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Sabah Agriculture Park, the largest garden of Sabah

Sabah Agriculture Park (Local Name: Taman Pertanian Sabah), in Tenom district of Sabah interior, is one of the largest garden parks in Malaysia. This attraction is so underrated because people think that it’s only about farming. In fact, Sabah Agriculture Park has a wide range of exotic flowers and fruits origin from the tropical regions of Asia, Central & South America, and Africa.

Sabah Agriculture Park (Taman Pertanian Sabah) in Tenom is one of the largest garden parks in Malaysia.

Furthermore, Sabah Agriculture Park is a 500-acre mega garden with over 20 mini gardens that have special collections categorized by plant families or characteristics. Casual visitors would be dazzled by thousands of flowers, trees, fruits, and vegetables in variety of forms and colors, and enjoy a stroll at the beautiful lakeside and model gardens. If you are an avid botanist, gardener or farmer, you would wish that you discovered this plant kingdom earlier.

Visitor Hall and entrance of Sabah Agriculture Park (Taman Pertanian Sabah)

Tours

Sabah Agriculture Park sprawls over an area of 6 square kilometres, which is too big for visitor to cover everything in a day. The park is like a buffet, you can spend from a few hours to a week, depend on how much you want to see. My favourites are Crops Museum for sampling of tropical fruits, Native Orchid Centre for rare Borneo orchids, and Model Gardens for photo-taking.

Site map of Sabah Agriculture Park (Taman Pertanian Sabah) for paid visitors.

Quick Tour

For a quick tour to experience the highlights, the following activities are suitable for family and normal tourists who want to spend only a few hours:

Take a free ride on a tram-train to visit orchid and models gardens near the end of the park (save a lot of legwork). The tram starts around 9am and operates hourly (depend on the number of visitors).
Check out Crops Museum and Ornamental Gardens near the entrance of the Park.

Tram-train starts around 9am to provide free ride for visitors.

The park used to rent bicycle, which provides an excellent mean to explore the park. Sadly it’s not available now.

Educational Tour

Sabah Agriculture Park is an ideal outdoor classroom for school trips. The educators also can organize knowledge quests for students to learn about plant in a fun way. Who knows this might inspire them to find their passions in agriculture and horticulture (other than becoming a Youtuber, just kidding).

Guided Tour

Instead of wandering aimlessly in the park, an interpretation walk by a knowledgeable guide will make a big difference to your experience. They will share interesting stories of the plant, let you sample some foreign fruits and show you some special plant in the park. The guiding service is free. However, you need to request in advance with the Park by phone or through their Facebook (subject to availability).

Family can explore the gardens which have a network of paved trails connected to other gardens.

Tips

There are mosquitoes in areas near to water, you will need insect repellent.
No water station in the Park, bring a bottle of drinking water with you.
Visit in the morning so you don’t exposure to hot day. Use sunblock lotion (or umbrella) to prevent sunburn.
June to August is the best period to visit because of the fruiting season.
Wear comfortable walking shoes, especially the ones with slip resistant.

Left: Cannonball tree (*Couroupita guianensis*), native plant of South and Central America. Its fruits are edible but don’t taste good. Right: a heart-shaped flower

Gardens of Sabah Agriculture Park

There are over 20 sections that feature different flowers and plant. Every garden has signage, name plates and information panels (most have English version) for your DIY tour. You can walk to one garden to another via the network of paved path that connects most gardens. The following is an overview of the main gardens in the Park.

There are more than 20 small gardens (sections) in Sabah Agriculture Park for visitors to see different categories of plant.

Ornamental Gardens

Ornamental Garden is the best starting point for flower lovers. This super garden has over 20 well-landscaped mini-gardens that showcase different groups of plant and flowers. Fans of Bougainvillea, Hibiscus, Hoya, Ixora, Lily, Clerodendrum, Cactus, Carnivorous or Parasitic plant would be really pleased by the magnificent collection there. Some species are endemic to Borneo.

There are thousands of plant species of different forms and colours in Sabah Agriculture Park

Which flower is the Queen of the Tropical Flowers? What’s a wax plant? You can find the answers in this garden.

Crops Museum

Do you know that coffee was introduced from America and oil palm is the native plant of Africa? Some crops are so useful (or tasty) that they become part of our lives. You would be impressed by 400 tropical fruit trees divided into 15 major sections on this 8-acre ethno-botanical garden. These are cash trees with economic values due to their uses as food, medicines, spices, oil, fibers, cosmetics, handicrafts, etc. Some of them are from South America, Africa, India and Australia. Read more…

Local and non-native fruits in Sabah Agriculture Park. Can you tell which one is used as lipstick? And which one is guajilote fruit from Mexico?

Model Gardens

Model Gardens consist of five small themed gardens to demonstrate different landscaping and gardening styles that serve specific community and environment. For example, City Garden with cooling water fountain and seats, Sabah Garden with common vegetables and local ornamental trees. Sabahans love to plant papaya, pandan, banana and shallot on their yards.

Hybrid Orchids Centre

70 species of showy hybrid orchids grow here, mainly under genus of Oncidium, Cattleya, Aranda, Renenthera, Mokara, and Doritaenopsis. This is also a great location to take some portrait photos. Read more…

Hybrid Orchid Garden of Sabah Agriculture Park. These orchids have big and showy flowers for better commercial value and are more tolerant to sunlight.

Native Orchids Centre (must visit!)

Next to Hybrid Orchids Centre is the real gem of the Park, the Native Orchids Centre, where 400 species of indigenous Borneo orchids are cultivated. In contrast to the flamboyant hybrid orchids, many native orchids have smaller flowers, and some have smelly flowers. Some rare and endangered species found here include Elephant Ear Orchid, Rat Tail Orchid, Slipper Orchids, Bella Orchid, Giant Orchid and the Rose Orchid.

Native Orchid Centre of Sabah Agriculture Park has some impressive collections of rare Borneo orchids. Note the Giant orchid (*Grammatophyllum speciosum*) on the arch. This garden is next to the Hybrid Orchid Garden.

Evolution Garden

This garden exhibits how plants evolved and adapted to the environments even before dinosaur age, from pond to semi-arid zone, as well as harsh habitats such as salty and limestone territories. What would catch your attention there are the floating Giant Water lily that can hold a toddler, and the rotting smell of Giant Aristolochia flowers.

Plant Evolution and Adaptation Garden. The Giant water lily (*Victoria amazonica*) at the right can hold the weight of a small child.

Animal Park

Near the Sapong Lake is a mini zoo that raises some livestock and farm animals, for example, deer, ducks, tortoise, goats, ostrich. Many children are afraid of chicken because they never see one. Time to bring them here to see the real stuffs.

Lakes & Camping Ground

Oddly, lake is not very common in Sabah, so I’m happy to see three lakes in the Park. Visitors can enjoy the view and walk on the suspension bridges, or have a scenic view of the lakes on top of the 4-storey lookout tower. The Park even creates four islands in the lakes, one of them is Camping Island, which has a camping ground with tents and toilets (alert: many mosquitoes).

Bird Island (left) and Padas (right) Island in Sapong Lake of Sabah Agriculture Park

For a permit fee (RM2.00), you can fish at the lake, which has Tilapia, Grass and Common Carp, Patin, Toman, Kalui, and Lampam Jawa, to name a few. You can take home your caught too (for RM8/Kg). Boating is another fun activity in the lake.

Rundum Lake in Sabah Agriculture Park. You can walk up to the 4-floor-high Lookout Tower at the right for a nice view.

Amenities & Accommodation

Overall, Sabah Agriculture Park is a family-friendly park with complete amenities. Lot of parking spaces near the entrance. There are ticket counter, souvenir shop, restaurant, and toilets in the arrival hall.

Camping & Adventure Islands, and camping ground at the lakeside

Decent accommodation is available for those who want to overnight in the Park. However, it’s closed as of this writing. The fees below are for your info. You can follow their Facebook for the reopening date.

Hostel (per night per person): Adult (RM25), Student (RM15)
Chalet: RM150 per Chalet per Night (max 6 people)
Camping: RM 10 per person/night

Opening Hours

The Park is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 4:30pm. It’s closed every Monday (unless that day falls on a Public Holiday).

Common plant in Sabah Garden. Left: giant Bird’s-nest fern, Right: *Doringin* (or Simpoh Ayer), its big leaves can be used for packing rice (Linopot)

Entrance Fee

The best deal is family group ticket for parents who bring two children. (For international tourists: Based on currency exchange rate (as of this writing), one USD can exchange for about four Ringgit (RM4 or MYR4).)

Category	Malaysian	Foreigner
Adult (13 years and above)	RM10	RM25
Student (Secondary school / Undergraduates of higher learning)	RM7	–
Child below 13	RM5	RM10
Accompanied child below 6	Free	Free
Government Pensioner / Senior Citizen	RM7	RM25
Family (2 adults + maximum 2 children below 13 years old)	RM20	RM50
Handicapped	Free	Free

Ticket fee to enter Sabah Agriculture Park

How to get there

Sabah Agriculture Park is about 164 kilometres from Kota Kinabalu City (KK), and 14 kilometres from Tenom town. The Park is highly accessible by highway and paved road, and takes nearly 3 hours of driving from KK. The GPS coordinates of the Park is 5.174728932499501, 115.98344250484831 (see Location Map). Do not rely on public transport to move around Tenom. Use your car or rent one.

Cactus Garden (left) and hanging bridge (right)

The following is the contact of Sabah Agriculture Park:
Address: Taman Pertanian Sabah, WDT, 28, 89909 TENOM, SABAH, MALAYSIA
Facebook: Taman-Pertanian-Sabah
Website: sabah.net.my/agripark
E-mail: agripark@sabah.net.my, tps_tenom@yahoo.com
Phone: +60 87-737952 / 737558

Photos taken in Tenom, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Climbing Mt. Silam with Sabah Crabs

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After enjoying the nice view of Darvel Bay on Tower of Heaven, I went to climb Mount Silam. With a height of 884 Meters, Mount Silam is one of the highest mountains in Lahad Datu. Plant and animal enthusiasts will find that a hike on Mt. Silam is filled with pleasure surprises, due to rich variety of unique and endemic flora and fauna here. Thanks to Sabah Forestry Department, who keeps this mountain pristine in its 698-Hectare Sapagaya fully protected forest reserve.

Pic: Mt. Silam and its Tower of Heaven (Menara Kayangan)

Mt. Silam is classified as an Ultramafic Coastal Mountain. In layman’s terms, the soil in Ultramafic environment is reddish brown in color and formed by ultrabasic rock. The soil has high concentration of heavy metals such as magnesium, iron, nickel, chromium and cobalt, but poor in plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The ultramafic substrates are “toxic” so the plants which can survive here are very different from other vegetations. That’s what makes Mt. Silam so special.

The Summit Trails

Climbing a 884-Meter mountain may sound taxing. But no worry, I started the climb at 620 Meter elevation (near the Tower of Heaven), so going up and down Mt. Silam took me less than 6 hours. Do bring raincoat, water and energy bars with you, as there is no shelter and water station along the way. Wear comfortable hiking shoes, and a trekking pole would help, though the climb is not tough.

Pic: the start of the summit trail is just behind the Tower of Heaven.

Pic: the trail signage. The dig-a-hole instruction makes me laugh. There is no toilet on the mountain.

As shown on the signage above, there are two trails to the summit, i.e. the easy but longer Kalung-Kalungan Trail (estimated 2.5 KM), and the shorter but difficult Kayangan Trail (estimated 1.5 KM). To get the most out of this climb, I did a “loop” climb by ascending via easy Kalung-Kalungan Trail and descending via Kayangan Trail.

The Kalung-Kalungan Trail is fairly easy and I spend most of the time walking. Kayangan Trail is steep and narrow, a bit challenging and it is quite slippery after rain, you need to climb and get dirty, so I only recommend Kayangan Trail to experienced hikers.

Pic: the paved walkway and lower montane forest (cloud forest) at the start of summit trail.

My climb starts at the lower montane forest zone (altitude: 540M – 770M asl), the trees here have relatively shorter and thinner stature than lowland forest. They get even smaller (but denser) when you move up to higher altitude.

Silam Crabs

If you pay attention to the forest floor near the tower, you will see some cute and orange-red Silam crabs foraging among leaf litters. This land crab is endemic to Sabah and only confined to ultramafic forest of Mt. Silam. Personally I call it the “Ruby of Mt. Silam” or you can call it the Sabahan Crab, haha, whatever.

Pic: Silam Crab (Species: Geosesarma aurantium)

Silam Crab can be found up to the peak of Mt. Silam. Isn’t it weird to see seafood living on mountain? The red-orange shell (carapace) of this crab also reminds me of the color of steamed crab served on dish. Most of them are shy and flee to crevices before I can photograph them. A few are bold to face my lens. When threatened, they tap the ground with legs, making sound to warn the invaders.

Pic: boardwalk under construction, watch your steps.

Mt. Silam is open to public in year 2012 so it is still new. Sabah Forestry Department is busy improving the amenities and accommodation.

After 100 Meters of paved walkway and boardwalk, I came to the nature trail, no more man-made structure and support after this point. The air is as cooling as air-cond and I was wearing a thin T-shirt, but I still sweated a lot due to the long hike. The trail is well-maintained and the route is clear, so you won’t lose in the jungle, even without the trail markers. There was no forest leech during my visit. Though the trail is not tourist-friendly, most people won’t find it too hard to hike Kalung-Kalungan trail.

The Animals

Besides Silam Crab, there are some wildlife living in Mt. Silam. However, most of them are small animals.

There are 23 mammal species such as Sambar Deer, Banteng (Wild Ox), Giant Flying Fox, Slow Loris and Bornean Gibbon on Mt. Silam. Bearded pig (wild boar) is the easiest one to spot as they seem to eat day and night. I saw a few groups of macaques on the trees too.

Pic: forest snail that looks like a trumpet

Pic: giant millipede

If you like birdwatching, there is a mix of lowland, sub-montane and coastal birds in this area. A few noteworthy birds are Black-backed Kingfisher, Rufous Piculet, Chestnut-crested Yuhina and Red-bearded Bee Eater. I saw Emerald Dove, Leaf Warbler and Blyth’s Hawk Eagle.

Pic: Black and yellow Broadbill

“Hi!” from a curious warbler.

Pic: Tiger Beetle that looks like an ant

Tiger Beetle is the Olympian runner of insect world. If human is as fast as a Tiger Beetle, he can run at 770 KM per hour, meaning he can run from LA and reach New York within 6 hours on feet.

Pic: an unknown spider

The Plant

The plant biodiversity of Mt. Silam is amazing, as there are 374 tree species in four main forest types on different altitudes of this small mountain, each has its unique characteristics:

200M – 300M: Lowland ultramafic forest
330M – 540M: Upland ultramafic forest
540M – 770M: Lower montane ultramafic forest
770M+: Upper montana ultramafic forest (Mossy Forest)

Keep your eyes on the grass, flowers, bamboo, trees, etc., they can be endemic plant of Sabah and Borneo.

Pic: strange leaves

Pic: (left) Poisonous berries of Flax Lily, (right) Bangkau-Bangkau, the Enigmatic Bornean Tree endemic to Sabah.

Orchids

Orchids are everywhere, especially around the ridge area at 800M and above. Many orchids here are epiphytic, which means they live on trees that provide them support and more sunlight on higher spot.

They grow on the tree, mossy carpet, slope… Too bad I didn’t visit during the blooming months of orchid, which usually occurs in Feb and Mar after rainy season. Anyway, a few were generous to give us a showtime.

Pic: this orchid grows high on top.

Unlike the flamboyant big commercial orchids, native orchids are generally very small and not easy to spot.

Pic: this heart-shaped Jewel Orchid (Species: Corybas serpentinus) is only found in Sabah and the one I want to see the most, but sadly no blooming.. So I only can show its photo from poster. Another tiny orchid that I want to see is Porpax borneensis, which is also endemic to Sabah.

Pitcher Plants

Pitcher plant is abundant on Mt. Silam, you have to be blind to miss it. Some species such as Nepenthes reinwardtiana, Nepenthes tentaculata, Nepenthes macrovulgaris and Nepenthes stenophylla are endemic to Sabah or Borneo.

Pic: pitcher plant in the garden near the Tower of Heaven.

Pic: The top of Mt. Silam is blanketed by this small Nepenthes tentaculata, the most common montane species in Borneo. Note the hairs on its lid.

Pic: the upper pitcher of Nepenthes macrovulgaris (endemic to Sabah)

Pic: the lower pitcher of Nepenthes macrovulgaris in red color

Pic: just to show you how big is the pitcher plant on Mt. Silam.

Pic: some frog species live and grow inside the pitcher plant. Scientists still try to find out why.

Upper Montane Forest (Mossy Forest)

Mossy forest is normally found from 2,000M up to 2,700M above sea level, but you can find Mossy Forest after 770M elevation on Mt. Silam. Mt. Silam is experiencing Massenerhebung effect, a natural phenomenon that different vegetation zonation “compressed” on a small and isolated mountain.

Pic: the mossy forest of Mt. Silam on higher altitude.

The Mossy Forest is characterized by small pole trees and mossy ground. Cushion moss is important for the water balance of ecosystems in the forests by storing large amounts of water. Such wet environment is important for orchids.

Pic: Vivian, our guide standing next to the the trees full of epiphytes.

The ground, tree trunks and branches of Mossy Forest are covered by thick humus layer and enveloped with mosses.

Pic: a mossy stick insect blends into the mossy environment perfectly.

Pic: walking on the ridge near the summit. You can see the exposed reddish-brown ultrabaisc soil. The fern in the photo is Dicranopteris curranii (local name: paku resam), the most abundant fern species, it is ecologically important for moderating harsh surface temperature environment.

For more reading on natural wonders of Mount Silam, you may download the pamphlet below (published by Sabah Forestry Department):

Personally, for hikers in Sabah’s East Coast, I think Mount Silam is the best mountain for an enjoyable half-day climb, because it is easy and rich in flora and fauna. For more info (accommodation, direction, etc.) about Mt. Silam, you may read my earlier post about Tower of Heaven.

Photos taken in Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

The Most Expensive Orchid in the world

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Do you know Sabah has the most expensive orchid in the world?

Come meet Rothschild’s Slipper Orchid (species: Paphiopedilum rothschildianum) from Kinabalu Park. This orchid is sold for USD5,000 per stem in black market.

There are 3 reasons why Rothschild’s Slipper Orchid, “the aristocrat of all slipper orchids”, is so expensive:

It’s a rare and endangered species, endemic to Kinabalu Park.
It takes 15 years to grow and bloom.
It’s beautiful!

It’s also locallly known as Sumazau Orchid, because the long sweeping side petals of flower look like the outspread arms of dancer of Sumazau, the most popular traditional dance of Sabah (see photos below).

The stem of Sumazau Orchid can hold up to six flowers, but usually it is only 3 to 4 flowers. Someone told me that the flower of Rothschild’s Slipper Orchid in the wild has brighter red color.

Due to its high value, it also earns the nickname “Gold of Kinabalu”. Rothschild’s Slipper Orchid only grows on the slope of Mt. Kinabalu between 500 and 1,200 Meters in altitude. Most local villagers and orchid smugglers know this and steal the flower, making them vulnerable to extinction. I know a ranger in Sabah Parks once fined a tourist RM1,000 for stealing orchid from the national park.

Orchid Conservation Center of Poring

Well, though I can’t afford to buy Rothschild’s Slipper Orchid, I can afford to see it at Orchid Garden of Poring Hot Springs park for only a few dollars (Ticket Fee: RM5≈USD1.50 for Malaysian adult, RM10≈USD3 for foreigner adult).

You can buy the ticket from Poring Conservation Center (see photo above) not far away from the Orchid Garden. The Orchid Garden of Poring is open daily from 9am to 4pm.

Besides the famous Sumazau Orchid, there are 600 orchid species in this garden, which includes other famous orchid such as Renanthera bella, Phalaenopsis gigantea, Phalaenopsis labukensis, Dimorphorchis rossii and Bulbophyllum species.

Most of the native orchids have tiny flowers so you have to search carefully. The garden is quite big, orchid lovers could spend a full day here just to look for different orchid flowers.

Above: Coelogyne rhabdobulbon orchid species

There is an estimated 2,000+ orchid species in Borneo, and you can find over 700 species (belonging to 121 genera) in Kinabalu Park alone, which is over 30 percent of Borneo orchid species.

Above: Green Orchid

More Photos

You may check out my photo album on Poring for more nice pictures:

Other articles about Poring Hot Springs Park:

Photos taken in Poring, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Weird flowers & fruits in Sabah Agriculture Park

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Sabah Agriculture Park (Taman Pertanian Sabah), which is located 15 Kilometers away from Tenom town, is one of the best agriculture parks in Asia. The park has about 20 gardens with different themes, the area is so big that you need to spend a few days to see everything. I had a day trip there last week and I find the following exotic plants are interesting:

Above: “Mickey Mouse” Flower. Do you see the eyes and ears?

Above: heart shape flower. Valentine’s Day is around the corner.

Above: Circular floating leaves of the giant Amazonian water lily (Victoria amazonica). It can grow more than 1 Meter in diameter and no problem having a 30-40 Kg child sit on it. Some visitors throw coin on these big leaves. Please don’t do it, coz it will cause “sunburn” to the leaf when the metal coin turns hot by sunlight.

Above: Dutchman’s Pipe from South America

Above: Dutchman’s Pipe stinks so bad when it fully grows and flies love it.

Pucuk Manis (species name: Sauropus androgynus) is a very famous vegetable of Sabah. Local Chinese calls it “树仔菜” (means tree vegetables literally). We always recommend tourists to try it.

Above: this flower looks like shrimp’s mouth.

Above: Mahkota Dewa from Indonesia, a magical fruit that can cure cancer of early stage.

Above: “cotton tree”?

Above: the seed with “cotton” inside.

You should hire a guide with you if you want to sample fruits in the park. Not everything is edible. Like the fruit tree above. This tree is used for decoration and the fruits are not edible, and it’s quite a pain to clean the dropping fruits.

Burahol / kepel fruit. Eat it and your urine will smell good.

The fruit of burahol / kepel needs to be cooked to yellow color before consumption.

Above: beautiful Hoya flower

We sample some ripen fruits. I can’t recall their names. They all taste sweet with a bit of sour.

Above: “Ah Bill” fruit (that’s how the name sounds like)? The meat is sweet and taste like pudding, nice!

To make the tour more enjoyable and informative, it is highly recommended that you hire a park guide to show you around. You may go in group and pay for the guide service. Even though I think Sabah Agriculture Park is one of the “must-visit” parks in Sabah, it is not a popular tourism attraction. One of the reasons is that this park is over 100 Kilometers from Kota Kinabalu city and travel agents are lack of interest to promote it.

Photos taken in Tenom, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Orchid Gardens of Sabah Agriculture Park

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Orchid is such a charismatic flower that some enthusiasts would risk their lives to collect it in the wild. Luckily, you can see many precious orchid species in Sabah Agriculture Park (Taman Pertanian Sabah) in Tenom, without putting your life in danger. There are two orchid gardens there, namely, Native Orchid Center and Hybrid Orchid Center.

1. Native Orchid Center

Borneo island has about 1,500 species of orchid, and you can see more than 350 indigenous orchid species in Native Orchid Center, making Sabah Agriculture Park one of the world’s famous orchid centers.

This orchid conservation center is housing some of the most valuable orchid species in the world, which include a slipper orchid (species: Paphiopedilum rothschildianum) endemic to Sabah and nicknamed “Gold of Kinabalu”. Valued at USD5,000 per stem in black market, this slipper orchid is known to be the most expensive orchid in the world. It’s also our Sabah state flower and locally known as “Sumazau Orchid”.

To protect those expensive and rare native Borneo orchid from being plucked, the park has to keep this garden locked and visitors must be accompanied by a guide from the park.

Most orchid collection of Native Orchid Garden are from lowland rainforest, which is a warm, humid and dim environment.

Therefore, the native orchid garden is also simulating the rainforest environment. The orchid nursery is shaded to avoid direct sunlight. You may not see any blooming orchid in photo above. Actually there are many of them but most of them are very tiny (only a few MM) and they are unlike the commercial orchids which are generally bigger and have bright colors.

In average, there are 30 orchid flowering per day in this garden. Some orchids have very interesting characteristics.

Have you ever seen a green orchid?

This orchid is known as “Bottle-Brush Orchid”. Go figure.

The orchid above have very strong and sweet aroma.

Above: Paphiopedilum lowii, a type of slipper orchid.

Above: Elephant ear orchid has the largest orchid leaf in the world. Click Here for more info.

Above: “Rat Tail” orchid (Ekor Tikas) has the longest orchid leaf in the world. Click Here for more info

2. Hybrid Orchid Center

The orchids in Hybrid Orchid Center may look more familiar to you, because they are those large, colorful and showy orchids commercially sold in flora garden. These are the end product of cross-breeding of orchids.

The hybrid orchids are usually tougher and easier to plant. Native orchids are very sensitive to change of environment.

In contrast to Native Orchid Center, hybrid orchids have bigger and denser blooming clusters.

As you can see, both orchid gardens are very different. I believe botanists will love Native Orchid Center and gardeners love Hybrid Orchid Center.

Photos taken in Tenom, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

The longest orchid leaf in the world

The largest orchid leaf in the world

Long Pasia – Back to Kota Kinabalu (part 5 of 6)

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Continued from Part 4…

DAY 4 – Fall in Love with Long Pasia

Taman Kerangas (Heath Forest Garden)

Before we leave Long Pasia, we check out the Heath Forest Garden nearby the village, only a 20-minute walk away. Taman Kerangas is a garden (private land) where locals put all the wild orchids they rescued from logged forest. There are over 320 orchid species found in Long Pasia, and the new species is still being discovered.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Long Pasia

At first I thought Taman Kerangas was a well-maintained garden with all the blooming flora neatly organised and a place great for leisure walk. I was wrong. Taman Kerangas looks more like a forest, with muddy and steep trail, dense undergrowth vegetation and lurking leeches. I was wearing the last set of clean clothing for the last day and didn’t expect to get dirty. After walking nearly 1KM of dirty trail, and with leech crawling on my jacket, to be honest, I was quite angry.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Long Pasia

Anyway, I still got some beautiful flower shots though not many orchids were blooming. Just remember to wear jungle outfit when you come here. Taman Kerangas is so near to the village, so it still worth the time to take a look.

Last Day

I enjoy my last peaceful morning in Long Pasia. Today we are going home, but I don’t really feel happy that it’s over. Instead, I feel a bit sad leaving. As a frequent traveller, I come and go, without leaving my heart behind in other places. I have a special feeling about Long Pasia, and I’ll come back again one day. I feel a connection with this place but not sure what it is.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Long Pasia

Click Here to see bigger video

We have a tea break in the living room before we leave. A black chick comes in, walk around and chirp. Lait says this chick has no mother and always alone. It seems to enjoy being our company and sit quietly on our lap, so Mary decides to take it home and name it “Pasia”. Lat also gives Nova one of his paintings. Seem like everyone got something. I also bag some good photos and sweet memories too.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Long Pasia
Above: we have a new friend going home with us

Good bye Long Pasia. It is wonderful to know you…

>> Click Here to see more photos of Long Pasia

If you would like to go to Long Pasia, please contact Mr. Eddie at 011-12017897. The attractions that I blog here is only a small part of Long Pasia. Long Pasia has many other attractions such as Tiger Hill, Hidden Lake, Maga Waterfall, Crocodile monument, etc. Since Long Pasia is far away, I strongly recommend tourists to have a longer stay. What’s the point of having a 3-day trip but spending 2 days on the road, right? You don’t need to do hardcore adventure like me, as there are many leisure activities such as river cruise around the village too.

>> Read Next Article (Part 6)

Photos taken in Long Pasia, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo