Discover Hong Kong’s Great Outdoors With Nat Geo Explorers Astrid Anderson & Jonathan Cybulski

30 January 2021

238

Pic credit score – Cat Wong, Ampersand Studio

The World World Metropolis, Hong Kong could also be recognized for being one of the densely populated cities on the earth, cocooned in a thicket of gleaming skyscrapers. What would possibly come as a shock to many is that amidst this bustling metropolis, legendary for its world class delicacies and a vibrant nightlife, lies an unlimited inexperienced paradise containing wildlife that thrives within the coronary heart of this concrete jungle, ready to be explored.

40% of Hong Kong’s complete land space is reserved for nation parks and that coupled with the pure panorama means, the wild aspect of Hong Kong wins arms down in sq. miles as in comparison with its brick and mortar. Two Nationwide Geographic explorers Astrid Alex Andersson, a resident of Hong Kong since she was two, and Jonathan Cybulski who’s pursuing his doctorate in Marine Biology record down their favorite out of doors jaunts.

ASTRID RECOMMENDS

34-year-old Andersson is at the moment pursuing her PhD on the wildlife commerce and an launched city inhabitants of yellow-crested cockatoos on the College of Hong Kong. She has been immersing herself within the pure aspect of Hong Kong from the age of two, when her dad and mom relocated from Sweden, and has since been exploring the pure areas surrounding her. In accordance with her, Hong Kong is house to a plethora of fascinating bugs, flowers and crops; and following are a few of her go to locations for a dose of Hong Kong freshness:

Mai Po Nature Reserve

The internationally acclaimed marshlands of the Mai Po Nature Reserve are among the best locations to identify a lot of Hong Kong’s greater than 550 species of birds. For greater than three a long time, the 5 fundamental habitats in Mai Po Nature Reserve and the encompassing space specifically, gei wai, freshwater ponds, inter-tidal mudflats, mangroves and reedbeds have been a haven for tens of 1000’s of migratory waterbirds annually, in flip setting a major instance of conservation success for regional wetlands.

Hong Kong Park in Central

Andersson highlights the realm in and round Hong Kong Park as among the best locations to see the critically endangered Yellow-Crested Cockatoos – not simply in Hong Kong however in your entire world – with over a 100 of them congregating there at sure instances of the yr.

Fung Yuen Butterfly Reserve

Located within the valley behind the 300-year-old Hakka village of Fung Yuen sprawls the Fung Yuen Butterfly Reserve, a protected web site that’s house to greater than 200 species of butterflies, together with the gorgeous Widespread Birdwing and White Dragontail varieties. Together with the butterflies, you might also spot some uncommon breeds of terns. If you happen to go to the reserve on the final Sunday of every month, you will be part of the Butterfly Competition to make the most of a collection of exhibitions and guided excursions.

Au Regulation Natural Farm close to Yuen Lengthy

Astrid suggests, for a style of Hong Kong’s freshest produce, head to the Au Regulation Farm. Right here guests can pattern scrumptious, naturally cultivated greens and honey. “It truly is heart-warming to know that these kinds of locations persist, the place individuals are nonetheless farming natural native greens, or they’re conserving bees and so they’re making their very own honey. That’s a aspect of Hong Kong that I do not suppose many individuals even know exists,” she says.

Andersson additionally recommends the jungle-set mountain climbing trails round Hok Tau Reservoir in Pat Sin Leng Nation Park

JONATHAN’S RECOMMENDATIONS

US-born, Hong Kong-based, historic ecologist and Nationwide Geographic Explorer Jonathan Cybulski is a part of the coral biogeochemistry laboratory on the College of Hong Kong, the place he’s pursuing his PhD. 31-year-old Cybulski focuses on finding out coral ecosystems.

It’s Hong Kong’s mixture of the pure and the man-made, the agricultural and the city, that has left the most important impression on Cybulski and these are just a few locations he says you need to have in your bucket record while you go to Hong Kong:

Sai Kung Peninsula

Do you know that Hong Kong has extra coral species than your entire Caribbean mixed! Additionally dubbed the ‘again backyard of Hong Kong’, Jon has found charming fishing villages, mountain climbing trails, sweeping views, beautiful seashores and quite a few picturesque islands only a stone’s throw from the town at Sai Kung.

The locations Cybulski recommends to see the very best variety and the very best coral cowl in Hong Kong are across the outlying islands between Mirs Bay and Port Shelter within the territory’s northeast, together with Tung Ping Chau, Crescent Island, Bluff Island and Sharp island, and within the Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park, a big protected space close to Sai Kung that’s house to coral and lots of different kinds of sea life.

Hong Kong UNESCO World Geopark

The waters surrounding Hong Kong UNESCO World Geopark are wealthy with sea life. Stretching from the well-known Ninepin islands within the south to Tung Ping Chau within the north, the Geopark serves as a placing reminder of the territory’s geological previous, when 85% of Hong Kong’s land was shaped by tremendous volcano eruptions between 140 to 165 million years in the past, creating an abundance of rocky outcrops and intricately textured islands which might be each visually beautiful and geologically fascinating. Each path underfoot and every eye-catching formation has its distinctive historical past, providing tactile connections to a volcanic previous.

“All of the islands are volcanic, so that they’re very, very steep, however they’re vegetated virtually proper to the sting, so you might have this skinny band of orangey rock after which vegetation then blue water,” explains Cybulski. Significantly placing are the “total islands manufactured from what seem like chiselled octagonal columns” that have been created when the magma cooled. Such formations are uncommon sufficient globally, however the truth they’re composed of rhyolite moderately than basalt, in addition to the dimensions on which they happen, make Hong Kong’s variations totally distinctive.

‘Ghost Island’ of Yim Tin Tsai

The ‘Ghost Island’ of Yim Tin Tsai. Situated a 15-minute ferry journey from Sai Kung City, the island is known for its eerie deserted village, its lush mangroves and the saltpans that give it its title (‘Little Salt Pan’ in Cantonese), and which garnered an Award of Distinction on the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2015.

With such a various array of points of interest, each pure and cultural, for Cybulski there may be nowhere on the earth – fairly like Sai Kung.

There isn’t any doubt that with greater than 250 islands, 24 nation parks, six marine parks and a marine reserve, Hong Kong has much more to it than neon lights, glass and concrete. It gives a treasure trove of pure wonders which might be a feast for the senses begging to be explored.

For extra go to: https://www.discoverhongkong.com/in/index.html

Disclaimer: Content material Produced by Hong Kong Tourism Board

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