About Lantau

Lantau is Hong Kong's biggest (142 square kilometres) and most magnificent island. It is situated in the mouth of the Pearl River estuary and is home to Hong Kong's second and third tallest mountain peaks - Lantau Peak (934m) and Sunset Peak (869m).

Though it has a long and interesting history, and was once the last refuge of a fleeing emperor, Lantau had nothing but scattered, small villages in the 1950s, when the South Lantau Road and Shek Pik Reservoir were built.

1970's
The next wave of development came in the late 1970s with the construction of Discovery Bay, an isolated residential community accessible by ferry.

1990's
In the early 1990s, the island was connected to the mainland with the Tsing-Ma Bridge, the new airport was built at Chek Lap Kok, Discovery Bay was connected to the road network, and almost the entire north shore of Lantau was opened up to development, including two new towns of several hundred thousand people each.

Present Day
The south side of the island is still relatively intact, though haphazard village development, illegal dumping, and "rural improvement" works have degraded much of the village areas.

Most of Lantau is protected by the North and South Lantau Country Parks, which together comprise 7840 hectares. There are also five listed Sites of Special Scientific Interest on Lantau.

As Lantau is one of the largest relatively undeveloped areas of Hong Kong, it is an important ecological, recreational, historic, and scenic resource. Some of the most important areas are:

Ecological
The two richest streams in Hong Kong, the Tai Ho Stream and the Tung Chung Stream. These yielded 47 and 23 fish species, respectively, with a combined total of 57, or half of Hong Kong's freshwater fish species.

Several wetlands with rich diversity of bird and amphibian life. Mui Wo, Tai O, Pui O, and Shui Hau wetlands are all abandoned agricultural land, and as they are flat and accessible they are under threat of development.

Although forest fires are a constant threat, many of Lantau's forests are large and mature. They are home to a rich diversity of species, including rare orchids, snakes, bats, and dragonflies.

Lantau's coastal and marine ecology is also important. There is a marine park north of Lantau designated to protect the Chinese White Dolphin. South Lantau waters are also planned as future marine parks.

For more information on the ecology of Lantau, please see A Conservation Strategy for Lantau, GLA and other green groups, July 1998.

Recreational
There are many hiking trails crisscrossing Lantau, including the challenging 70 km Lantau Trail. Lantau scenery is varied and trails include mountain ridge walks coastal and forest walks. The Green Lantau Association conducts regular hikes.

-Lantau is home to one of the best beaches in Hong Kong, the Cheung Sha Upper Beach. It is consistently rated good water quality, accessible by road, and rarely crowded. There are many other fine beaches, not all of them gazetted, along Lantau's southern shore.

Historic
Lantau was an important strategic outpost in the 1700s and 1800s, and several forts and batteries remain from that period in Fan Lau and Tung Chung. Watch towers built to protect villages from pirate attacks can be seen in Mui Wo and Pak Mong.

The village of Tai O, once a major centre of salt production, fishing, and trade, still retains some traces of its long history, from salt pans to stilted houses.

Archeological remains from earlier times are occasionally found on Lantau. Some lime kilns can still be seen on the beach in front of Sea Ranch on Chi Ma Wan Peninsula.