Landscape and Wildlife
As with most of the terrain in Hong Kong, Lantau Island seems to be a set of hills that rise out of the water. DB is wedged between the hills and the sea and both environments are accessible from the edges of the developed areas. The hills directly behind DB reach up to 465 m (1,526 ft), and the hiking trails that traverse all the peaks on Lantau Island are accessible from those hills. The hills of Lantau tend to fall dramatically into jungle-covered valleys that spread up into verdant, grass-covered hills. DB has a series of rock pools which lead to one such valley and into a man-made addition to the water-drainage system. The DB reservoir collects and distributes water to the community, but, owing to the topography of the area, rainwater build-up is dangerously high, and so connected pathways of cement were built to deal with the torrential rain of the monsoon season. These huge aqueducts empty out into the sea, flowing over natural rock formations, creating pools and waterfalls of fresh rainwater. (Note: DB has switched to Government potable water supply since December 2000)
DB is home to animals of many kinds, most of which are domesticated pets. There are, however, a number of wild species that lived or are living on Lantau Island that can be found in and around DB. Most of these creatures are birds such as finches, tits, gulls and kites, however pelicans, loons and herons have been sighted. Birds were adaptable to the growing human population, though, and have remained unperturbed by the expansion of DB. Until the construction of the new Hong Kong International Airport in Chek Lap Kok, wild cattle and water buffalo thrived in the pasture-like hills. Increasingly vigorous development all over Hong Kong has reduced the habitat of the local dolphin and whale populations. The most famous of these is the Chinese White Dolphin, often called the Pink Dolphin due to a slight pinkish cast to their skin. (See Environment of Hong Kong)
Read more about this topic: Discovery Bay
Famous quotes containing the words landscape and, landscape and/or wildlife:
“While the focus in the landscape of Old World cities was commonly government structures, churches, or the residences of rulers, the landscape and the skyline of American cities have boasted their hotels, department stores, office buildings, apartments, and skyscrapers. In this grandeur, Americans have expressed their Booster Pride, their hopes for visitors and new settlers, and customers, for thriving commerce and industry.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Russian forests crash down under the axe, billions of trees are dying, the habitations of animals and birds are layed waste, rivers grow shallow and dry up, marvelous landscapes are disappearing forever.... Man is endowed with creativity in order to multiply that which has been given him; he has not created, but destroyed. There are fewer and fewer forests, rivers are drying up, wildlife has become extinct, the climate is ruined, and the earth is becoming ever poorer and uglier.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)