3 minute read
Seen on Lung Fu Shan
by Woody Wu
With COVID-19 raging around the globe, it has not been an easy year. Nobody who enjoys exploring and living the dream of travelling around the world would have thought a pandemic would leave them grounded in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, it has given me the chance to reflect on life through local tourism.
Even before the pandemic, I loved exploring Hong Kong’s countryside. From time to time, I met up with friends from secondary school and went looking for wild animal tracks around Hoi Ha, Tai Po Kau, Mai Po and other locations. Last April, as the weather became warmer and amphibians and reptiles became more active, a university hall mate familiar with the local ecology, invited me to go on a night walk up Lung Fu Shan to look for snakes and frogs that are rarely seen during the day.
Because of the ban on large social gatherings, the mountainside was surprisingly busy, even at night. There were joggers and walkers as well as people like ourselves looking high and low for the normally hidden face of nature. There are times when there is nothing special to see and the reward comes just in the process of looking and the people you go with. But this time, I was lucky.
All of a sudden I heard a loud rustling in the trees above. I looked up. It was my first encounter with a masked palm civet. We looked each other in the eye, and thankfully, it wasn’t scared away. Indeed, here on the edge of the country park, it seemed to have become accustomed to living near people. In the few seconds of its appearance, it almost felt as if we recognized one another even though there was only time to take a photograph.
This meeting helped me understand the value of preserving the ecological resources that remain in Hong Kong and reflect upon what we can do for the native inhabitants of Lung Fu Shan. I became an intern at Lung Fu Shan Environmental Education Centre and as a result began frequenting the area. That gave me the chance to come into contact again with the little creatures that live there.
Lung Fu Shan is the smallest country park in Hong Kong and the home of thousands of species of wild animals. There are many stories about it and the conservation efforts made by a host of mountain-goers. Once I knew more about the mountains, I no longer pursued only rare species. I could experience the realities of existence just by observing silently every movement of the tiny ants in the Education Centre’s garden as I watched them find food and a mate – and then die.
This natural classroom made me realize how hard it is to maintain a pristine natural environment. It also taught me how to appreciate the beauty of nature. I may have lost the chance to travel overseas in 2020, but with loss came gains. As more and more people took to the hills during the pandemic, it was a good opportunity to start noticing and caring about Hong Kong’s ecology. Some started collecting trash on the hills and on the beaches as a contribution to environmental protection.
If only that contribution could last and become everyone’s habit, not just a short-lived phenomenon.
Woody Wu is a Year 2 student in the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Arts and an intern at Lung Fu Shan Environmental Education Centre.
The Centre opened in April 2008, jointly established by the Environmental Protection Department and The University of Hong Kong.
More details lungfushan.hku.hk/en
