The image of Hong Kong around the world is that of an urban jungle – the famous skyline, the density of towerblocks, markets and neon-lit nightscapes. Yet passengers peeping out of the windows as they descend into Hong Kong International Airport will be greeted with quite different scenes – an island-dotted landscape of lumpy hills and forested, vertiginous mountains.

Remarkably for such a densely populated metropolis, around three quarters of all land is countryside and 40 per cent of Hong Kong’s total land area – 435 square kilometres – is protected within the boundaries of 24 country parks. Within them are forests, grasslands and hillside with 3,300 largely native plant varieties, and wildlife ranging from leopard and civet cats to wild boars and pythons. Globally endangered species such as pangolins and Romer’s tree frogs also roam freely, making the country parks important for conservation.