Tolo harbour, Hong Kong : hidden beauty of the colony

Hong Kong is better known as a great place for shopping and dinning.  Visitors coming to Hong Kong spend most of their time in the city areas.  Many of them see its beautiful Victoria Harbour and laser light show at night.  Not many of them venture out to see its country side.  In fact, Hong Kong has many more scenic places outside the city. 

We have recently experienced an enjoyable boat tour in the Tolo Harbour which is in the Northeast of Hong Kong. The boat tour starts from the pier near the Chinese University of Hong Kong. There are regular ferry services to outer islands through the Tolo Channel.  A round trip tour takes about 3 hours. You can enjoy the boat tour in leisure and watch the beautiful scenery along the way. 


(Ferry for the harbour tour)

(Natural beach along the harbour)

Accordingly to historical records, Tolo Harbour had pearl farms during the Ming Dynasty.  It was also the sea route for Chinese pottery export to Southeast Asia.  Except the two new towns, Shatin and Tai Po, the Tolo Harbour has kept its natural beauty mostly unchanged.

There is a national geopark in the Eastern side of the Tolo Channel. Here you can see the oldest rocks in Hong Kong.  Red sedimentary rocks were deformed due to earth movement.  With years of erosion, these rocks formed many different and interesting shapes.  

(Devils' fist in Bluff Head)

(Red beds landscape in Port Island)

Going further East, you will reach the Eastern most island in Hong Kong, Tung Ping Chau.  It means flat island in the East.  The island was formed by sedimentary rocks. The whole island is flat at about 100 meters about sea level. Besides interesting rock structures, there are many butterflies in the island.  Walking around the whole island will take about 2 hours.

(Siltstone in Lung Lok Shui, Tung Ping Chau)

(Abrasion canyon in the island)

(Stone watch tower, Kang Lau Shek, in the island)

Next time when you visit Hong Kong, you should reserve half a day for the Tolo Harbour tour.  You can then see different faces of Hong Kong.  If you are interested to know more about the geopark, you can look up http://www.geopark.gov.hk/.