The lush green Tai Tam Country Park has rich biodiversity and in close proximity to the urban area, people living on the Hong Kong Island would spend time to take a walk and unwind. The hiking routes in this country park are also very popular among nature lovers. The Tai Tam to Tai Koo Route (Tai Tam Reservoir Section) starts from Parkview and slowly descending to the Tai Tam Upper Reservoir where the postcard views of blue sky reflected on the tranquil water come into sight. Take a moment to feel the gentle breeze and admire the hundred-year-old main dam and masonry bridge, imagine yourself become part of this landscape painting and give your mind a moment of peace.

Follow the Tai Tam Reservoir Road and walk uphill to the highest point of the route, Quarry Gap (Tai Fung Au). Quarry Gap (or Tai Fung Gap which literally means a col of strong wind in Chinese) is a breezy pass between Mount Parker and Mount Butler, and the Taikoo Company picked this location to build a Sanitarium in the 1900s, providing a tranquil and cool retreat for employees in the summer. A cable car system, powered by steam and the first of its kind at that time, was constructed to transport people between the Sanitarium and Quarry Bay. As time goes by, the concrete base remnant of the cable car terminal and the former site of Sanitarium still remain, leaving behind some traces of the once prosperous Taikoo Company Town.

Heading downhill along Mount Parker Road, a military shelter, providing safe living quarters and storage space for soldiers, from World War II could be found. If you wish to learn more about the war relics in the countryside of Mount Parker, you can turn right at the junction at the Quarry Bay Tree Walk entrance and continues along the Tai Tam to Tai Koo (Jardine’s lookout Section). Alternatively, you can continue to walk downhill along Mount Parker Road, soon you will reach Woodside. Woodside was built in the 1920s by the Taikoo company as senior staff quarters of the Taikoo Sugar Refinery. It was listed as Grade II Historic Building in Hong Kong in 2010 and revitalised in 2012 to become the now Woodside Biodiversity Education Centre.

Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) produced two videos with the support of Swire Archives, showing Swire’s traces of historic relics in Mount Parker that are deeply connected to the Taikoo Company Town. Check out the videos below to learn more the fascinating stories behind.

Mount Parker – Traces of a Company Town

https://youtu.be/jaA8ROHAekk?si=mlf73_8Rxy_di_L5

The Past & Present of Woodside

https://youtu.be/0FZu2HalT4Y?si=umYdNLltJO4QKIfm