Tai Po Kau: A Forest Planted into Hong Kong’s Hills

Tai Po Kau is often imagined as a quiet forest, but its present woodland has a history of deliberate planting. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department says planting in the area began in 1926, when the government first began afforestation in the New Territories. The reserve’s trees therefore tell a story of both nature and public land management. The site was originally called the Tai Po Kau plantation, a name that points directly to this history. The official description places the forest on steep catchment slopes, extending from around 50 metres above sea level toward Grassy Hill at 647 metres. Its elevation and terrain make water, woodland and walking paths central to the visitor’s experience. Tai Po Kau’s character reflects a century of planting decisions and changing conservation priorities.

Chinese red pine was once the dominant tree, and the reserve became locally known as Tsung Tsai Yuen, or Pine Garden. The name preserves a memory of what once gave the woodland its visual identity. Later planting introduced small areas of camphor, China fir, Taiwan acacia and paper-bark tree. The reserve now contains more than one hundred tree species, including native plants such as fragrant litsea, giant bean and sweet gum. A visitor walking beneath the canopy may notice the ground covered in large brown leaves from Castanopsis fissa. The AFCD notes that this timber tree was formerly used to make agricultural implements such as wooden ploughs. A fallen leaf can therefore open a small window onto human use as well as botany: a tree that now contributes to forest habitat also once supplied material for farming tools.

Tai Po Kau is known for woodland birds, including species less likely to be seen in other parts of Hong Kong. The AFCD describes residents and seasonal visitors, from bulbuls to owls, wagtails, cuckoos and black drongos. The reserve conserves native flora and fauna; marked walks, including a short interpretive nature trail, give visitors a way to move through the forest quietly. The woodland brings together forestry, a changing mix of trees and wildlife. A century of planting and land management has shaped a living habitat for the species that use it today.