“Ocean’s Fourteen (sharks)” - that’s how I would call this park.
In this article:
It was love at first s.. step into the territory, and after visiting the shark aquarium “Shark Mystique” this love obtained a new status - eternal: so much touching care about the ocean and its inhabitants does this park transmit.
Its enlightenment function was the first thing which amazed me. At some point I had a feeling that there attractions and entertainments were built around eco advertisements, and not vice versa. All these fancy roller coasters and merry-go-rounds were just a means to attract Hong Kong’s residents and its visitors to the acute problem.
Largetooth sawfish on the left; and on the right you can see a homo sapiens 🙂 ) in Shark Mystique
Jackie Chan supports the campaign against eating shark fins, poster in Shark Aquarium. In 2018 Hong Kong Shark Foundation survey of almost 300 menus for Lunar New Year banquets found that 85% included shark fin dishes.
By the way, Ocean Park also includes a special educational department and a Conservation Foundation “committed to advocating, facilitating and participating in effective conservation of Asian wildlife, with an emphasis on Chinese white dolphins and giant pandas as well as their habitats through partnerships, fundraising, research and education”. Along with cash and credit card, it is also possible to make a donation to this fund via your Octopus card.
When approaching the “Rain forest” ride, we see killers of the rain forest and species on the brink of extinction. When we are in the Grand Aquarium - we notice installations of plastic waste and information on poaching.
“Trash” installation in Grand Aquarium
A poster dedicated to information on the harmful impact humans have on the ocean. Have a look - you can see a fishing net on top which throws a shadow on the poster. Fishing nets compile 26% of all garbage in the ocean
Statues dedicated to sustainable products will attract your attention:
Cages with rare birds and posters “Birds in danger” are installed next to amusement rides. These cages, by the way, are spacious enough to accomodate a family.
The Sea Lion show (me and my husband were enjoying it along with children around 7 years-old. I could not resist, since it had been forever since I visited anything like that) included a short act with an animal trainer and a seal, in which the trainer threw a ball in the pool, the seal brought it back and then started to anxiously bawl.
“Ahh, here’s why you are dissatisfied, - the trainer said, - I should not have thrown plastic in the ocean!” Kids are taught to respect the ocean and its inhabitants since childhood.
Nota Bene: The world produces 300 tons of plastic every year. Many of these products are single-use, with approximately 50 per cent of this amount used once and then thrown away. Today there are already 5 trillion of plastic fragments floating in the World Ocean.
More than a half of all plastic products are made in Asia, and such countries as China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are those causing the highest pollution. Plastic waste kills up to 1 million sea birds, 100,000 sea mammals, marine turtles and countless fish each year. Plastic remains in our ecosystem for years, harming thousands of sea creatures every day..
No wonder we keep receiving pieces of news which break our hearts. In November 2018 a sperm whale was found dead in eastern Indonesia with around 6 kg of plastic in its stomach. In March 2019 a dead whale with 40 kg (!) of plastic was found off the coast of the Philippines.
The main influx of tourists comes here from Asian countries and, given Ocean Park’s popularity (in 2017 it was visited by 5.8 million people - it is ranked 20th in the rating of the most popular amusement parks.), I want to believe that their message on environmental awareness will gradually achieve its purpose. Of course, it will happen when people will start reading information posters as actively, as they read roller-coaster descriptions.
How can we let these beautiful creatures die just because we have an opportunity to wrap every single branch of parsley in a separate single-use plastic bag?
Let’s proceed to technical moments:
! If you ask me whether it’s worth visiting Ocean Park I will tell you “Yes” with a million exclamation marks. There is no photo or video which would describe those colors and calmness of the mountains which you can view from the “Upper” part of the park, and also emotions of sharks and carps, clumsy giant pandas and anxious red pandas and gracious flight of Atlantic mantas. And that’s not all. Ocean Park is also goosebumps, speed and wild fun on roller coasters!
View over Hong Kong island and the Park’s part under construction
! If you are choosing between Disneyland and Ocean Park, - it’s a matter of preference. But since we already visited Disneyland in Paris and also heard that Hong Kong’s one was more compact and crowded, and also never saw pandas within 10 meters from us, we preferred Ocean (and why do I have a strong association with George Clooney?). We were still doubting when my groupmate from the uni who had been living in Asia for many years messaged me: “When we visited Ocean Park, we saw walruses f*cking. There was nothing similar in Disneyland”. After this message, our doubts faded away. We chose a day-trip to Macao instead of Disneyland.
Ficus microcarpa or Chinese banyan - a wide-spread tree in Hong Kong, covered with beautiful “weed plants” - wild orchids, “lower” part of Ocean Park
! You can get to the park easily by bus 629 from Admiralty underground station (exis B).
! Another option – is by metro, via South Island Line, to the “Ocean Park” stop.
! You can buy the ticket when getting on the bus 629 and at the Park’s ticket offices. But we bought them here and used QR-code on the telephone when entering the park zone. We did not have to queue at all.
! The park is huge and consists of the upper part (The Summit) with roller coasters and fun rides, and the lower (The Waterfront) zone, where the giant aquarium, panda sanctuary and a souvenir shop are located.
! These two main zones are connected between each other with a Cable Car line (I don’t recommend it, as queues to it are exhaustingly long and slow. If you want to take a ride on a cable car and view the mountains, it’s better to do it on the way to Big Buddha, via Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car) and an Ocean Express – a train which seems to have been constructed by Captain Nemo in the mid 19th century! We could not help using it:
! Our advice is to begin with the “upper” part of the park and visit all the coolest rides in the early morning - they are absolutely empty. The best and scariest of them is, undoubtedly, Hair Raiser, with three of four loops – it will take your breath away!
View from Ocean Park Tower over Adventureland zone in the upper part of the park, or the Summit, and Hair Raiser (on the right)
! In “the Summit” zone you will also find sharks in the “Shark Mystique” pavilion and penguins (in South Pole Spectacular) with seals (in North Pole Encounter) – don’t miss them, I beg you, they are embodied inspiration!
Beautiful zebra shark
! The main attractions of the Park’s “lower” zone – are pandas’ residence and Grand Aquarium.
A cute entrance to the Panda village. We recorded some videos of these huge bears. The giant one was enjoying its branch of bamboo far from the glass, and the red panda was so anxious and quick that I managed to only take a picture of its tale:
When leaving the Panda village, visitors are going through a long hall dedicated to rare sub-species of carp (undoubtedly, they are way diverse here than in Hong Kong goldfish market). Here you see pools with various carp, turtles and many other species. All of them are taken care in the best way.
! Last, but not least: the Grand Aquarium. It occupies a huge territory inhabited by 5 thousand sea animals out of 400 species! I wish I’d had a couple of days to spend there.
This cylinder resembles Hong Kong underground in a rush hour
Octopus of a regular person (on the left) vs Octopus of a Hong Kong resident (on the right)
! Final half an hour in the Park: souvenir shop and magical illuminations:
The true sense of this magic cannot be reflected in any picture. This is a feeling of being close to the nature staying in the epicenter of a technological explosion, the feeling of understanding this harmony. This is Ocean Park. It reveals the most important secrets within a couple of hours.
Sincerely,
Alisa Abramova
