets, magpie robins, tufted ducks, grey herons and great egrets.

Mai Po’s neighbour is Hong Kong Wetland Park, in northern Tin Shui Wai. Like Mai Po, this 61-hectare site teems with wildlife, including the black-faced spoonbill. Thanks to the presence of freshwater marshes within its grounds, the park is also a popular haunt for amphibians such as the ornate pygmy frog, and the Asiatic painted frog, which bellows like a bull during mating season.

If you want to keep the kids occupied, head to the park’s 10,000-square-foot visitor centre, where themed exhibition galleries, a theatre and swamp-adventure indoor play area will keep them busy for hours.

If it’s adventure you’re after, Tai Lam Country Park is the place to go. Here, you’ll find 12 hiking and mountain biking trails of varying difficulty, including Sections 9 and 10 of the MacLehose Trail, the 100-kilometre track named after colonial Hong Kong’s longest-serving governor and avid hiker, Sir Murray MacLehose. We have MacLehose to thank for Hong Kong’s 24 country parks, and the preservation of the city’s extensive wildlife populations.

As Hong Kong’s second largest country park, Tai Lam is a particularly appealing choice for nature lovers. It’s home to peaks and valleys, forested mountains, jade-green reservoirs and a multitude of bird and mammal species, including leopard cats and Chinese pangolins.

At each of these sites, birdsong and the chirrup of insects are about the only noises you’ll hear: they’re a world away from the city’s bustling financial centre. It’s no wonder Yuen Long is a firm favourite with Hongkongers.

“People appreciate wildlife and countryside a lot more than they did three decades ago,” says WWF’s Lau. “Increasingly people live in crowded city environments. They want to come out, breathe the fresh air and look at the sky.”