WHAT: One of the four beaches that make up the Tai Long Wan (Big Wave Bay) area, Sai Wan is the location of one of the popular surfing destinations in Hong Kong.
WHERE: Located in the Sai Kung East Country Park, it is accessible from Sai Kung town by bus.
ACTIVITIES: Coastal Watch, Leadership camps, surf, bodyboard, kayak, canyoneering, challenge course, orienteering, scavenger hunt, habitat study, nature walk, night walk, camping, camp craft, swimming, beach activities.
Locations
Tai Long Sai Wan
Cheung Chau
WHAT: A quiet island steeped in pirate history and even more ancient culture, with popular beaches and coastal paddling.
WHERE: located a short ferry ride away from Central.
ACTIVITIES: nature walk, farming, kayaking, village history walk, beach activities, coastal exploration, service, cooking, pirate history, Coastal Watch.
Wong Yi Chau and Sharp Island
WHAT: a secluded island with a YMCA youth camp on-site and a remote island with excellent snorkeling.
WHERE: located a short boat trip from Sai Kung town.
ACTIVITIES: Camping, Camp craft, Cooking, Survival, Sea kayaking, Orienteering, Nature Walk, Habitat Study, Mangrove exploration, Coasteering, Snorkeling, Beach activities, Swimming, Night walk, night games, campfire, star-gazing.
Tan Ka Wan
WHAT: the ideal spot for kayak training, kayak expeditions or a weekend getaway with friends and family.
WHERE: a remote bay located to the northern end of the Hong Kong Geopark.
ACTIVITIES: Camping, cooking, kayak training, kayak expeditions, snorkeling, hiking, habitat studies, beach activities.
Tai O
WHAT: A fishing village with a strong tourism draw, Tai O is famous for its stilt houses and as the jumping-off point for seeing the Chinese white dolphin.
WHERE: Located on the southwestern end of Lantau island.
ACTIVITIES: leadership camps, organic farming, camping, canyoneering, culture walk, dolphin spotting, kayaking.
Kaiping
WHAT: a heritage preservation area with strong links to the Chinese diaspora.
WHERE: located in the Kaiping area amongst UNESCO World Heritage sites.
ACTIVITIES: heritage preservation, farming, community service projects, Chinese diaspora, biking, hiking, cooking.
Song Valley
WHAT: a social enterprise working with the local farmers and villagers in the Heshan Valley to help improve their livelihood through education and connecting them with buyers of their organic produce.
WHERE: Song Valley (a.k.a. Heshan Valley) sits like a crater nestled in mountains between Jianmeng and Foshan.
ACTIVITIES: farming, community service projects, mud brick making, nature study, hiking, cooking, camp craft, heritage walk, campfire.
Song Valley (AKA Heshan Valley) sits like a crater nestled in mountains between Jianmeng and Foshan. Until 2015 when a 5.4km tunnel through the mountain was completed, it took villagers seven hours to travel to Shenzhen on narrow and winding roads. The journey now takes less than three hours. Because of its relatively lack of access, it escaped the rapid industrialization that took place the Guangdong province in the 80s and 90s. There are no factories and industry in this area. Many of the old forests and villages in the area remains well preserved and are now protected under the Chinese government’s conservation project. The Heshan Valley is a time capsule of what Guangdong would have looked and felt like in the 1970s. Unfortunately, due to the lack of conservation knowledge, many local farmers in the mid-80s deforested a larger area to grow eucalyptus trees as a cash crop and have denuded the soil.
The Song Valley group is a social enterprise working with the local farmers and villagers in the Heshan Valley to help improve their livelihood through education and connecting them with buyers of their organic produce. They also work with the State Forestry Administration (SFA) to
help conserve the forest through an educational programme with schools in the grater Guangdong area, working with the villagers to reforest the low lands with indigenous trees, working with SFA to create a low carbon way to enjoy the national forest parks by eking suitable hiking trails and camping facilities.
The Song Valley Camp Site was established in 2016 repurposing the abandoned national forest rangers headquarter built in 1978.
A short distance off the coast of Sai Kung town is Wong Yi Chau, a small island in the protected Shelter Bay area, where we base ourselves. Dorm and tent accommodation allow for a variety of sleeping experience, while the limited access and the 24-hour presence of YMCA staff allow for secure peace of mind. Here the camping experience can be explored with camp craft activities, cooking and night walks, exposing participants to new and unfamiliar experiences. Kayaking and mangrove exploration immerse the students in the coastal and marine environments.
The second island visited is Sharp Island (KiuTsui Chau), the biggest of the 8 islands that make up the KiuTsui Chau Country Park, part of the Hong Kong Geopark. This area was once part of a 20 km wide volcano’s caldera, and the rocks below give evidence of that turbulent history.
The surrounding corals are easy to access from the beach, as is the small island Kiu Tau connected to Sharp Island by a natural tombolo, exposed only at low tide. Here is where you will explore the natural surroundings, swimming over coral, clambering over rocks around the islands and running across the sandy beaches, as well as turning over rocks and logs to find what crawls beneath.
ACTIVITIES
Camping, Camp craft, Cooking, Survival, Sea kayaking, Orienteering, Nature Walk, Habitat Study, Mangrove exploration, Coasteering, Snorkeling, Beach activities, Swimming, Night walk, night games, campfire, star-gazing.
One of the four beaches that make up the Tai Long Wan (Big Wave Bay) area, Sai Wan is the location of one of the popular surfing destinations in Hong Kong. It is also home to some of the most fascinating geological formations in Hong Kong, with volcanically-formed columnar-jointed fine-grained tuffs forming steep cliffs, sea caves and arches. These formations make it a spectacular part of the Hong Kong Geopark and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
With this backdrop, the Sai Wan area is one of the most beautiful areas in Hong Kong for activities and exploration, expanding our understanding of the natural world and our place in it. The cleanest water in Hong Kong makes this an ideal place for water-based activities. The remoteness of the location means that it is one of the best places to have a chance to see stars in the dark sky. Exploring the coastline from the comfort of a kayak is also a great way to learn more about the fascinating geology of the Geopark.
ACTIVITIES
Coastal Watch, Leadership camps, surf, bodyboard, kayak, canyoneering, challenge course, orienteering, scavenger hunt, habitat study, nature walk, night walk, camping, camp craft, swimming, beach activities.
Tai O village’s placement on the end of Lantau island means it is well-situated to take advantage of the bounty of the sea. A fishing village with a strong tourism draw, Tai O is famous for its stilt houses and as the jumping-off point for seeing the Chinese white dolphin or locally known “pink dolphin” habitat, currently being carved up by construction on the Macau-Zhuhai-Hong Kong bridge.
Existing for hundreds of years in its current location, Tai O started as a place for salt production. As time went on, salt production declined and fishing became more prominent, though today’s fishing capacity is highly impacted by modern fishing methods. As fishing declined, Tai O found itself as a tourism spot, where visitors from the city can see an old way of life. Through it all, persevering in the face of adversity, whether it be storms, fires or government intervention, Tai O survives and is now one of the best places in Hong Kong to see the endangered “pink dolphin”.
ACTIVITIES
Leadership camps, camping, canyoneering, culture walk, dolphin spotting, kayaking.
Nestled in the karst hills of Guilin along the Hua Jiang River lies an educational eco-farm; a fantastic location for connecting students with their food and how it comes to their table. Students can camp under the stars, removed from the light pollution of Hong Kong or sleep in the comfort of a dorm bed. The daytime explorations immerse the students in the natural world, learning about various habitats, connecting them in ways many modern youth do not get to experience in their daily lives. They will walk along the Tea Horse Route through ancient villages and farmscapes and learn about a fast disappearing way of life. They can help serve the local community there by making mud bricks that will be used to rebuild the adobe houses in the community.
ACTIVITIES
Planting, composting, picking and eating, cooking, habitat hike, river kayaking, swimming, river exploration, hiking, camping, fishing, bicycling, bamboo crafts, culture walk, mud brick-making, night activities, service.
Famous for seafood, it’s Bun Festival and its pirate history, the island that we know of today as Cheung Chau was originally two islands, before over 4000 yrs ago when sand and gravel were swept into the gap, connecting the islands by a natural tombolo.
The human history of Cheung Chau goes back several thousand years, before much of what is now Hong Kong was settled, as evidenced by the Bronze Age (3500 yr. old) stone carving below the Warwick Hotel.
Cheung Chau was eventually settled by peoples from several places in southern China – Hoklos, Punti, Hakka and Chiu Chau all made their way to Cheung Chau and formed distinct communities on the island, lending it a diverse collection of peoples.
As Hong Kong became more prosperous and a centre of trade for Chinese markets, the lure of wealth and the multitude of hiding places along its many miles of coastline encouraged local pirates to ply the waters. The most famous of which is Cheung Po Tsai, who supposedly hid in a local cave.
Participants can paddle the same waters as pirates, explore the diverse communities of the village area and learn more about the natural history of this fascinating island.
ACTIVITIES
Nature walk, farming, kayaking, village history walk, PFS, beach activities, coastal exploration, service, cooking, pirate history, night activities, Coastal Watch