About Silvermine Waterfall
The Silvermine Waterfall (銀礦瀑布 [Yín Kuàng Pùbù] or [ngan4 kwong3 buk6 bou3 in Cantonese]; also spelled Silver Mine Waterfall) is one of the easier waterfalls to access from Hong Kong’s bustling and intensely developed metropolis.
The waterfall itself actually consists of a pair of split segments tumbling side-by-side on the River Silver, where the larger left side may drop a cumulative height of about 20m or so.
While its size is modest and its flow is fickle (said to be best visited after heavy rains have fallen), it provided a refreshing contrast to the sheer energy and quantity of people in Hong Kong’s centre.
In fact, waterfalls in Hong Kong (香港 [Xiānggǎng]) in general are remarkable because they’re something most people don’t even associate with this part of China’s Special Autonomous Region (SAR).
Heck, we weren’t even aware of them when we first visited Hong Kong back in April 2009!
Not only did pursuing the Silvermine Waterfall provide us with a relaxing and low-key Naturesque experience in the bush, but it also allowed us to experience a beach as well as a cave (more like a former mine entrance).
We even got to witness the famous Hong Kong skyline from the waters of the Victoria Harbour since we managed to make our visit via ferry.
Speaking of the ferry, it’s one of the main reasons why visiting the Silvermine Waterfall was as easy and as straightforward as it was, and the excursion description below is based on this method of visitation.
Silvermine Waterfall Excursion Description – Ferry Logistics
We began our visit by taking the MTR (Mass Transit Rail) to the Central Station (which is on Hong Kong Island), where we then proceeded to walk towards the piers at Victoria Harbour.
I’ll get into the details of that part of the logistics in the directions section of this write-up below.
Anyways, the ferry that we targeted was the one that goes to Mui Wo, which took off from Central Pier No.6.
The walk to get there from the MTR Central Station took us around 15 minutes or so along a network of elevated walkways above the road traffic and construction sites below.
Silvermine Waterfall Excursion Description – The Hike
Once at the Mui Wo Ferry Dock, we then walked past the Mui Wo Cooked Food Market and Mui Wo Ferry Pier Public Toilet onto the Mui Wo Waterfront Promenade towards the Silvermine Beach Resort (it took us about 10-15 minutes).
At the Silvermine Beach Resort and Silvermine Beach, we had a choice of taking the Mui Wo Chung Hau Street to the left or going around the resort to the right along Tung Wan Tau Road before veering left (not crossing the Wang Tong River bridge).
Both ways eventually meet at the Chung Hau Tsuen Public Toilet near the end of the drivable part of Chung Shing Street.
Beyond the toilet and local car park there, we then walked a narrower concrete path that went along Wang Tong River before reaching a signed fork about 200m (or about 5 minutes walk) from the Chung Hau Tsuen Public Toilet.
We kept left at this fork to continue towards the “Silvermine Cave” for another 15 minutes or so.
In this stretch, the concrete path undulated past some banyan trees, open fields, and private residences towards a junction with the Olympic Trail at the end of an incline (there’s some signage commemorating China’s hosting of the 2008 Olympics).
At this junction, we made a sharp right to follow along a narrower concrete path to continue towards the Silvermine Cave and Silvermine Waterfall.
The path in the other direction went towards the Pak Ngan Heung Public Toilet and a Man Mo Temple.
After continuing briefly along the path towards the waterfall, we reached another signed fork with the Silvermine Waterfall already visible to the right while a sign pointed uphill to the left towards the Silvermine Cave.
Keeping to the right, we approached a viewing area just past a building (under construction during our visit) with picnic tables, a shelter, and a partial view of the Silvermine Waterfall before us.
There were concrete steps leading below the shelter towards a fairly rough and slippery stream crossing to get onto a rocky area in between the split tiers of the Silvermine Waterfall for a less obstructed look at both waterfalls.
But aside from that, this was the turnaround spot as far as visiting the waterfall was concerned.
I did explore up the other fork, which went briefly up towards the Silvermine Cave, which featured a pavilion, a sealed off mine entrance (not really a cave), and a view back towards Silver Mine Bay.
I could have extended this hike further uphill towards the Pearl Waterfall, but that excursion will have to wait for another time.
The hiking part of this excursion from Mui Wo Ferry Dock and back covered a distance of about 2km each way (4km round-trip; not including the 150m detour to Silvermine Cave and/or 100m detour to Silvermine Beach) and it took us under 2 hours in total.
This included roughly 30 minutes of chilling at the Silvermine Waterfall.
Authorities
The Silvermine Waterfall resides near the town of Mui Wo on Lantau Island in the Islands District of the New Territories Region of Hong Kong. It is adminstered by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government. For the latest conditions or other inquiries, you may want to try the Hong Kong Tourism Board website.
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