Tag Archives: nature

Butterfly Park in Kuala Lumpur

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Black butterfly and blue/purple flowers

The Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park is located in the Lake Gardens area which includes the KL Bird Park, National Mosque of Malaysia, Islamic Arts Museum, etc..

iridescent blue and orange butterfly

I like butterfly parks so I enjoyed it. It was an impressive butterfly park but it is also pretty much what you expect if you have visited several. If you enjoy them then I think it is well worth a visit. If you don’t know, it is a good one to check out and see if you like them.

White and orange butterfly on orange flowers

A big part of what I enjoy is the photography so if you enjoy photography you may well also enjoy a visit.

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Tanjung Piai National Park – the Southernmost Point in Asia

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raised walkway in the mangrove forest

Tanjung Piai National Park is the Southernmost point in mainland Asia – located in Johor, Malaysia. The park is about 80 km from Johor Bahru.

The video shows my view as I walked through a mangrove forest and emerging onto the Johor Straits. The video zooms in to see part of Singapore (since Singapore is an island off of Asia this point is the southernmost point on mainland Asia instead of Singapore). And if some in Singapore try to claim that title, which some do, then why not Indonesia?

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Hiking in the Forest Research Institute Malaysia – in KL

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Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) in Kuala Lumpur offers a nice location for a hike. I took the train to Kepong and then a taxi to the park. There is then a fairly long walk to the trail (from the entrance) but past interesting sites, so I found it worthwhile. You could probably get driven in further but you have to pay at the gate, so I think the taxi was reluctant to enter.

hiking trail

My guess is this isn’t high on tourists list of attractions in KL (more an education and research center and resource for those living in KL). But for people that like hiking (such as me) it is a nice location. And for those living in KL it is a great hike (those I saw hiking seemed like locals to me).

forest stream

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Treehouse, Permai Rainforest Resort, Damai (outside Kuching), Borneo

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I very much enjoyed the treehouse cabin at the Permai Rainforest Resort. The reviews on Agoda for the ground level lodgings there were not great, but I was extremely pleased with the treetop cabin I stayed at. The Permai Rainforest Resort is in Damai, about 30 km outside Kuching.

photo of Treetop Cabin, Permai Rainforest Resort

The treehouses all are along the forest edge where it meets the beach. You hear the wonderful sound of waves crashing and winds rushing through the forest trees.

photo inside of the Treetop Cabin, Permai Rainforest Resort

The rooms have a full bath and electricity.

They were quite cool, with the shade and wind, but also offered AC if you wished to use it. The cafeteria wasn’t anything fancy but offered tasty food and a decent wifi connection (no wifi is available in the rooms).

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Orangutans in Sarawak, Borneo

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One of the things you have to do while in Borneo is see orangutans in the rainforest. I went on a river rafting trip that included a stop at Semenggoh Wildlife Center (national park) on the way. From my research I believe this was 1 of the 2 good options for seeing wild orangutans near Kuching.

Mother orangutan with baby and bananas

The orangutans are free in the forest. They stop by the viewing points because of the tasty food (many were also brought here for rehabilitation so they are comfortable seeing people – though the rehabilitation is largely moved elsewhere now).

Because the orangutans are free when fruit is in season sometimes few or no orangutans show up. They generally have feeding time in the morning at 9 to 10 AM (when I went) and in the afternoon (3 to 3:30 PM).

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Wonderful Hiking in Bako National Park

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Bako National Park offers a network of trails through jungles, scrub environments and to beautiful beaches. The post includes spur trails which I took as part of a loop off the Lintang Trail. I slept in Kuching, hiked during the day in Bako National Park and returned to my hotel at night.

On the Pandan Kencil Path

photo of view from plateau on Bako National Park Pandan Kencil path

Great views from a plateau. And the plateau also had large numbers of pitcher plants.

photo of pitcher plants

Then there is a short spur off the Pandan Kencil path to this wonderful beach overlook (Besar):

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Lintang Trail, Bako National Park, Sarawak, Borneo

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Forest trail, Lintang trail

The Lintang Trail, Bako National Park, Sarawak, Borneo is 5.25 km but it offers several additional spur trails. I will post on the spur trails in a future post.

Steep climb on trail, Lintang trail

The trail has quite a bit of step climbs. Along with the spur trails I was quite exhausted when I completed the hike (which is not normal for me). It was fairly hot, combining that with probably a bit over 10 km (which is not normally any problem) and the step climbs got a bit tiring.

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Bako National Park, Sarawak, Borneo

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Bako National Park is a wonderful location less than an hour outside of Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo. The park includes rustic cabins (for overnight stays) and a visitors center that serves food. To reach the park you must take a 20 minute boat ride.

view from boat dropoff for Bako National Park

When the boat dropped us off here in the morning they said they would pick us up on the beach. I couldn’t really understand why, but this photo shows the tide has made the path to the stairs impassable, which explains why (I should have figured that out but my brain doesn’t always work as well as it should).

photo of sign showing Bako National Park trails

I only spent a day in the park. There are several intersecting trails. The “small” loop trail includes the Lintang trail and intersects with Pandan Kecil path, Pandan Basar path and more. I hiked through several trails and completely exhausted myself, actually. It was a wonderful hike.

There are probably enough trails to keep you busy for 2 days of hiking though I think you can get a good feel for the different settings in 1 day.

photo looking back at Bako National Park from the boat as I leave

Looking back at Bako National Park from the boat as I leave (the visitor’s center is just off to the left).

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Kuala Lumpur Aquarium

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The Aquaria is located in the Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC), near the Petronas towers. It is pretty small and something that can be skipped without missing much. But if you have a bit of extra time it is a fine way to spend an hour or two.

photo of jellys in the KL Aquarium

These are real (which might not be obvious from the photo) jelly fish floating around in the display.

photo of very large fish at the KL aquarium

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