Ting Kau area has several streams. Shek Lung is the most famous, but is it the best? It would depend on the rain previous days and your preferences.

  • Beauty/fun: Butterfly stream 6.5/10 Quite some waterfalls, but with lower flow than Shek Lung. Significantly more adventurous jungle like outing. Ting Kau stream 3.5/10 very low flow, thin small waterfalls, slightly overgrown in the upper section and even more in the connection path. Only for “want-to-see-it-all”s.
  • Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): Butterfly 7.5/10 if you want to scramble in and around almost all the waterfalls. It looked there are lateral paths possible, but we did not check most of them, so not sure about their difficulty. If you start going up the waterfalls and someone is not able to continue up mid way, the lateral paths are mostly loose soil prone to collapsing after significant rain. Ting Kau stream is easier 4/10 with smaller falls and a continuous slope, done downhill (5/10).
  • Map (how to download to your phone offline)

See full screen & Garmin track of a day checking the 3 streams

The closest public transportation option is the Ting Kau bus stop. If with taxi or Uber you could avoid part of the initial concrete section. If starting from the bottom after approximately half an hour walk you should arrive at a hairpin turn

Just a few meters apart you have a little bridge to cross the catchwater and the Butterfly stream. Very soon arriving at the first waterfall.

Easy path on its right.

A little later the second waterfall. The ladies tried to climb, but the second section is quite slippery.

So better bring a long rope to try that. Easy path on its left.

Moving forward the ribbons separated significantly from the stream to avoid needing to climb the waterfalls. Instead we continued up the water course.

Some sections are easier,

some trickier with smooth, slippery rock areas. So using trees and roots around to navigate easiest way up.

Another big waterfall. Climbable in or easier on its left side.

Arriving at a main fork. Waterfalls in both tributaries. It seemed that the bigger stream was the right one. Slightly tricky climb, slippery again, on its right.

And just little after

another Reborn rock. Small waterfall with tiny tunnel to go through.

Just for the fun of it. Otherwise, easy path on its right.

Last high waterfall.

And the slope starts to decrease.

We saw some ribbons heading up the hill on the right. I guess an early exit. Marked on the map. In our case, we continued on stream. Even with the little flow, pretty.

Eventually we found a thin pipeline and ribbons heading out of the stream. Several paths around and not the clearest, so check your GPS/ compass regularly to know you are on your way.

If you are trying to exit, the shortest path would be the one heading North connecting with Yuen Tsuen Ancient Trail. In our case, we wanted to continue exploring, so heading East instead. A little detour to leave Tania in the civilized path around here.

And the other three followed the bushy paths. Passing next to an abandoned village and eventually heading down through a nice garden.

The upper section of Ting Kau stream has some dense vegetation but not specially thorny. I did not use the prunners.

A little later opens, with nice views of the bridge below.

Small waterfalls all the way down and little pools where barely be able to cool down.

Eventually arriving at the catchwater.

We decided to cross the tunnel on the left side (looking downstream). Easier exit to the concrete path but… For a huge bat colony in it 🤦‍♂️We scared them all even if we tried to be quiet initially, when we thought they were just a few. Colony a few meters in here.

After we went Shek Lung stream up to the main Stone Dragon waterfall to end the day.

After having checked them all my suggestion would be Shek Lung for an easy day out. Butterfly up and SL down for a longer day.

Everything you should know before stream hiking.