Lion Rock Country Park - Sha Tin
Aidan Lung, Julian Schiavo, Timmy Liu, and Ravi Jain
Introduction:
This hike route is an exotic and serene trail that captures the wilderness of Hong Kong and the challenge of an all natural hike path. A hike path that combines a challenge, along with many different scenic views, this section of the MacLehose trail is a perfect way to spend your lazy Sunday instead of lying on the sofa watching a presidential debate.
Starting at the beginning of Shatin Pass road, this trail ends at Kam Shan Country Park, a natural park renowned for the staggering amount of monkeys inhabiting it. Be warned though, since this path is rugged, most of the path is paved earth instead of concrete. Despite the rough terrain, this trail is also a very serene and quiet hike, with nothing but the sound of trudging of your shoes and the loud chirping of the birds. Along with the lovely orchestra of nature’s music, there are multiple scenic spots dotting the long trail, seamlessly merging the lovely greenery present with the mechanical skyline of Hong Kong’s skyscrapers.
This hike is a wonderful outdoor excursion, and a great time to get in touch with the natural side of Hong Kong
Starting at the beginning of Shatin Pass road, this trail ends at Kam Shan Country Park, a natural park renowned for the staggering amount of monkeys inhabiting it. Be warned though, since this path is rugged, most of the path is paved earth instead of concrete. Despite the rough terrain, this trail is also a very serene and quiet hike, with nothing but the sound of trudging of your shoes and the loud chirping of the birds. Along with the lovely orchestra of nature’s music, there are multiple scenic spots dotting the long trail, seamlessly merging the lovely greenery present with the mechanical skyline of Hong Kong’s skyscrapers.
This hike is a wonderful outdoor excursion, and a great time to get in touch with the natural side of Hong Kong
Equipment:
• Hiking clothes
• Closed walking shoes (Trainers)
• Camera
• Water bottle (Recommended 1L - It is a long hike)
• Closed walking shoes (Trainers)
• Camera
• Water bottle (Recommended 1L - It is a long hike)
Getting There:
From Central to Shatin Pass Road
MTR • Go to Central MTR Station
• Take the Tsuen Wan Line to Prince Edward
• Interchange to Kwun Tong Line and go to Wong Tai Sin Station
• Take exit at Wong Tai Sin Station Exit A
• Walk to Shatin Pass Road
MTR • Go to Central MTR Station
• Take the Tsuen Wan Line to Prince Edward
• Interchange to Kwun Tong Line and go to Wong Tai Sin Station
• Take exit at Wong Tai Sin Station Exit A
• Walk to Shatin Pass Road
BUS • Walk to Statue Square
• Take Bus 101 and get off at Regal Oriental Hotel (City Bus)
• Interchange to bus 116 (City Bus)
• Get off at Ching Fai House
• Walk to Shatin Pass Road
• Take Bus 101 and get off at Regal Oriental Hotel (City Bus)
• Interchange to bus 116 (City Bus)
• Get off at Ching Fai House
• Walk to Shatin Pass Road
History:
Starting Point: Shatin Pass Road
Shatin Pass is different from The Shatin Pass Road. The Shatin Pass is a mountain pass between Temple Hill and Unicorn Ridge. The Shatin Pass Road was built by the British Army. This was a really important route for villagers to commute between Sha Tin and The New Territories and Tsz Wan Shan in Kowloon. In June 2008, a huge storm in Hong Kong caused a landslide and damaged the road majorly. The road opened again after six months of construction in December, 2008. It is now now called the Sha Tin Ancient Trail and attracts a lot of hikers and morning walkers.
Ending Point: Kowloon Reservoir
The Kowloon Reservoir is located in Kam Shan Country Park in Kowloon. In 1898, having leased the New Territories from China, the HK Gov searched for placed to build a reservoir. First construction works started in 1901 including the construction of a dam in the middle of the valley, storage tanks and three filter beds that were capable of filtering 896,000 gallons of water per day. The reservoir finished in 1906 with the capacity of 350 million gallons of water.
This reservoir was a really important part of the history of Hong Kong. It changed the habits of people living there as they got fresh tap water which was considered as drinking water as well.
Shatin Pass is different from The Shatin Pass Road. The Shatin Pass is a mountain pass between Temple Hill and Unicorn Ridge. The Shatin Pass Road was built by the British Army. This was a really important route for villagers to commute between Sha Tin and The New Territories and Tsz Wan Shan in Kowloon. In June 2008, a huge storm in Hong Kong caused a landslide and damaged the road majorly. The road opened again after six months of construction in December, 2008. It is now now called the Sha Tin Ancient Trail and attracts a lot of hikers and morning walkers.
Ending Point: Kowloon Reservoir
The Kowloon Reservoir is located in Kam Shan Country Park in Kowloon. In 1898, having leased the New Territories from China, the HK Gov searched for placed to build a reservoir. First construction works started in 1901 including the construction of a dam in the middle of the valley, storage tanks and three filter beds that were capable of filtering 896,000 gallons of water per day. The reservoir finished in 1906 with the capacity of 350 million gallons of water.
This reservoir was a really important part of the history of Hong Kong. It changed the habits of people living there as they got fresh tap water which was considered as drinking water as well.
Activities:
Monument Go
For this game, try to spot all these different monuments that occur along the hike trail.
• For each monument, give yourself ten points.
• If you’re in a group, the person who shouts out “I’ve seen the monument” first gets the ten points.
• The first person to get 200 points is the winner.
Here are the key monuments:
For this game, try to spot all these different monuments that occur along the hike trail.
• For each monument, give yourself ten points.
• If you’re in a group, the person who shouts out “I’ve seen the monument” first gets the ten points.
• The first person to get 200 points is the winner.
Here are the key monuments:
Monkeying Around
Note: For this game, you need an spacious area.
• First, decide on an ideal prize that everyone will enjoy.
• After that is done, choose one “judge”, who will judge everyone else's performance later.
• Once done choosing, start to take turns trying to be a monkey.
• For reference, the “judge” may take videos.
• Once you see a real monkey present, stop for a while and compare each person’s impersonation of a monkey.
• The person who the “judge” thinks did the closest impersonation to a real monkey wins the prize.
Note: For this game, you need an spacious area.
• First, decide on an ideal prize that everyone will enjoy.
• After that is done, choose one “judge”, who will judge everyone else's performance later.
• Once done choosing, start to take turns trying to be a monkey.
• For reference, the “judge” may take videos.
• Once you see a real monkey present, stop for a while and compare each person’s impersonation of a monkey.
• The person who the “judge” thinks did the closest impersonation to a real monkey wins the prize.
Nature Sentences
Materials: a couple leaves, assorted natural material
• At first, sit (or stand) in a wide circle.
• Designate one person to be the “scavenger”.
• The “scavenger” walk around, and pick up three different natural debri.
• As soon as that person is done, go back into the circle and spread out the different natural debri
• Go around in a circle, starting with the youngest person, and make up a story with all three natural debri the “scavenger” has scooped up.
Materials: a couple leaves, assorted natural material
• At first, sit (or stand) in a wide circle.
• Designate one person to be the “scavenger”.
• The “scavenger” walk around, and pick up three different natural debri.
• As soon as that person is done, go back into the circle and spread out the different natural debri
• Go around in a circle, starting with the youngest person, and make up a story with all three natural debri the “scavenger” has scooped up.
Risks
Despite the many interesting forms of wildlife evident on this nature hike, there are also some hazards. Here is a chart to show the most common hazards, and what your emergency plan should be.
Hazard |
Risk |
Control Measure |
Emergency Action Plan |
Possible Landslide |
Injury to body, along with the chance of getting buried by debris, and sometimes death. |
Look out for these factors:
If you find any of these present, quickly walk away. |
Call the local fire, police department if buried. Blow on an emergency whistle to attract attention and get help. Stay calm. If actually caught in a landslide, curl in a foetal position underneath a steady object such as a table. |
Uneven Trail |
Possibility of twisting ankle, along with possible cuts and scrapes. There is also a small chance of head injury and back injury. |
|
If serious, call the local ambulance. If not as serious, apply cold ice to the part where the ankle hurts. Keep doing this until the swelling eases off. |
Encounter with Animals |
Animal bites |
Don't make contact with any animals |
Clean wound(s) with disinfectant. Bring bandages. |
Dehydration and Sun Stroke |
Not enough water to last the whole hike along with too much sunlight. |
|
If serious, cool person off by removing excess cloths and spray person with water. |
Wildlife
- Birds
There are many birds at Lion Rock Country Park. Here we have listed 8 of the major ones that can be commonly seen. - Mammals
There are also a few other types of animals, mainly mammals. - Flowers
Flowers are also heavily populated inside Lion Rock Country Park.
Black Kites Black kites are known for their dark brown colouration and their rather large wingspan. Did you know that black kites swarm around fires to try to catch any potential prey that might try to escape? |
Black Baza Black Bazas are known to be small sized birds of prey. They often hunt and take over trees in groups to take over the larger sized birds. |
Crested Honey Buzzards Crested Honey Buzzards, otherwise known as the Oriental Honey Buzzard, is a slender kite species. Their body patterning and colouration varies extraordinarily, sometimes making them harder to document, differentiate and identify from other birds. |
Black Winged Kite The Black Winged Kite is known for it’s sleek shape and magnificent colours. Its eyes are well known for being a blood red, ruby colouration. Followed by a pitch black pupil. Its head is also has a bright white colouration, which allows it to stand out from other birds. |
Brahminy Kite The Brahminy Kite is a small, eagle like bird. It builds its nests from dead leaves and sticks as well as various types of rubbish. The Brahminy Kite is commonly found alone, and during the mating season are found in pairs and sometimes small families. |
White Bellied Sea Eagle The White Bellied Sea Eagle is a pale white bird with light grey wings, with dark grey to black at the tips. This bird is known for being a relatively large and slender eagle. It has a broad beak and a diamond - shaped tail, allowing it to be more easily identified from other seabirds. |
Crested Serpent Eagle The Crested Serpent Eagle is known for being an almost completely brown bird with the head being a light yellow. The body of the bird is light brown with white - spotted patterns near the bottom of its body. The wings are dark brown and are quite plain with some stripes of light brown around the wingtip. These large birds of prey actually hunt snakes as well as other lizards for food. |
Eastern Marsh Harrier The Eastern Marsh Harrier is a very sleek bird. It is known for its narrow tail and “V” Shaped wings. This gives the bird a very aggressive appearance and has especially large ears to detect predator and prey species by the type of sound they are making. |
Monkey/Rhesus Macaques First introduced into Hong Kong to reduce the growing amount of toxic weeds called Mikania, the Rhesus macaques have since grown in numbers, inhabiting most of Kowloon hill. This growth in number is mainly due to the abundance of leftover food that was usually left by unwary campers and picnickers. |
Red Nosed Fruit Bat The Red Nosed Fruit Bat is just like any other fruit bat. However, the way that this bat roosts. When roosting, this bat curls itself up into a ball - like shape, leaving only its head visible. Its furs is short and has colours ranging from greyish - brown to yellowish - brown on the back and paler on the underside. |
Chestnut Bellied Spiny Rat The Chestnut Bellied Spiny Rat is a rather small, yet colourful hillside rat. It has light brown spines protruding from its back and a soft white to creamy yellow underbelly. As its name suggests, this rat restricts itself to only appear near hillsides and in high up mountains, making it slightly rare. Due to its small size, it may be harder to spot these little creatures, especially amongst leaf litters. |
Grey Faced Elephant Shrew The Grey Faced Elephant Shrew is a large shrew compared to other shrews. Its fur varies in colour and has glossy, stiff fur. It has grey fur on the forehead as well as the face. Elephant Shrews are named for their long elephant - trunk - like nose that protrudes from the very tip of the pointed head. Research shows that elephant shrews are actually more related to elephants than shrews. |
Acer Tutcheri Duthie (Tutcher’s Maple) First discovered in Lantau by Mr Tutcher, this flower is of the same genus as the famous Canadian maple. Likewise, the leaves also turn red in the Autumn. This is only found in high altitudes and it only located in a few areas of Hong Kong. |
Bauhinia × Blakeana Dunn (Hong Kong Orchid Tree) A medium-sized evergreen tree which has been widely cultivated in parks and along road sides for its beautiful flowers and long flowering period from November to March. |
Platycodon The Platycodon flower is a purple, almost - closed - shaped plant. It is also known as the balloon flower. They bloom and reveal their innards which are several white stems. The petals of the plant are lance - shaped. Before blooming, the Platycodon will slowly expand to the point where they look almost like balloons, as a reference to the name. |
Bamboo Green plants with long, green colored stalks, Bamboo grows at an extremely fast speed. The majority of Bamboo grows in Asia, often used in Hong Kong for scaffolding. During the hike, there is at least a couple small forests of Bamboo lining the dirt path! |
Bibliography
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"Kowloon Reservoir." Kowloon Reservoir. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://www.wsd.gov.hk/en/education/history/the_legacy_of_waterworks/kowloon_reservoir/index.html>.
"Kowloon Reservoirs." Kowloon Reservoirs. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://www.christl.hk/Hiking/Country%20Trails/New%20Territories/Central%20N.T/kowloon_reservoirs.htm>.
"Outside My Window." Outside My Window » Cool Facts About Black Kites. Kate St. John, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2012/05/22/cool-facts-about-black-kites/>.
"沙田坳道." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Feb. 2017. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B2%99%E7%94%B0%E5%9D%B3%E9%81%93>.
"Ankle Sprain - Treatment Overview." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/tc/ankle-sprain-treatment-overview>.
Online, The Star. "Landslide Emergency Action Plan - Letters." The Star Online. N.p., 01 Jan. 2011. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2011/01/02/landslide-emergency-action-plan/>.
Mika McKinnon. "How To Recognize The Signs of an Impending Landslide." Gizmodo. Gizmodo.com, 02 May 2014. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://gizmodo.com/signs-of-an-impending-landslide-1570965514>.
"Dehydration in Adults." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/dehydration-adults#2>.
"Marsh Harrier Videos, Photos and Facts." ARKive. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://www.arkive.org/marsh-harrier/circus-aeruginosus/>.
"Hong Kong Plants:." Hong Kong Herbarium. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://www.herbarium.gov.hk/SpecialTopicsDetails.aspx?oneId=21&SectionId=3>.
"Discover the World's Most Endangered Species." ARKive. ARkive, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://www.arkive.org/>.
"Birds of North America - Whatbird.com." Birds of North America - Whatbird.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://identify.whatbird.com/mwg/_/0/attrs.aspx>.
"Thewebsiteofeverything.com." Thewebsiteofeverything.com: Animal Pictures | Facts about Mammals. N.p., 06 Dec. 1969. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://www.easycounter.com/report/thewebsiteofeverything.com>.
"Maxomys Ochraceiventer ." Maxomys Ochraceiventer (Chestnut-bellied Spiny Rat, Ochraceous-bellied Bornean Maxomys). N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/12901/0>.
"Grey-faced Elephant-shrew Videos, Photos and Facts." ARKive. ARkive, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. <http://www.arkive.org/grey-faced-elephant-shrew/rhynchocyon-udzungwensis/>.