Japanese tunnels below Jardine's Lookout [????- ]

Submitted by David on Tue, 11/04/2008 - 10:49
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Thanks to craig for introducing this one:

The best and biggest I've come across- not for the faint hearted- is on the way down the HK trail from Jardine's lookout about 50m before the bottom, near the Quarry (before H057 marker). As you come down all the stairs, down on your right side you'll find a big entrance that has been mostly filled in but with a big enough hole to go in. it opens out into a big chamber with number other tunnels and side rooms. WARNING one tunnel near the back is FULL with BATS which scared the @#$% out of me the first time. I went back a second time prepared with long clothing and gloves. We were very quite and the bats didn't seem to mind us being there looking around the other tunnels. There were a few flying around and as I recall hundreds lining the ceiling. It was a bit hair raising, But quite interesting being inside.

We visited this tunnel last weekend, and I'd agree with craig that it's the biggest and best I've seen too. We took a video walking from the inside of the tunnels back outside. It was taken with a digital camera and processed afterwards to make it brighter - but apologies for the dark sections.

The other tunnels I've seen are low and narrow - just wide enough for one person, and low enough that you have to stoop most of the time, and occasionally crouch or crawl. In this network some of the connecting tunnels are like that, but there are also several large, square caverns that have been excavated, so it must have been planned for some different purpose.

Some of the sections slope up or down, so they are on different levels. Several of the caverns have loose earth and rocks sloping down from the ceiling to the floor. I guess these were other large entrances that were filled in from the outside to block them up after the war. The other thing you'll see at several places are grooves cut into opposite walls. I wonder if they were to mount frames for doors or gates?

Here's the video:

If you know anything about the history of these tunnels (who built them, what they were intended for, when they were filled in, etc), we'd love to hear from you.

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2009

Comments

Hi there,

> The other thing you'll see t several places are grooves cut into opposite walls. I wonder if they were to > mount frames for doors or gates?

I had been wondering, would those grooves meant for grease lights in a container the size of a small cups?

T

Have you seen this film? - your footage is very reminiscent of some of the creepier bits :-)

Can we assume that if we no longer get any posts from Messrs Tall and B, you have been lost in the labyrinth of tunnels under Jardines Lookout.

But seriously, despite the dark, that some good footage. All you need to do now is map it all.

As you walk down the steps from Jardine's Lookout to the place that Craig describes, you'll see this open area on your right:

The curved lip above the entrance can be seen just to the right of the middle of the photo. Be careful as you get near the edge, as it's a steep drop.

Here's the view of the entrance from the front. Given that the gap is large enough for a person to crawl through, you can see that this was a large entrance before it was filled in. I guess that several of the other entrances were originally a similar size too.

I guess we saw around 20 bats, so not too bad. Old pairs of long trousers & long sleeves are a good idea. We didn't have gloves, but that seemed ok.

Some places were slippery, so maybe it would be very muddy in the wetter time of year.

 T,

We saw two different types of cuttings in the walls - no, three in fact.

  1. If you look at 1:41 and 2:21 in the video, you'll see small cuttings in the wall at shoulder height. I think they were for the type of lights you describe.
  2. If you look at 1:13, 3:30, or 5:00 in the video, you can see vertical grooves cut into the walls, from ground level upward. They were cut in pairs, on opposite walls. Those are the ones I wondered if they were door frames.
  3. At several places in the narrow tunnels you can see waist-high alcoves cut into the walls.

Phil,

I don't need to be seeing any creepy movies before heading in here. The bugs are bad enough!!

Mapping - yes, good point. With a better quality film, I think Photosynth would be able to build a 3-D model of the tunnels, and show us the relationships of all the tunnels and rooms. That would be pretty cool!

MrB

When i was a kid I found an entrance that linked to these tunnels but on the other side of the mountain above the Cricket Club.  The entrance had a large steel door that was very rusty. I remember exploring these tunnels and wonder if they link all the way through to your find on the quarry side.  Would be great to find this entrance again. Let me know and I would be happy to try and relocate this entrance.

Hi all.  Was exploring the large 3 level tunnel on the other side of Jardines lookout (Southwest Slope). http://gwulo.com/node/11124  It was a huge series of catacombs.  Is this the same complex, or different system. I made it to all levels last week. Although i didnt access all exits, I went through a couple. And none of them overlooked the quarry on the other side, or fit a similar description to the entrance above. 

Basically: IS THIS THE SAME COMPLEX OR NOT?  and if so, which is bigger.

i'd be keen to go inside and explore with some tunnel experienced people that have gear. Anybody interested to explore this big one? 

Hi Mike, I'm a caver / expedition leader back in the UK and would be happy to check it out with you! You won't need anything more than long trousers, boots and torch/ spare batteries (and helmet if you have one)

Perfect time to go honestly! Has'nt been serious rain in a while. Last summer on a routine visit I found one of the big segments flooded and dangerous amounts of water trickling through the ceilings, we powered through but it is quite scary honestly considering the Jardine's Lookout tunnels are all crumbly clay.

+852 6463 1926 is my number if you want another tunneller. Its quite easy to hit all 3 JLO tunnel complexes in one day!

Visited these tunnels today as I accidentally game across the main entrance a week ago and thought it looked like a tunnel although it is much more overgrown above the entrance than in these photos.  I came across this thread and vowed to go back - so thanks for the post!  Still a bunch of bats in there but they didn't seem worried.