I found myself going on a family-oriented night hike through the Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve, ostensibly to look for fireflies. Of course, I checked the GeoInfo Map to see if there would be anything interesting along the route, and it did not disappoint.
A whole bunch of "temporary structures" along the route! Normally, these are buildings erected by villagers who engage in construction the way they have for centuries: without permission from a distant government. So the British mostly turned a blind eye. When we got close, it became clear that this was not just another abandoned village.
Thanks to my powerful torch and my phone's low-light photo mode, I was able to get a good view of some of the abandoned buildings (although the rest of the tour group wondered why I was standing at the edge of the road shining my light off into what looked like random forest). This was no farm; this was an idyllic retreat, with overgrown lawns and gardens. The structures were big and solidly-built.
A vine-covered telephone pole looms over the site like a vengeful phantasm. Wires still stretch out towards the site.
Further southwest along the site are outbuildings that look like they might have been dwellings, perhaps servants' quarters. What was this place?
According to the 1967 map over at Historical HK Maps, this area was called "Tsung Tsai Yuen" (apparently we were also right next to the Ghost Bridge of Tai Po Kau, but that will have to wait for another day).
The map of the zone from 1963 shows a farm-like area, but the remaining buildings sure don't fit a farm.
Over at Gwulo, I found a possible clue. Have a look at (d) which refers to the Tai Po Kau Garden which is just off the Tai Po Road. It mentions that another rest garden is nearly finished, near something called "Widervill". In colonial Hong Kong, it was common for buildings to have names (e.g. Sir Robert Hotung's Idlewild, Postbridge, the Haystack etc) to identify them as they were often the only structure in the area. Might "Widervill" be this abandoned outpost?
While it is possible to look up the status of the land claim, it costs HKD $10 per query and I'm just too cheap to do that (yet). Looks like this mystery will have to wait (and yes, it's probably "Widerville" or "Wilderville").
As we walked along the forest road, our guide shone an ultraviolet light on the rock walls, revealing insects that were otherwise perfectly camouflaged. Can you see that little green glow in the centre of the picture? That's a tiny scorpion!
I had a cheap UV light that I tried out, and while not as good or powerful as the guide's, it did the job. A bit tricky trying to take a photo in pitch darkness with naught but a UV light, but this glowing green fingertip-sized scorpion did show up (after about 5 tries).
Randomly playing the light upon the rock walls, I was taken aback by a thumb-sized scorpion just hanging out and completely exposed on the stone. When using regular white light to try and take a photo, we found that it was so well-camouflaged that we couldn't see it at all! Finally, I managed to get this blurry shot with the UV light and naught else.
Since it was night, all I could do was gaze wistfully as my torch beam found more structures hidden along the trackway. This place definitely warrants a return for further investigations. Oh, and we did manage to see a firefly or two. Turns out they're menacing predators that eat snails. Never would have guessed!
