Space Hopping : A visit to KL Forest Eco Park

Love our Forest!

As the long Labour Day weekend approached, I was wondering what to do with my offday (non-running active rest day) on May Day itself which happened to fall on a Monday this year.

The entrance to the Eco Park from KL Tower car park

Normally, I would not choose to go out of the city on long weekends simply to avoid the traffic jam on the highway both out and back to the city.

Layout map

Taman Eco Rimba KL is the name of the Eco Park in Bahasa Malaysia 

So, I was browsing through FB and stumbled upon a friend's FB post of a pretty interesting park in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. It looked like the perfect place for a mild hike / walk without straining my tired muscles too much after a hard workout on Sunday.

Admiring the urban forest

I researched what I could find online on this place and made quick plans to visit. It would be a welcome change to explore this place from the usual trails of Wawasan, Puchong or Bukit Gasing or Apek Hill or Bukit Ketumbar where I usually hike.

The canopy walk

The KL Forest Eco Park is located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur city, actually the very hillock where KL Tower is built upon. Covering an area of 9.37 hectares, it is also the oldest gazetted forest reserve in Malaysia.

Another view of the canopy walk

I read that there were 3 entrances i.e. one accessible from behind the Wariseni gallery building at Jalan Ampang and very near the Bukit Nanas Monorail station, the other from near the St. Andrew's Church and the 3rd entrance from the KL Tower carpark near Jalan Raja Chulan. There apparently also was an entrance fee of RM12 per person per entry beginning from October 2016. 

Clear signposting

After sharing the details with How How, he was originally put off with the hefty entrance fees and wondered whether it was worth paying the price to visit.

Sunlight filtering through the trees

I thought why not? Since we had never been there, it was worth to explore and if it wasn't worth it after all, then we can just shake it off as a bad experience. So in the end, I managed to persuade him to go.

The Banana Tree Grove

The day of 1st May dawned bright and cool. It had rained heavily the night before guaranteeing fresh air that morning. How How and me set off from the RapidKL LRT station at close to 7:45am. The park was only open from 8:00am to 5:00pm and not from 7:00am to 6:00pm as per the information gleaned from other websites. So there was no point in leaving too early.

The Bamboo Walk

We planned to take the recommended access to the park i.e. the entrance behind the Wariseni Gallery near to the Bukit Nanas Monorail Station. Boy, was that recommendation from other online blogs wrong!

Some of the parts along the walk were concrete stairs

We discovered upon reaching the location that the entrance was permanently closed and so was the Wariseni gallery building. Hence, we decided on the spur of the moment to walk over to KL Tower and enter via that entrance instead.

Fortunately, it was still early in the morning and the sun hadn't come out in full force just yet. So we did a leisurely walk over to KL Tower and after asking around, we found the entrance to KL Forest Eco Park.

We also discovered that entry to the Park was actually free of charge and once again, the online blogs were wrong although they were recently updated as late as March 2017. How strange!

Having fun at the canopy walk. Yoohoo!!

Straight ahead of us, we immediately saw the Canopy Walk and to our left was the trailhead to the Jelutong Trail while to the left was the entrance to the Denai Arboretum area.

Entrance to the Canopy Walk

We decided to take the direct and most attractive option first, i.e. the Canopy Walk and we did not regret it. The sky had cleared into a brilliant blue and the backdrop of the skyscrapers against the tall trees of the forest reserve made for very attractive photos indeed!

The view of KL Tower from the Canopy Walk

How How and me had fun excitedly running up and down the Canopy Walk taking pictures and probably made a few families with kids nervous with our movements on the bouncing bridge. Oops! Really sorry for that!

Skyscrapers visible from the Canopy Walk

We walked from one end of the Canopy Walk to the other and then exited to the bottom to the Herb Garden and Fern House and onward to the Arboretum before making our way somehow back to the main entrance again.

The Suboh Trail

It was time to hit the Jelutong Trail via the Hopea Trail to see the old trees and a walk through the forest. While the trail had been "commercialized" in such a way that most of it had turned into brick stairs or pavement instead, there were still some trails off the main track which consisted of part gravel like the Merawan Trail and part dirt-packed soil like the Suboh Trail.

The Denai Trail

The walk was very interesting and we detoured to the Banana Grove and onward to the Bamboo Walk which was part of the Shorea Trail. The names of each tree and some of the plants were placed on display and it made for a good education for families bringing kids (who can walk). I must add that the place is not friendly enough for the disabled nor kids of toddler age or those still needing to be wheeled around in prams. There is just too much stairs to negotiate in the area, not to mention big mosquitoes. So insect and mosquito repellant is a must!

The Merawan Trail

Beautiful tall old trees along the trail

Here are a few more photos of our experience in the area. KL Tower could be seen peeking out from the branches of some Jelutong Trees!

KL Tower peeking out from the leaves and branches of the Jelutong Trees

All in all, we spent around 1 hour 15 min including photo-taking in the area.

Just look at the base of this old tree!

Do go in the morning when there are less people about so you can enjoy the walk or your run in peace. I did see some runners putting in a good workout doing multiple laps running around the trails and the stairs.

Lovely walk through the forest where you can still lose yourself in loud cicadas chirping despite being so in the heart of the city!

In summary, if you are interested in visiting the Park, here again are the details I found out from my experience there:-

KL Forest Eco Park (Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve)

Opening Hours : 8:00am - 5:00pm (as per signage)

Access : Use the entrance from the KL Tower car park as I found that is the easiest and safest bet. 

If driving there by car :

Be prepared to pay RM10.00 for parking charges for the KL Tower car park 

If using public transport such as the GoKL free bus services once you reach KL city via LRT or monorail :

Catch the GoKL free bus service (please research the route of GoKL Service separately), then get off at the Bukit Nanas bus stop and walk to the KL Tower bus stop at the tower's entrance gate. You can then choose to catch the free KL Tower shuttle bus to KL Tower or walk up to KL Tower directly.

Once at KL Tower, you can then walk to the entrance of the Eco Park which is directly opposite the huge "I Love KL Tower" signage. 

*Note : Entrance to the Eco Park is about 100m from KL Tower main entrance.

Entrance Fees : Free (as at 1st May 2017)

Total Distance : Depends on how many trails you want to do but on average, I would think it's a straightforward 3km walk.

Toilets : Available inside the park.

Must bring : Mosquito Repellant, Sunblock, Hat, Towel, plenty of water.

You can plan your visit to coincide with visiting KL Tower if you like.

Family-friendly park but not advisable for families with strollers nor the disabled.

Enjoy your visit! Julia, the Running Photog, cannot help but wish there were more green spaces like these of easy reach within our city of Kuala Lumpur!

Yours truly enjoying a leisure walk