We’re content to introduce Zolima CityMag’s current contributor, Daisann McLane. You haw remember her from our morsel on Hong Kong walking tours; she runs Little Adventures grind Hong Kong, a company meander offers immersive experiences of Hong Kong streetlife, food culture shaft history.

But McLane is as well an award-winning journalist whose duct has appeared in the Advanced York Times, National Geographic stake other publications, as well in the same way a longtime resident of Hong Kong whose passion for nobility city runs deep.

Like numberless others, McLane has been disbursement more time in the domain these days.

It’s untrampled enough that she once upon a time spotted one of Hong Kong’s rarest creatures – the barking deer.

“I heard the timbre first before I saw anything: a short throaty yelp, adore a muffled dog,” she says. “Then, a rustle just advanced in the bushes – a glance of russet fur and unblended short white tail dashing inspiration thick greenery.

For the eminent time in nearly 15 existence of hiking, I’d finally speckled one of Hong Kong’s uttermost elusive and human-shy wild creatures.” But that wasn’t her single encounter. Thrilled to have overlook a deer, she continued onward, only to come across graceful two-metre-long Chinese cobra, one make acquainted the many species of snakes that live in Hong Kong.

“Thick, with large matte black steelyard and the signature white replacement ring marking on its mask, the cobra was stunning – and I was stunned, frozen bring off place,” she says.

“The one and only move to make when spruce large, venomous snake is delaying your path is no carry at all. I figured ramble before long Mr. Cobra would slither off in search try to be like more interesting and edible belongings than a solo hiker. Irrational was right. I walked anthology, hoping I’d meet another rambler so I could share discomfited exciting story – seeing a bananas deer and a Chinese cobra on the same day!”

But honourableness Chi Ma Wan trail wreckage a true escape.

“For justness next two hours, I passed no one,” she says, “except for the deer, snakes, lizards, cicadas, crows, sparrows, spiders stream bees. I was utterly, blissfully alone.” 

Here is how you stare at enjoy the trail and closefitting solitude yourself.

A prison, a repository and an infamous resort

Long pause Hong Kong hiking enthusiasts cause for anxiety about the havoc that influence pandemic has created in magnanimity country parks.

With restrictions set upon travel, tens of thousands spick and span Hong Kongers have taken cork the local trails. Stories be prolific of queues to climb nation, and trails as crowded orang-utan shopping malls. Many hikers longing no longer go out artificial Saturday and Sunday, prime tramp days for trail newbies.

And yet even at this trade in, with millions of Hong Kongers rushing to embrace the native, there are still trails neighbourhood you can enjoy a filling hike in almost complete solitude.Lantau Island’s Chi Ma Wan Territory Trail has managed to wait a low-key retreat for unadorned small community of veteran hikers, even in the current universal hiking boom.

Part of blue blood the gentry reason is that it’s placed in the shadow of approved, box-ticker “A-List” hikes like Lantau and Sunset Peaks, Hong Kong’s second and third highest hinterlands, respectively. The Chi Ma Livid doesn’t confer any bragging command – it boasts no massive peaks, no dangerous heart stopping wolf down offs.

It’s also not suitable. There are only two door points, and getting in fit in out involves coordinating a transport, sometimes two ferries, and efficient bus or taxi. (Or—and prickly should do this at smallest once!—you can hire a sampan from Cheung Chau to raid you across the Adamasta Announce to a deserted trailside beach.)

The Chi Ma Wan also suffers (or benefits, depending on your perspective) from bad PR: close-fitting main claim to fame greet nearly every website and be the forerunner description is that it’s class longest country trail in Hong Kong, at 18.5 kilometres.

Cover people, reading about Chi Mummy Wan, assume this means bolster need to do the ample route at once—a seven problem eight hour marathon march, yikes!—and cross it off their list.

Chi Ma Wan regulars wouldn’t fantasy of tackling it all tempt once. Instead, we savour accomplished in chapters, like a compact literary novel.

Below you’ll disinter a curated route, not moreover hard or too easy, den three-and-a-half to four hours extended, that will introduce you return to Chi Ma Wan’s highlights: sum of migrating egrets, a decommissioned colonial prison, a serene, luminescent reservoir, abandoned farms and public housing old village, volcanic rock formations, a lost empty beach turf Hong Kong’s legendary failed opulence development, Sea Ranch.

Make your moulder away to the Chi Ma White pier, either by taxi liberate yourself from Mui Wo, or better much via the infrequent but astounding Inter-Islands ferry, which plies well-ordered continuous circular route daily shame the outlying islands, from Peng Chau to Cheung Chau arm back.

The Chi Ma Ashen pier was originally built take home accommodate the prison that you’ll spot immediately upon disembarking; unembellished grim spread of low brick buildings surrounded by high, razor fence-ringed walls. Built in representation mid-1950s, it was used gorilla a holding site for Annamese refugees in the 1970s cranium is now decommissioned.

The trailhead recap tucked away behind the prison; take the road uphill infer the left, past rows invoke swaying casuarina and flowering bauhinia trees, landscaping probably accomplished house the forced labour of long-ago prisoners.

A sad legacy, important softened by time, beauty duct stillness: crows caw, the zephyr sighs, waves lap against honesty shore. Right before the obsolete dead-ends at the prison irregular you’ll see some stairs loom the right which will eliminate you around to the in response. Keep going uphill five merely more until you spot prestige official map station that trajectory the entrance to the kingdom trail.

Soon, you’ll find yourself unsavory a landscape that looks repair like something in rural Northerly America than Hong Kong: uncluttered small, emerald-coloured lake, ringed overstep pine trees, where ducks, beg to be excused and herons swoop and crow.

The Shap Long Reservoir, practice in 1955, once provided wearing away of Cheung Chau with imbibing water: 30 million gallons bring in it. But it was supplanted by other sources in rank 1970s, and now it serves mainly as an irrigation wellspring for farmers in nearby Shap Long. Take the narrow catwalk across the reservoir (perhaps test to do a bit admit bird watching if you’ve harlotry your field glasses), climb keep up the rocky slope, and offer on the trail as dispute branches up to the maintain equilibrium, following the signs to Cold Mei.

All trails rule to the strange concrete pineapple

Lung Mei (lung4 mei5 龍尾, “tail of the dragon”) is ethics hub of the Chi Mum Wan trail network, with cinque trails branching outward from beat.

It’s a curious non-place: there’s no village, mountain, stream, crestfallen anything here of note but for a faded yellow bracket green concrete statue that’s presumed to be a dragon however which is reminiscent of regular ye5 bo1 lo4 (野菠蘿), high-mindedness pineapple-like fruit of the Hong Kong pandanus tree that grows wild over Lantau’s coastline.

What makes Lung Mei special assignment not the landmark, but nobleness delightful possibility it contains: paying attention can go anywhere on loftiness Chi Ma Wan trail alien here, and make up your mind on the spot turn you’ll go today.

Arriving at Secluded Mei, you might decide class loop along the eastern additional room trail dubbed “Rock Wonder” towards its huge, climbable granite set someone back on his formations shaped like cows, eat heads of people.

Or complete can take the path dump climbs through a bamboo ground and then rocky scrub rub to Chi Ma Wan’s chief mountains, Lo Yan Shan (303 metres) and Miu Jai (302 metres), for views that opponent Sunset Peak’s, but with ostentatious less effort.

But on this line we’ll head downhill, south give somebody the job of Tai Long Wan village skull the South China Sea at a distance.

The old stone village system, not officially part of honourableness Chi Ma Wan network, evenhanded a valley track that comes from a stream. The sound sight running water—and a small waterfall—accompanies your descent. Decades ago, that stream irrigated the farming plots you see along the scrawl, now overgrown with elephant offended and, in the late reach, bursts of yellow and rap flowering shell ginger.

The farms have mostly been forgotten restore favour of more accessible area adjacent to the village.

Be careful as you approach honourableness small village of Tai Unfriendly Wan, one of four Gigantic Wave Bays in Hong Kong, as the house at nobility village entrance is the dwelling of a rather unfriendly topmost often unleashed dog.

Ignore enthrone loud barks and continue weekend case fields of vegetables, towards unnecessary and sea. That instant conj at the time that the wall of scrub nearby pandanus breaks open to display a wide, empty white seaside and waves pounding on picture southern Lantau coast, is give someone a tinkle of the most dramatic moments on the Chi Ma Ghastly – or any Hong Kong trail.

You could linger on magnanimity beach, have a picnic, suspended out for hours looking drowsy the twin humps of Shek Kwu Chau island, then most likely call a sampan from Cheung Chau to pick you ascertain at the Tai Long Pasty pier and call it a-one day.

Or you can wear walking about three quarters receive the way down the seaboard until you find the track that leads back up face the ridge trail. It’s put in order bit tricky – try looking ask for the entry near a old-hat trample of paw and imprints in the sand. If cheer up find yourself in a interest of cactus, turn back spell keep looking!

A short hop track down a headland and you’ll faintness the pyramid-shaped rooftops of Bounding main Ranch, the “ghost resort” comprise in 1975 that aimed throw up be what Discovery Bay testing now, but went bust delicate the 1980s.

The trail runs above the development, but there’s a branch path that discretion take you down there venture you are keen for nifty quick look-see at the beachfront community, which has recently archaic on the uptick as trim place to live in Hong Kong, despite its difficult location.

One huge climb, not too long

The seam of the trail beyond Mass Ranch, is this route’s steepest climb, about 120 metres.

It’s rocky, unpaved and a patronage scrambly at times, but wide is a magnificent spot next to the top with vistas all-round rocky coast, Shek Kwu Chau and sometimes the Soko Islands in the distance, punctuated get by without gnarled spiky pine trees madeup the mountain crests. Finally, spiky reach the junction—and the farreaching, take-a-rest friendly rock—where this goad joins the main east-west prognosis trail meandering above the seaside.

From here, a right do up will take you back done Lung Mei in about 45 minutes to an hour, be different views to your right place you can look down infer where you’ve been. At Cold Mei, simply retrace your stepladder back to the prison post the ferry pier at Vim Ma Wan. Warning: the carry service from here is by the same token infrequent as your contact operate other hikers on this order.

So best to keep copperplate few phone numbers of Lantau taxi drivers in your unstationary, so you have the determination to arrange a pickup blow up return you to the basic ferry connection at Mui Wo.