10 minute read
CHI MA WAN PENINSULA
CHI MA WAN PENINSULA
Scenic beauty, ecological highlights and the strangest housing development in Hong Kong
REPORTING BY Ray Au PHOTOS BY Andrew Spires
Off the Beaten Track - Sea Ranch site in splendid isolation; seldom-used hiking trails
Glorious scenery in Lantau South Country a
Nestled deep within Lantau South Country Park in the southeastern corner of Lantau, Chi Ma Wan Peninsula is a remote and seldom-visited outcrop replete with secluded bays, white-sand beaches, untamed hinterland and towering peaks. The scenery is seriously majestic and, since there are no roads to speak of, the best way to see it in all its glory is on foot.
A hiking trail from Pui O (detailed on page 26) takes you there via Mong Tung Wan. You’re heading into remote territory and, in untouched places like these, you can expect to see some of Lantau’s rarer species of wildlife up close (turn to page 25). The few residents live in scattered hamlets and the one-time upscale development Sea Ranch (turn to page 28).
Hiking here, you may not see anyone outside your group, particularly if you bypass the ‘popular’ stretches of Lantau Trail, so you need to bring all your provisions with you. If you’re making a weekend of it, you can stay at the youth hostel in Mong Tung Wan, or pitch your tent at the free, public campsite at Tai Long Wan. You’ll find there’s plenty to do. In addition to hiking, there’s swimming, fishing and rock climbing (all of the climbs at Eagle Crag and Temple Crag are between 17 and 24 metres), plus all kinds of technical single-track mountain biking without too much hill climbing, a rarity in Hong Kong.
Traces of man are few and far between in Chi Ma Wan Peninsula but there are a couple worth exploring. Chi Ma Wan Reservoir, with a capacity of 738,000,000 cubic feet, was once the largest reservoir in Hong Kong. Today, it is our third largest, ranking after High Island and Plover Cove. On its shores you’ll find two prisons – a youth offenders’ establishment and Chi Ma Wan Correctional Institution – both now out of use. Christian Zheng Sheng College, a private boarding school aimed at rehabilitating young drug abusers, lies a few kilometres southeast of Chi Ma Wan.
Notably too, as history buffs will tell you, the government has recently finished restoring a group of ancient limekilns in Yi Long Wan. These relics, which date back to the Sui Dynasty (500 AD), are now open to the public.
AT A GLANCE
LOCATION
Sandwiched between Mui Wo and Pui O on Lantau’s southeast coast, Chi Ma Wan Peninsula is located within the boundaries of Lantau South Country Park. There are many trails in the peninsula: Section 12 of the Lantau Trail cuts through it and it’s looped by the 18.5-kilometre Chi Ma Wan Country Trail.
TOPOGRAPHY
Chi Ma Wan Peninsula is contoured by coastal headlands and secluded bays. It boasts numerous pristine, white-sand beaches, notably Chi Ma Wan (Sesame Bay), Cheung Sha Wan, Tai Long Wan (which translates as Big Wave Bay, one of five in Hong Kong), Yi Long Wan and Mong Tung Wan. Its untamed hinterland is hilly and well-forested and there are two towering peaks – Lo Yan Shan (303 metres above sea level) and Tai Ngau Wu Teng (275 metres above sea level).
GETTING THERE
This is designated country parkland so there are no roads into the peninsula. You can hike or bike your way in or get a friendly boatman to drop you off in one of the bays.
Points of Interest - Mightly Lo Yan Sha
Desserted Tai Long Wan
NATURAL WONDERS
REPORTING BY Ray Au PHOTOS BY Martin Lerigo & Josef Raasch
Hike even a stretch of the 18.5-kilometre Chi Ma Wan Country Trail and you will be treated to some seriously majestic scenery. As you navigate the secluded bays and coves along the coast, you’ll be wowed by the desolate white-sand beaches which are alternately lapped and lashed by the tempestuous South China Sea. Peculiar rock formations on the headlands draw your eye inland to gently rolling hillsides and two towering peaks, where whitebellied sea eagles surf the air.
Heading inland into the ‘jungle,’ you’ll find vast plantations of trees, planted to reinvigorate valleys and hillsides denuded by hill fires. Given the poor soil and coastal location, early afforestation species were mostly large, fast-growing trees, such as Taiwan Acacia, Brisbane Box and Slash Pine. In recent years, native species like Chinese Hackberry, Fragrant Litsea, Camphor Tree, Reevesia, Chinese Banyan and Strawberry Tree have been introduced. These glorious woodlands in turn harbour native flora species like Tree Ginseng, sweet-scented Hong Kong Magnolia and the endangered Gmelina chinensis.
Many of the peninsula’s jungle trails are seldom used, which means you have a good chance of spotting some of Hong Kong’s most retiring wildlife on your trek. You may hear the distinctive cry, like that of a jackal, of a barking deer foraging on the upper slopes, and you’ll likely see tree squirrels moving nimbly through the trees. Be aware too that snakes are prevalent on these trails. Look out for a Burmese Python, Chinese Cobra or White-Lipped Pit Viper basking on the open path or an a nearby rocky outcrop – and keep a respectful distance.
Wild Beauty Rugged and desolate Tai Long Wan
An egret at Shap Long
RESERVOIR HIKE
On the banks of Chi Ma Wan Reservoir
REPORTING & PHOTOS BY Martin Lerigo
Any hike into the Chi Ma Wan Peninsula takes you on trails that are known to only the more adventurous of Lantau’s hikers. This one will be challenging thanks to some seriously steep ascents; you’ll get some amazing views of the South Lantau coastline and you’ll be deep in the ‘jungle’ for much of the time. Far-flung Chi Ma Wan Reservoir (also known as Shap Long Reservoir) is a highlight, and it’s interesting to see the two prisons on its shores, both now defunct.
The first stretch of the hike from Pui O to Mong Tung Wan takes you through a couple of villages to the tiny hamlet of Ham Tin. Soon enough, the road bends sharply to the left, followed 100 metres later by a sharp right, before emerging to an amazing reveal of the estuary and beach.
Take the coastline path marked for Mong Tung Wan, and enjoy the wonderful views afforded from its vantage point 100 metres above the sea. You can see both Lantau and Sunset peaks; the Soko Islands in the foreground give way to Wei Ling Ding Island in the mists beyond. Finding yourself in Mong Tung Wan, the small stretch of beach fronts three large apartment blocks, now lying empty. Continue along the path as it ascends steeply up 100 metres of hillside. Once at the top, take a right and continue along the coast.
As the path turns west, there is an option to descend to the right to Tai Long Wan and the near-deserted Sea Ranch development at Yi Long Wan. But keep straight on, enjoying views across the sea to Cheung Chau, with its pretty harbour, teaming with fishing boats. In the distance, you glimpse Lamma Island and Central.
Here, the thick jungle foliage is interspersed with outcrops of natural bamboo and the occasional grove of planted pine.
Continue for another 3 kilometres or so, before arriving at a four-way junction marked with a yellow concrete lotus leaf. Follow the path leading to Chi Ma Wan Country Park Management Centre.
As the path starts to descend into a lush and shady valley, streams flow on either side and rows of Camphor trees line your way. Clambering down, you find yourself in a swampy, misty, humid place, and on your left, you get your first glimpse of deep and mesmeric Chi Ma Wan Reservoir.
As you continue on, its expanse opens up – a small yet gracefully formed body of water, built to service the two prisons that sit nearby. Emerging, at the reservoir wall, you may well choose to linger for a while, soaking in the glorious view.
Next, follow a jungle track, part-concrete, to the entrance of inmate-free Chi Ma Wan Correctional Institution. Dating from 1956, the original prison was the first ‘open’ facility in Hong Kong, later upgraded to house more serious offenders, with high double fences added to the original exterior. Take the road past the now defunct prison officers’ club, and continue along the coast, walking alongside the prison’s outer fence.
Soon enough, you spot the second of Chi Ma Wan’s prisons just ahead, this one a former Vietnamese refugee camp, later converted to a youth offenders’ institution. The path rises above it, affording views of the cell blocks and workshops now gathering moss and dust.
Follow the road to Shap Long, a charming series of three hamlets, astride an estuarial inlet and flood plain, home to water buffalo and migratory birds. Watch out too for fiddler crabs, who, with large claws to the fore, gather food at low tide.
From Shap Long, you can head north, taking the well-marked coastal path to Mui Wo (another two hours of hiking), or make your way east back up the hill to Ham Tin and Pui O.
Jungle track near Mong Tung Wan
THE LURE OF SEA RANCH
REPORTING BY Andrew Spires PHOTOS BY Andrew Spires & Josef Raasch
Out on a junk trip, speeding by Yi Long Wan on the Chi Ma Wan Peninsula, you may have spotted Sea Ranch’s gleaming white towers and wondered who lives there – and how they get about. There’s clearly no road access, or public ferry, so does their day start and end with a hike to Pui O?
As it turns out, the 40+ residents who remain at Sea Ranch make use of a private ferry to and from Cheung Chau; still quite a schlep if you suddenly find yourself out of milk. But accessibility isn’t a plus for everyone – even everyone in Hong Kong.
Sea Ranch sits above a man-made beach
The real sense of isolation is what must have brought the party people to buy here back in the 70s and 80s. (A swish weekend retreat for senior executives completed in 1979, Sea Ranch was a kind of Eyes Wide Shut, secret handshake of a development that only those in the know, knew.) And arguably Sea Ranch’s inaccessibility is still the lure – that, and the price. A 1,240-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment, with a large balcony and beautiful sea view, comes in at around HK$4.9 million.
Designed as a HK$40 million utopian pocket of seclusion, with 200 five-star apartments, Sea Ranch sold well at the start but within a short while there was trouble in paradise. The original developer Hutchison Whampoa got into serious debt and sold the holding company Holiday Resorts to apartment owners for HK$1 in 1983. There was further disruption in 1996, when a group of residents parted ways with Holiday Resorts and formed a new committee named Incorporated Owners, which now holds majority control.
There's no road access or public ferry
The closure of all of the original lures, including the helipad, clubhouse, swimming pool, a buzzing cocktail lounge replete with full-size snooker table, saunas and a children’s nursery, was inevitable. The man-made beach is still there, but everything else has been covered with tarpaulins or chained up.
Sea Ranch is now inhabited by a quiet bunch of retirees and reclusive/ artistic types – and people who get to work from home. The main staircase up to the resort has long been washed away by the sea but the rest of the development looks in remarkably good order. The few remaining residents clearly care about their hideaway. It’s cheap, underpopulated and by the sea. What’s not to like?
Paradise found for the few remaining residents
