Kicking the habitat
On a recent Saturday night, the tranquillity of Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve is shattered by an invasion of visitors. Guided by torchlight, the group of about 50 adults and children make their way along a track, chattering and cheering. Their guide tries to maintain control by shouting instructions, but to no avail.
The nocturnal nature tour turns out to be a letdown: the group fails to see the wild boars or owls highlighted in tour brochures and youngsters are especially disappointed not to see any fireflies. Even toads and frogs seem thin on the ground. The guide searches long and hard before spotting a toad holed up in a drainage outlet; then everyone queues up to get a closer look of the creature, camera flashes going off as they take the obligatory snaps.
As the night wears on, the hills resound with chatter as other busloads of visitors arrive, some group members almost losing track of each other in the scramble.
Nocturnal nature tours first surfaced in 2003, when Hongkongers became more interested in outdoor activities following the outbreak of Sars. But as they became lucrative activities for local travel firms, the size and frequency of visits swelled and the tours began to lose much of their educational character. Conservationists and experienced guides lament that little consideration is given to the effect of such big groups on natural habitats, and wildlife and environment are suffering as a result.
'When [night tours] first started there used to be three or four small groups, each of about 20 people, visiting Tai Po Kau [at the weekend],' says Erik Yip Hang-wing, a nature guide who has worked for different travel companies. 'But now it's not uncommon to see more than seven groups of about 50 people each going there on any given Saturday night. It's a popular family activity.'
Leon Lau Man-chung, founder of nature tour company Green Plaza, maintains a blog chronicling how visitors have wreaked havoc at Tai Po Kau on his website hk-green.com. 'There are discarded glow sticks hanging from trees and rubbish strewn in streams. They've gone too far. It's sad,' says Lau.