Silver Mine Waterfall

The Silver Mine Waterfall at Mui Wo, eastern Lantau, is one of the most easily reached of Hong Kong's best waterfalls. It's accessible by strolling gentle trails, passing by the beach, village houses, and through fields and woodland. Like all our waterfalls, it's best just after - or even during - spells of heavy rain.

One way of heading there is to arrive at Mui Wo by ferry or bus, then walk along the waterfront, towards the beach. Take a bridge over the creek, and walk above the beach till you come to the mouth of a small, mangrove fringed creek.

Turn left at the mouth of the creek, and you soon reach a narrow rural road. Turn right here, and the road follows the creek; the housing soon thins out, as the road narrows to a footpath..

Walking here recently, we saw butterflies including this stonking red helen, feeding on nectar on flowers by the path.

There's a small trail junction, with a signpost that may be in disrepair, or may point the way left, to the waterfall. Onwards! - and the environment is now verdant, with overgrown fields on the right. The path climbs a little, through woodland on Butterfly Hill. THen, down through more woods, and through overgorwn fields, with a stream on the left.

There's another junction, and a right turn soon leads to the foot of the waterfall. Here, there's a pavilion, and you can scramble over rocks at the foot of the cascades - but if you scramble, be careful, especially if the stream's flowing strongly.

This is a good place to linger, and explore vantages for taking photos...

... and for shooting video.

A concrete path runs uphill from near the pavilion; up this - level with the top of the fall - is the entrance to an abandoned silver mine. The entrance is blocked (a little way inside), with only a small hole to allow bats to access and leave their daytime roost in the cool interior. Above this - though accessible only by a rather faint trail, I'm told, is an even better waterfall.

Near the pavilion, there's also this quirky signpost. To take a different way back to the ferry pier (and bus terminus), follow the signs towards Pak Ngan Heung and Man  Mo Temple.

Soon after the signpost, there's a rather fine village gate; the path passes close by the Man Mo Temple, with it's bright n cheery exterior (looking gloomier inside, as is the norm with local temples). Then, on through a small village, and you can follow paths that wind back towards the ferry pier.