Ocean Park

Yes, this is another attraction I have been trying to visit for many, many years, and this year, 2026, everything aligned, and even those annoying weather gods decided to play nice for once.

As always, following a fuel up with breakfast, it's MTR time, as there is actually a station right at the park entrance, which is nice, as there's no need to do battle with buses.

I spoke too soon, Ocean Park is on the south island line which runs from Admiralty to the island of Ap Lei Chau. I have used this before, as it's the closest MTR station to Aberdeen, which is my go-to for the dragon boat races.

Maybe it would have been less painful to get on a bus, as the South Island line was so crowded; I had issues actually getting on the train. Interesting, and something to look into later. And at least I now understand what a sardine feels like in its can.

Thankfully for me, I did buy my ticket online the night before, as the queue for the ticket office looked like something I would not like to do battle with in 32C heat.

Using my ticket QR code on my phone, the process to get in the main entrance was simple, just a bag check and the staff scanning my code. The bag check is a new one for me, and it makes me wonder what people tried to bring in to require this sort of check.

After a quick Google, it seems that this is one of the safety policies, which can be found on the parks website here. Also listed on the same page are photography restrictions, which allow for personal use only, interesting, and not unexpected. And nope, I did not remember to check this before visiting 😀

Second annoyance for the day, the park was crowded with what looked like school groups, so it was going to be interesting getting close to any exhibits. Yes, I know this should not be a surprise, as this place is made for kids.

Enough of that, the attractions that drew me to the park were the animals, and yes, the pandas were the top 10 places on the list. It's been many years since I last saw one, and with my having my 200-500mm lens with me, the photo op should be good.

After the Pandas comes the Meerkats, and finally the Grand Aquarium. I last saw the meerkats at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, and I find them very photogenic, if more than a little manic.

As for the Grand Aquarium, I have visited these in Singapore and Malaysia, with the standout being the Singapore one. Let's see how this one does against those.

So, as a surprise to absolutely no one, starting with the pandas, I head for the entrance to be asked by the staff not to use any flash photography, which is, for the record, is a no-brainer for me, as I always prefer to deal with lower light with ISO and other camera settings changes.

Getting inside, I see why they remind people of this; it's a little darker than I would have liked. Oh well, it's a very grey day, those weather gods have much to answer for.

Regardless, it's good to see the staff care about the animals not being spooked by bright flashes. 🤩

The first exhibit seemed to be empty, with a few people staring, seeming to be looking for something. I had a look and totally missed this little guy sleeping in a corner, until another visit pointed me in the right direction.

And yes, that photo, which is far from my best work, has had extensive quality time with Photoshop, to remove some objects, reduce noise and fix up the colour, etc.

Again, I have seen Red Pandas before, again at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, but it's still nice to see them here. Interestingly enough, after spending more time hunting in that exhibit, it looked like this was the only one there.

Moving on past the Red Panda exhibit, there was a sea of people, so yes, I must be getting closer to the main Panda exhibit.

And there they were, majestic creatures, just playing, totally ignoring the sea of people. As for me, it's the advantage of having a long lens, which means I can get some photos from a distance over the top of the crowds. 🐼

What's not so good is the enclosure; they were not in an open part of the exhibit, but rather behind shiny glass that needed a good clean. The photography is going to be interesting, as getting closer is not going to happen.

Almost certainly, this type of enclosure was to deal with the idiots who think any animal on display is there for them to do whatever they want, think throwing things, excessive noise and super bright flashes, etc. It's not good for photography, but it's better for the animal, which, after all, is the important thing. Photoshop exists for a reason 😀

After spending a fair amount of time trying to get a good vantage point and taking lots of photos, I got lucky, and one Panda jumped onto a branch and looked right at me, the second I hit the shutter release.

As I said, majestic creature and not a bad shot, especially when taken from around 20m away over the heads of a sea of people, through shiny glass in far from optimal lighting. Lots of quality time in Photoshop to get rid of the reflections, reduce the noise from the higher ISO and crop out the tops of people's heads.

Anyhow, according to Google image search, this is Ying Ying, who is the mother of the first Panda Twins born in Hong Kong.

And no, this is not the end of the Pandas, as there is a second panda exhibit as part of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Sichuan Treasures, which I will visit later today.

Moving past the sea of people, which was getting bigger by the minute, including someone using a monopod in a way I have never seen before, with a DSLR mounted way above the people's heads. Creative comes to mind, but I will still use a longer lens from a distance.

Heading outside, there was the Giant Tortoise, which Google image search tells me is actually a Galpagos giant tortoise, which, as I approached, was moving slowly, but as usual when I get close, this guy just stopped.

Yes, it's MeerKat time, and for once, my timing was interesting, as the keepers were feeding (ok, playing) with them. I did not know those things were that fast. This photo was the only one I could get during this feeding, aka play time.

And yes, as mentioned earlier, this is not the first time I have seen Meerkats, with the standout being Taronga Zoo in Sydney, check out the wildlife gallery.

And the worst was sadly in Hong Kong, but this time at the Zoological and Botanical Gardens, where they looked stressed in a small enclosure, and just repeated the same movement. Not good, and about as far from Ocean Park as it gets, where they looked very well looked after, and were playing around with the keepers.

Ok, so far good, now it's time for the aquarium, which, as mentioned earlier, is up against Singapore and Malaysia. Let's see how this one compares.

Perfect timing, I am heading to the Aquarium, and those weather gods wake up, the drizzle has started, and by the look of the sky, the rain is coming soon.

The plan is to use the Osmo 360 camera while wandering through the aquarium, so with selfie stick in hand, the camera mounted, and set to 8K at 50 frames. Basically, the best possible with this camera, if a real storage hog, but thankfully not a problem with the 512GB memory card I have installed.

And yes, this is the first time ever using a selfie stick, let alone with this camera, as personally I do not take pictures of myself, and even spend too much time removing distracting people from all my photos. Normally, I use the head mount for this camera, but decided to try the selfie stick to remove the top of my head from every shot.

The pool in this very large room is impressive, complete with glass viewing areas at kid-friendly heights. The fish are colourful, and just what will draw kids in and keep them interested, and judging by how many kids were crowded around, it's very popular.

Moving past this pool into the main area of the aquarium, the layout is very similar to the others I have visited, with plenty of large glass viewing areas for various species. Here are a few examples of photos after some quality time with Photoshop.

As for the rest of the Aquarium, it's good, not up to the gold standard of the one on Sentosa Island in Singapore, but better than the KL one. So very much worth a visit, and if you have kids, do not even think about it, just visit, they will love it.

Heading back outside, the heat hit me like walking into a wall, but at least the rain seems to have stopped, so on to the other panda exhibit, which, as mentioned earlier, is part of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Sichuan Treasures exhibit.

Interesting, a ramp up to the entrance, which, for my bad knees, is a very good sign, so I head in, and the first thing to notice is it's crowded, very crowded, but on the plus side, it's got very good air conditioning.

If the air conditioning was not good enough, this enclosure seems to be better than the other one. Yes, there is still glass, but it's less reflective, and at the moment, anyway, the panda is sitting in a tree close to the glass.

In this case, the glass did not go to the ceiling, so it was selfie stick time with the 360-degree camera held above the glass. Now, while this camera is not great for this sort of thing, the result was good enough. Next time, I will bring the Osmo 5 Pro, which has a higher-quality still mode.

According to Google image search, this Panda is An An, whereas the other one in the same exhibit is Ke Ke, whom I spotted right at the back of the enclosure. Another nice touch with this exhibit is the screens, which show the pandas when they are at the far back of the enclosure.

Moving on past the Pandas towards the other animal in this exhibit, which is the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, which, as far as I can remember, is a species I have never seen elsewhere.

Some trivia: I live on Sydney's lower north shore, and not far from the excellent Taronga Zoo. So, having visited that Zoo and others such as the stunning Singapore Zoo, not seeing a species before, especially with monkeys, is rare.

Nope, never seen these impressive apes before, and wow, they are fast running around, and from talking to one of the keepers, there is the whole family: mother, father and young one born in early 2025.

This shot was one of the very few I could get with these Monkeys flying around like mad things, and was taken through the usual shiny glass using my phone, so not to my usual super sharp standard, but still acceptable after some quality time with Photoshop.

I found the Hong Kong Jockey Club Sichuan Treasures to have the look and feel of a separate attraction rather than integrated into the park as a whole. Interesting..

Not that this separation is a bad thing, the animals look to be well cared for, and the enclosures are well maintained.

To me, even the layout is better than the previous Panda exhibit, with a looping walkway rather than a large open area to fill with people.