irsychan

When I arrived at the security gate at about 9am this morning, the gate was locked and I had to dial the number on the sign to get it unlocked to continue my journey to the mudflat bird hide.  A police car came about 20 minutes later and opened the lock for me.  
This brings to another possible scenario of a bird watcher without mobile phone and spent enough time at the mudflat bird hides and then tried to return through the gate only to find that it is locked...  What can the poor fellow do in this case.  Swim to Shenzhen side and get back to HK via immigration?

[ Last edited by irsychan at 1/09/2013 20:43 ]

ddavid

Well - if you're returning from the boardwalk hides and find the gate locked, you could walk right along the inside of the fence to where the fence ends at pond 22 and simply walk around it - although this, of course, puts you at the opposite end of the reserve to where you want to be.

This is not the first occasion I know of where the gate - which should be opened at 6.00 a.m. to allow those with permits to go out to the mudflats - is still locked at 9.00 a.m.

The point is - does locking the gate really serve any purpose these days?

David

[ Last edited by ddavid at 1/09/2013 21:02 ]

tbob

Why not just shake the fence as it has motion detectors in it to detect people climbing over it. Then wait for the police to arrive.

Bob

wcaptain

....Well - if you're returning from the boardwalk hides and find the gate locked, you could walk right along the inside of the fence to where the fence ends at pond 22 and simply walk around it - although this, of course, puts you at the opposite end of the reserve to where you want to be....

I did it many many yrs ago.... the gate was locked at about 6:30 PM in Nov or Dec. Walking along the inner fence at dusk was not a funny experience.  

The reward was we saw 100-200 crows flying around mangrove.

msamuel

This was my experience.

If you are locked outside the fence, don’t panic.  There is a surveillance camera up on a lamp post next to the resting hut near the gate.  Police can see you after a while if they are monitoring the CCTV.  They will come when they see you.  In this case, you have to have your permits ready for inspection.  I did not have to wait long last time before they came.

If you have mobile phone with you, you can call the number on the notice board at the gate to have the police to come to open the gate for you.  Unfortunately, you cannot see the notice board from the outside of the fence.  Nor you can check the number through PCCW directory hotline.  So remember to note the gate closing time and bring along the phone number with you when you go out to mudflats.

BTW, I suggest that HKBWS posts the phone number somewhere easy to locate on this website so that people needs it can find it handy here.