Tai Lam Country Park

Occupying 5,412 hectares of sylvan grounds in the Western New Territories, Tai Lam Country Park is the second largest country park in Hong Kong. Designated in 1979, it encompasses a vast area extending from Tsuen Wan to Tuen Mun. The boundaries lie along Route Twisk in the east; the countryside north of Tuen Mun Highway in the south; Shek Kong, the Ho Pui Catchments and Tai Tong in the north; and Tuen Mun and Lam Tei Reservoir in the west. Except for a small band of porphyry in the northeastern corner, Tai Lam Country Park is largely granite which is vulnerable to erosion and bears clear signs of degradation.

 

In the past, tungsten and other ores were mined in Lin Fa Shan near Route Twisk. Production ceased after the war as ore prices dropped, but old mines have remained to this day. Scattered in these hills are abandoned pits, evoking memories of a boom time long gone.

 

Tai Lam Chung Reservoir inside the Tai Lam Country Park was the first water storage facility built after the war. Commenced in 1951, this monumental project included the major task of constructing a main dam. The magnificent enclosure was the most impressing concrete structure in Hong Kong at the time. Towering 150 ft above the lake, it boasts pipelines that cover the entire Kowloon Peninsula to link up with the territory-wide water supply network.