Nature Trip: Taman Botani, Putrajaya

14:00 20/5/2012 After completing our weekend tasks, we began to think of the places that we haven’t explored and visit. We brought up Penang, Siem Reap, Phuket, Hatyai, Krabi, and going back to Melaka. But we look each other and asked ourselves  “do we have enough funds to splurge on another weekend getaway?” Not yet, but soon maybe. Instead,  we browse the brochures that we collected from the last trip in Putrajaya. And our eyes glued in Taman Botani ( Botanical Garden) Putrajaya. We thought of having this eco adventure the moment we went back to KL after traipsing the Precinct of Putrajaya. Since it’s been more than two months the last time we had our Nature Trip in Orchid Garden and Hibiscus Garden in Kuala Lumpur.

Getting Here:

From KL to Putrajaya Sentral (How to go to Putrajaya)

Washington Palm

We didn’t miss the chance and sat on this nature inspired bench while gasping some fresh air after a brisk walk from bus stop to the entrance. Summer loves the butterflies design on the bench. She felt it was really intended made for her lol. Then Sky hurriedly went to the Green House entrance and oblige me took him a snap. What a cam whore! Good thing, he let me explore his toy DSLR when his busy or else he will have headless photo souvenir. 

We entered the Botanical Garden through the Visitor Centre and approach the information staff. She gladly told us that Entrance is free. Which means we save another moolah for our travel fund, woot. We’re too excited and blown away of what she said. We quickly went ahead without asking where’s the door that will lead us to the garden. Oops! wrong door, we went back and asked the staff and got the right exit. The moment we step outside from the sliding door, we can’t believe what we saw. Yes, the view in the canopy walk is really breath taking. We closely see and touch the trees surrounding the canopy walk. There’s a hundred different kind of tree species stood inches away as we pass them.

Summer didn’t mind the heat of the sun while traversing the canopy walk. She walks hastily as if someone towed her. I could have thought of that famous little explorer with a backpack and  intruded by “swiper” on the other end, sounds familiar? Well, she reached the end of the trail while I  was busy taking photos. Unluckily I capture overexposed snaps of the view which ain’t good to post it here 🙁  


After I catch up with Summer, we passed by to Heliconia trail.  It was really interesting to know the name of these plants as we only labelled them as Bird Of Paradise due to their similarities. We’re not really good in Taxonomy, blame the biology teacher :-). 

We reached the last part of Explorer’s trail, The Vine Garden. We took so much of our time here, want to know? Comfort and Shade.

We take a look on a guide map to check what part of the garden we’re heading next. There are actually 5 feature areas in the Botanical Garden.
1. Explorer’s Trail ( Canopy Walk, Heliconia Trail, Vine Garden)
2. Palm Hill
3. Sun Garden
4. Floral Gardens
5. Lakeside


So far we covered the explorer’s trail and we proceed to  Bukit Palma ( Palm Hill).There are several collection of Palm species here. It comes in different forms, sizes and country of origin.

First that greeted us in the slope was this Washington Palm. Commonly known as Mexican Fan Palm due to its fan like leaves that is native to the desert regions of Mexico. You could virtually seen them in tropical countries since its highly adaptable in warm weather.

Alexander/ Alexandra Palm is native of Queensland, Australia. This ornamental palm have leaves of silvery-white  colour on their undersides and usually blooms creamy flower all year round.

Alexander Palm

Next one is the thorny palm known as Snake Fruit or Salak. This is commonly cultivated in Borneo and Indonesia. It’s fruit has brownish scaly skin that resembles of a snake. Yes, the fruit is edible and not sure how it taste like since we haven’t tried yet.

Snake Fruit

The Yellow Princess Palm may look like Alexander Palm but notice its fronds. It folds back and formed an inverted U and blooms a beautiful creamy yellow flower. This usually found in the coastal areas of Mascarene Island, Mauritius.

Yellow Princess Palm

The stout, bulbous trunk palm tree is known Bottle Palm. Also a native in Mascarene Island, Mauritius.

Guess what type of Palm on the picture shown below. It is also called as Christmas Palm due to its red fruit colour resembled as of Christmas red.

Manila Palm

We never thought this tree originated from our country.It is our very own Manila Palm native to the 7,107 islands of Philippines. It’s been imported to other countries as an ornamental tree for landscapes. For sure these trees miss our land but bet they happy representing our country with pride together with other Palm Trees in the Malaysian soil. Then we walk aimlessly and reached the Sun Garden.

Obelisk at the Sun Garden

There’s nothing much to see in Sun Garden except the Obelisk that catch our attention. There were only few orchids blooming and most are withered when we passed by at Orchids Path.  Then we proceed to the Floral Steps, which is the favourite spot of Summer.

Every pace, we saw flowers falling from the stem and withered ones on the stairs. It’s a phase and fate of flowers as Summer describes it. The withered ones were like etched on pebble stone path that tells us “beauty is not forever”, enjoy it while it last. True enough and we’re running out of words how to describe it. We’re surrounded by different kinds of flowers along the sideways of Floral Steps. Pictures shown below were our best bet. Can you name one of the flowers?

We continued our trail at the Floral Steps and halt at the spot when we saw this. A conical mounds that one can be mistaken of Bohol’s  Chocolate Hills. If we didn’t see the trees behind it, we would have thought. This is a mini me version and now we can’t wait to see the real one.

The best spot in the Taman Botani is the Lakeside. The picturesque view of Prime Minister’s Office adjoined by Putra “Pink” Mosque and Putrajaya Lake from Taman Botani is incomparable. 

There were huts  installed along the lakeside intended for a family picnic and group gatherings. At a time of our visit, there were families having their lunch while other are enjoying  the beautiful view of the lake.

These boulders complemented the lakeside scenery and entice every photo enthusiast and cam whore alike. Someone will sit on these big rocks  while watching the cars passing the bridge as Summer did.

Okey, I’m just obliged to take a pose as Sky told me he needs a model. He laugh all the way when taking a snap as he conceptualized it prior he made a shot. Don’t laugh, ako raw si Katherine Luna ” Ang babae sa Breakwater” ( I’m Katherine Luna of “Woman of Breakwater”). I don’t know how to respond If I should be glad or smack him. Well, he pulled it off and happy to see the result below, hahaha.

Summer did complain a lot during this session but I encourage her to sit back and relax. She saw something on the lake that mystified here. “I saw a turtle swimming on the lake”, convince on what she said but I don’t see any carapace showing off. 

Instead, I saw a school of fish with brilliant blue and red colour on their fins and tails. I never saw any signs of turtle in the lake as she claimed. Disappointed, we walked across the Exit  Plaza and take look one last chance of the Lake overlooking Putrajaya Seafood Restaurant before heading out.

It may be tiring but we had so much fun and learned a lot on this nature trip. It reminds us of our individual high school ‘s Ecological trip but we did it with our own rules. 




Nature Tripper,


Summer and Sky