Robin's Nest Country Park

The Robin's Nest Country Park was established on 1 March 2024. Occupying an area of about 530 ha, Robin's Nest Country Park is the 25th country park in Hong Kong. Robin's Nest and the nearby area present a pleasant landscape of high aesthetic value, and is also rich in biodiversity. It forms an ecological corridor with the Shenzhen Wutong Mountain Scenic Area. The Hong Kong and Shenzhen governments signed the Cooperative Framework Agreement for the Enhancement of Wutong Mountain (Shenzhen) - Robin's Nest (Hong Kong) Ecological Corridor in August 2024, strengthening the collaboration in enhancing the cross-boundary ecological corridor and improving the biodiversity and ecological connectivity between the two places.
There are two hiking trails in the Robin's Nest Country Park, namely the Robin's Nest Country Trail and Lin Ma Hang Country Trail. Information boards, directional signs and distance posts, as well as viewing points and interpretation panels, are installed along the hiking trails to facilitate hiking, as well as nature and cultural heritage appreciation. The Lin Ma Hang Lead Mine in the northwest of the Robin's Nest Country Park has been revitalised and transformed into an open museum, and opened to the public since December 2024, allowing the public to visit and learn about its mining and wartime history as well as bat ecology.
To facilitate to the Robin's Nest Country Park and nearby areas for sightseeing, the Government has opened a specified section of road within the frontier closed area (FCA) near Lin Ma Hang Village in Sha Tau Kok on 24 January 2025, by exempting the requirement to apply for a closed area permit for the public travelling by green minibus passing through this section of road so that members of the public and tourists can take green minibus No. 59K (Sheung Shui Station - Lin Ma Hang) from Sheung Shui MTR Station to reach Lin Ma Hang Village through the relevant section of road within the FCA.

For more information about the Robin's Nest Country Park, Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD)'s website can be viewed here.

Robin's Nest Country Park (Photo courtesy of AFCD)

Lin Ma Hang Lead Mine (Photo courtesy of AFCD)

The location of Lin Ma Hang Tsuen stop of minibus no. 59K (Photo courtesy of SB)

Sha Tau Kok

The Government launched the Sha Tau Kok (STK) Pier opening up scheme in June 2022, allowing tour groups to visit the STK Pier and nearby waterfronts in the Frontier Closed Area (FCA), and to visit rural places such as Lai Chi Wo by ferry for sightseeing. The Government implemented the Second Phase Opening-up of STK in January 2024, which expands the opening area and allows individual tourists. Initially, up to 1 000 tourists per day will be allowed, including 700 tour group visitors and 300 individual tourists. The Government has further increased the daily visitor quota under the STK opening-up plan to 3 000 in November 2024. After applying online for a Tourism Closed Area Permit, tourists can visit all parts of STK except Chung Ying Street.

For more information on the STK opening-up scheme and online application for a Tourism Closed Area Permit, Hong Kong Tourism Board's website can be viewed here.
With the gradual opening of the STK FCA, STK has become a departure point for visitors travelling by ferry to the surrounding islands and areas, such as Lai Chi Wo, Kat O and Ap Chau, and together with the Robin's Nest Country Park in the proximity, effectively linking up the Blue and Green Recreation, Tourism and Conservation Circle in the Northern Metropolis. The Government will foster the development of cultural tourism in STK under the principle of "low density, high quality", and promote cultural and eco-tourism itineraries and products in STK. The HKSAR Government will also continue its communication with the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government on the development of cultural tourism in STK on the Hong Kong side and Shatoujiao on the Shenzhen side. They will together explore the feasible option of allowing Hong Kong tour groups to enter Chung Ying Street via the Chung Ying Street Checkpoint on a "group in, group out" basis.

For more information on the development of cultural tourism in STK, please refer to the Development Blueprint for Hong Kong's Tourism Industry 2.0 released by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau (CSTB) of the HKSAR Government (document link can be viewed here).

Cape of Sha Tau Kok (Photo courtesy of CSTB and SB)

Chung Ying Street Garden (Photo courtesy of CSTB and SB)