Snakes in Hong Kong

I’ve been fortunate to see many snakes during my runs around Hong Kong. Up until the time I left Hong Kong in 2019 I’d seen 33 in total, and I’ve been lucky enough to have only 2 close calls in all that time, which I’ll tell you about a little later. I love seeing snakes; though a number of snakes in HK are venomous, they are beautiful to watch and I always feel privileged when I’ve managed to see one in the wild, in their own natural habitat.

I’ve seen snakes in various places around Hong Kong; though mostly on Lantau Island, you can see from my list of sightings below that snakes can be found all over Hong Kong.

• Chinese Cobra – 2:
  • 1 on trail between Tung Chung and Lantau Section 2
  • 1 on trail between Tung Chung and Tai O
• Bamboo Pit Viper – 3:
  • 1 near Needle Hill (at night)
  • 1 near Shing Mun Reservoir near Maclehose Section 7 (at night)
  • 1 at intersection of trail between Tung Chung and Lantau Section 2
• Red-Necked Keelback – 3:
  • 1 on Maclehose Section 6
  • 1 on Lantau Section 7
  • 1 descending Lantau Peak, about half way from summit to Wisdom Path
• Rat Snake – 4:
  • 1 large one on Olympic trail near Pak Mong
  • 3 on Maclehose Section 6
• Green Snake – 2:
  • 1 on trail between Tung Chung and Tai O
  • 1 on Mt Parker Road near Hong Kong Trail Section 5
• Unidentified – 19:
  • 3 on Lantau Section 6 (on the same day)
  • 1 (small black) on Lantau Section 7
  • 3 (black) on trail between Tung Chung and Tai O
  • 1 (brown) on Hong Pak Country Trail
  • Others…

Red-Necked Keelback

Running along Lantau Section 7 my wife and I heard a rustling in the bush to our left, as though something was moving quickly towards us. We stopped, and at that moment a frog came springing out of the bush, jumping erratically as though his life depended on it. It did, as close behind him the Keelback in the picture below came effortlessly gliding out of the bush, head high, gaining on the frog as he hunted it down. I whipped out my camera and ran behind the pair of them, which distracted the snake who stopped and allowed me to snap this picture while his frog lunch hopped away. It’s the first time I’ve seen a snake actively chasing his quarry, and I was impressed at how quickly and smoothly the Keelback sailed over the ground, whisper quiet; if I hadn’t interfered I suspect there is no way the frog would have escaped.

Red-Necked Keelback

Bamboo Pit Viper

After a night climb up Needle Hill, my wife and I climbed down a small exit route towards Tai Wai. There, coiled and waiting patiently near a small stream, was the Bamboo Pit Viper seen below. She was easy to spot as she was almost luminous in our torch light, and as she was blocking our path, we had to gently ask her to leave by using a branch to coax her out of the way. She was completely calm, non-aggressive and slowly moved aside to let us pass.

We almost stepped on one of these just after getting off the No. 82 minibus at Shing Mun Reservoir. She was crossing the road near the bus stop and in the dark a couple of friends (fortunately) stepped right over her. I was taking my torch out of my bag when I spotted her, and was very grateful we had not stepped on her. They are super-fast striking snakes, they never move out of the way, and they are responsible for more bites in HK than any other. And of course, they are quite venomous.

Bamboo Pit Viper

Green Snake

The Green Snake was one of the first snakes I came across in HK, on the Mt Parker Road, where a local person told me it was rare to see snakes on Hong Kong Island since most of them had been eaten. I saw the one below in the catchwater on Lantau Island; he tried to get across the gap here and eventually slid into the water and swam off downstream. I followed him for a while, and he climbed back out a bit later, hunted around, then carried on swimming. There isn’t much to eat in the catchwater, but now and then the odd lizard falls in and can’t get back out, so the snake probably comes across enough food to keep him going.

Green Snake

Close Encounters with Snakes

Encounter 1

Last week (October 2016) I had my closest of two close encounters. I was running along the trail from Tung Chung to Tai O, a regular warm up route of mine. As I took a step, a black snake dropped onto the path. He must have been trying to get up the embankment next to the path and fell right next to my left foot. As I took my next step he slithered between my feet across the path. I calmly carried on running. No I didn’t, I screamed loudly, jumped in the air and turned around to see him slither off the path into the bush. Black, about 1 metre long, it scared the living daylights out of me.

Encounter 2

My wife and I were running along the trail from Lantau Section 2 to Tung Chung. It was dusk, and we were running quickly because it was getting dark and we did not have a torch with us. We came across a section where the grass was covering the path, so I slowed to a walk and kept my eyes on the path. Luckily I did; through the grass I saw a snake moving slowly in the same direction as I was. If I’d taken another step I would have stepped

Bamboo Pit Viper

on his tail. A Chinese Cobra, out hunting for his evening meal. I stopped, he stopped, he turned around to look at me, checked me out for a few seconds, then calmly moved off into the grass.