Whenever I mention my internship experience at TrailWatch to my friends, they are always curious about the job, wondering if it is only about recommending trails. In fact, the experience is far more than that, and I have benefited a lot from this two-month internship.
Before the internship, I was curious about the operation of TrailWatch as an innovative hiking application. Then, being part of the team, I better understood hiking promotion and countryside preservation from the real-world aspects, including discussions of the current situation of Hong Kong's countryside with environmental groups and through the preparation of a monthly newsletter. The team showed me their passion for environmental protection and their positive working attitude.
The working experience at TrailWatch was engaging because I was constantly learning something new. The sharing sessions of experts also gave me insight into the development strategies and protection of the peripheries of Hong Kong’s country parks. Besides, I gained some once-in-a-lifetime experiences like recording hiking trails, which is enjoyable and rewarding. This seemingly easy duty not only provided route information to users but also enabled me to explore Hong Kong’s rich biodiversity. More importantly, I realized the importance of thorough preparation before hiking in order to avoid accidents.
In addition, I was assigned to assist in inputting and sorting trail clean-up data. During the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of trash was left behind by visitors to the trails, implying the importance of building citizens’ awareness of environmental protection. Through the research I completed, which was about countryside recreation planning, Hong Kong has impressively high ecological and heritage values, yet the development of ecotourism lags behind other countries. For long-term sustainable tourism, we may learn from foreign practices: facilities should be built using local building materials with minimal impact on the environment being a primary principle.
Overall my internship was a great learning experience, I really enjoyed working in a pleasant environment. Heartfelt gratitude to the team, who was always supportive and gave me a huge amount of independence to explore new things. It definitely helps clarify my future career goals!
– Katrina, 2021 TrailWatch Summer Intern
Time flies and my internship in TrailWatch has come to an end. In the last two months, I engaged in various activities related to country park development. That allows me to learn more about this topic.
Since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, hiking has become one of the popular outdoor activities in Hong Kong. At the same time, as more citizens started visiting country parks, the demand for trails in country parks rose vigorously. TrailWatch plays an important role in not just promoting hiking morale in society, but also raising the public’s awareness of country park conservation. Apart from the paperwork, I often do site visits in different country parks. During my internship, I was responsible for a project about the hills with low elevations in Hong Kong. And so, I had to visit different remote areas in Hong Kong, as most of the hills are located in the New Territories. More than that, there are usually local stories behind them, which allowed me to understand more about the local village culture in Hong Kong. I was also assigned an article on the topic of coastal protection and mangrove ecology. As a student majoring in ecology and marine biology, this project gave me a chance to strengthen my existing knowledge, and hence simplified it and delivered it to the readers.
The team of TrailWatch sometimes arranges sharing sessions and seminars on country park planning and management. Recently, the team invited Prof. Wong, “the father of country park” to share how the government manages and separates the areas of country parks from the urban area. It is obvious that the well-planned country park system in Hong Kong nowadays requires a lot of time and effort to establish.
Once again, it is my pleasure to participate in the internship programme in the past two months. It was absolutely a wonderful experience to stay with the team, and I did learn a lot during this internship. I am looking forward to applying the knowledge and skills that I learned in use in the future.
– Nick, 2021 TrailWatch Summer Intern