Malaysia : Penang Botanic Gardens
The Penang Botanic Gardens, more popularly known as "Waterfall Gardens", was established by the British in 1884 from an old granite quarry site. It lies in a deep valley, at the foot of 366 feet jungle clad hills, bound by evergreen tropical rainforests, divided by a cascading stream that meanders through a sprawling 29 hectares of prime and undulating grounds.
Source : http://jkb.penang.gov.my/main.html
Just inside the main entrance of the Botanic Gardens is a tarmac road which made me wonder if I was going to like this place, but there are paths off that road. The whole gardens are set in a lush valley with towering trees above.
Japanese Garden
A small stream runs through the Japanese Garden .. the garden itself could have down with a brush and clean up, but had the right elements, small trees, rocks, water, multiple viewpoints.
Lily Pond
The highlights of the gardens were the Lily Pond and the Curtis Trail. The Lily Pond is reached by a walk going back through Dense forest and is surrounded on three side by steeps hills covered with trees. The pond is not immaculately kept which adds to the sense of it being a natural place.
Curtis Trail
The Curtis Trail is a leads up into the rainforest to the site where the founder of the park had his keeper's lodge. From the Lily Pond, the path upwards to the right is the one to take (it was not entirely clear). This has useful information posted along the way, explaining what a rainforest it, the plants and trees that grow at various levels in the forest .. an excellent explanation of Aroid curtains : growth from certain trees which reaches down instead of horizontally. If they reach the ground they absorb water and eventually supply nutrients to the tree from the earth and from the atmosphere. These substantial vertical branches looked like parasites to me, but are actually nourishing the main tree. The trail is well set out and steep but manageable.
My moan !!!!
All of these would have been idyllic were it not for the nearly constant sound of gunfire. Sure enough, on leaving the gardens I walked a short distance and found a Rifle Club which was the source of all this noise. Because it is in a valley, the sound echoes and is very distracting. I had lunch at a cafe there and a young man told me that the government were pressuring the rifle club to move (it has been there over 80 years). An older man seemed very skeptical about whether this would actually happen. They agreed that many people (especially overseas visitors) complained about the noise.
The fine print
Date of travel : February 2008
Country information :
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/my.html
Now what?
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