The Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong consists of the main island of Hong Kong, the neighbouring island of Lantau where the famous brand new Chek Lap Kok airport is, the area in the south of mainland China called the New Territories and small islands in the area.
Located just below the Tropic of Cancer, its shores lapped by the waters of the South China Sea, Hong Kong’s mixture of subtropical and maritime climate is ideal for lush vegetation. Three quarters of the total land is under forest cover and makes for ideal hiking terrain. Most green cover is of tropical herbaceous kind, supplemented by pines like the south China Red Pine and the Australian slash pine. There is also some mangrove forestation and swamp vegetation. The New Territories have the last of the feng-shui woods or ‘sacred forests’.

Snakes, rhesus macaques, the long tailed macaque, frogs and lizards are to be found in Hong Kong’s forests. Few carnivores still remain: the South China red fox, the Chinese leopard cat, the masked palm civet and the seven banded civet are still around. Rat and mice inhabit the scrub and grassland areas.