Explore Wild Hong Kong! is the first video guide to Hong Kong’s magnificent natural diversity.
“I think the photography is excellent… very informative… I found it very interesting.”
Phil Keoghan, host, multiple Emmy Award-winning “The Amazing Race”
Explore Wild Hong Kong! is the first video guide to Hong Kong’s magnificent natural diversity. Covering scenery ranging from craggy islands and beaches to and waterfalls and hilltops, and featuring temples and villages, rare birds and pink dolphins, the film was sponsored by Cathay Pacific and co-produced by Asiatic Marine and Dr Martin Williams (founder of Hong Kong Outdoors), with music by Hugh Trethowan of Keyboard Pilots, main cameraman Antony Frew.
Condensed version of Explore Wild Hong Kong – giving whistle stop tour of Hong Kong
Explore wild Hong Kong from Shek O, to Sai Kung, Mai Po, and Lantau
“It is my view this video is required viewing for residents as well as tourists and others who are interested in Hong Kong.”
“A heartfelt tribute to the greener side of the city that few visitors never even know.”
Explore Wild Hong Kong! opens on Hong Kong Island, with surf pounding rocks at Shek O, before moving northeast to islands and beaches in the Sai Kung area, on to waterfalls and villages in the northeast New Territories, and sweeping west to include Kadoorie Farm and Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve. After watching bird flocks at Mai Po, Frew heads south to find Chinese white dolphins and explore Lantau, and almost completes a circuit of Hong Kong by taking a ferry to Cheung Chau.
En route, Frew meets people including kayaker Paul Etherington; Dr Chiu Sein Tuck, head of Kadoorie Farm¡¦s Education Department; Bena Smith, reserve officer at Mai Po; Lantau conservationist Loy Ho; and ultra-enthusiastic dolphin tour leader Tak Ching.
A key aim is to promote nature tourism in Hong Kong, and so help to protect our remaining rural areas.
Filming was challenging – with Frew and Williams often waiting for suitable weather, then journeying out by car, boat and on foot to some of Hong Kong’s wildest locales, sometimes working in high heat and humidity. When completing the film, they worked with Hugh Trethowan of Keyboard Pilots, who supplied tracks from his extensive library and composed music for the title sequences. The film was edited by Digital Magic – which had created special effects for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
DVD
A DVD with the 28-minute video was available, with proceeds received by Cathay Pacific going to the Asian Waterbird Conservation Fund, which Cathay Pacific launched with the World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong in 2005.
The DVD came with a pocket map (Z-Card), with maps and info on destinations covered in the video. The DVD package cover and map were produced by McCann Erickson (based on original map by Bernie Owen); I did the text and photos.
No longer available for sale.
You can see some of the responses to the film on the forum here, at Comments on Explore Wild Hong Kong!
