Malaysia: KL’s Forest in the city

Whenever I explore a certain place, I try to look more into areas and attractions closer to nature. And with this, I was quite impressed to find a forest at the heart of the cosmopolitan city of Kuala Lumpur. This is not just a recreational park at that or was made for that purpose of having a city forest, in fact it is one of the oldest permanent tropical rainforest in the country. Now let’s take a short hike into the Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve.

It was quite a feat at first on trying to find the entrance to this so called Forest Reserve. When I got off at Bukit Nanas LRT Station, I tried looking for a sign or a gate entrance but only found and gallery and a shop selling some plants, organic and natural products. I found a map area of the reserve and knew where I was but it didn’t say that it was an entrance. It’s a bit vague so I asked a policeman there and he told me that there is a pathway there and gave me directions. I followed the trail which seems to be going up and when I found an information board about the forest I was confident I’m on the right track.

From the information board, there were two paths. On the left was a paved path and quite leveled. On the right, was a winding path going down and it seems untouched. Knowing that I’m in the center of the city, I’m confident I won’t get lost somehow so I took the path going down. As soon as I got a bit deeper, but still manage to hear the passing vehicles I was devoured by huge mosquitoes just like my climb in Bukit Tabur. Fortunately I brought my mosquito repellent cream and applied all over my exposed skin.

The hike along the forest is quite easy. Along the path there are more mini information boards describing the numerous species of flora and fauna that can be seen in the area. Quite impressive really that despite being here at the center of the city, it still managed to maintain the excellent condition of the forest that some fauna like monkeys can freely wonder around even when there are sounds of vehicles or other urban distractions nearby. This is a very nice place to teach children about nature and taking care of it.

The hike along the trail which I later found out is called Merbau Trail only took about 30-45 minutes to finish. I also found out at the end point that the other trail which I didn’t go through is the Jelutong Trail. The former is much longer since its length is about 360meters while the later is only around 300meters. Also from that point there is another choice to head straight to the Bamboo Forest trail which looks picturesque and a perfect pic-nic area or a small flight of stairs going up where a sign that says Menara Tower. Since it was already late in the afternoon and the sky is getting a bit dark, I went upstairs to head to the tower.

Upstairs is an open field with a playground and some pic-nic tables and chairs. I was able to have a nice view of the famous Kuala Lumpur Menara Tower from here. Heading straight towards the tower, I found myself at the entrance of a mini canopy walk. Pretty amusing and I’m sure kids would really enjoy passing by it. I did.

After the canopy walk, I found myself at the foot of the Menara Tower. It’s quite interesting passing by this trail to head to the tower. It’s an unconventional route but a fun one. Most people would just head straight to the tower not knowing about the forest trail below. All in all I was contented exploring this forest reserve which was gazetted as a Forest Reserve in 1906. I couldn’t commend more on Malaysian government in maintaining this green lung of their city. I should expect them to do a good job like this since Malaysia is one of the 12 mega bio diversity countries in the world.