10
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES: A FULLER LIFE FOR ALL
sealions. Several of the birds and mammals in this display have been donated to the park on condition that all information obtained about their development be made available to the scientific community.
Consequently, none of the animals is trained, although they are conditioned to accept certain areas of the display as 'home territory'. The design of the display permits the inhabitants to be seen from three different aspects: above water from an upper deck; at wave level; and underwater. The Atoll Reef, a giant aquarium also designed to simulate natural conditions, allows visitors to view, at four different levels, the full fascination of the underwater world. Some 300 fish species, ranging from 150-kilogram sharks to tiny, brilliantly-coloured coral fish, are on display and illuminated panels detail the ecology of marine life.
Great imagination has gone into the park's lowland site, where an area of rough ground has been transformed into a landscaped showpiece offering such diversions as performing macaws, martial art and dance displays, pop shows and Chinese opera. Night programmes are being introduced slowly and many special events are held throughout the year, including an annual chrysanthemum art exhibition that displays examples of this famous Chinese flower from around the world.
At a serious scientific level, Ocean Park already offers facilities to students. The Botany and Biology Departments of both the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong have begun carrying out study projects. Eventually, it is hoped the park will regularly host international meetings on botany and marine life and have its own research laboratories. Ocean Park is able to accept gifts from other countries and to develop exchange programmes with recognised zoological and oceanographic institutions around the world.
New Problems to Overcome
Inevitably, the growth of outdoor recreation at so many levels has brought with it corresponding problems and hazards, notably in the vast new areas of countryside open to the public. In a normal fire season at least six months of every year - Hong Kong has an average of 500 forest fires and, under worse conditions, about three to six fires a day. The year 1977 was exceptionally bad. Before the season was half over, 1,200 fires all man-made had razed 607 hectares of managed land. During one weekend alone, 162 hill fires destroyed 32,000 trees. Most of the fires were caused by careless picnickers and smokers.
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The other major problem besetting the Country Parks Authority is litter, which totals almost 500,000 kilograms a year. It has been estimated that each visitor carries an average of 0.23 kilograms of potential litter and, with more than 2.5 million visitors to the parks a year, the need for public co-operation is crucial. In an effort to control these problems, the authority is providing barbecue pits and anyone found lighting fires outside the approved sites is liable to prosecution. Thousands of bright orange litter bins have been placed throughout the parks and the situation seems to be im- proving due, in part, to the vigorous Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign.
To prevent pollution of a more insidious kind, visitors are encouraged to use public transport to relieve traffic congestion and to minimise the unpleasant effects of exhaust fumes. One bus, it is contended, presents far less of an environmental intrusion than a score of private vehicles. To cater for visitors to the Sai Kung Country Park, due