Rafflesia Forest Reserve
Nestled on the Crocker Range just before reaching the town of Tambunan, an area of dense jungle covering 356 ha has been gazetted as a Rafllesia Forest Reserve due to the abundance of these parasitic flowers within the vicinity. At the heart of the reserve is the Rafflesia Information Centre which houses a static exhibit with photos and info on these flowers which have become synonymous with the state of Sabah.
Within the forest reserve, there are designated plots where these flowers are known to regularly bloom. These plots are checked on by the rangers at two weekly intervals where any growing rafflesia bud is documented and its size measured. Once the bud blooms, for a limited period of one week before the flower withers away, they become the object of fascination for curious tourists from near and far. If there is a flower in bloom at the present time, at a fee of RM50 for locals and RM100 for foreigners, guides are available at the information centre to take you deep into the forest reserve to view it.
Thankfully when we were there, the flower that was in bloom was located not too deep in the forest. We drove behind and followed the guide on his motorcycle for about 5 minutes and then stopped to park by the roadside and hiked uphill with him into the jungle. After panting away for about 15 minutes we arrived at the plot which bore the current blooming rafflesia.
Plot 5 seems to be a rather active plot as not only did we get to see a blooming flower, we also got to see an immature rafflesia bud…..
…..as well as a couple of dead and rotting ones from the previous weeks.
But the main purpose of our stop at the forest reserve was of course this beauty…
…..which would have already died and started rotting away by the time this blog entry was published more than a week after this visit.
This wasn’t the first time we got the see the rafflesia. The first time was last year at this other spot in Sabah where they are also known to be commonly found.
View Rafflesia Information Centre in a larger map
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jauh mengexplore..
Salam Shah..
Wow, jungle tracking.. and the amazing Rafflesia.. Very nice n3.
i went here a few months ago.. malangnya dia tutup, sebab sampai kol 5.35.. or somthing.. kalau tak silap, dia tutup kol 5.30..
great photo of the flower.. nak pergi lagi lah!
saharil´s last blog rambling was on roti bakar siput
wow!!!great rafflesia, never seen the real one before…well after 3 years being here, nice pic,… actually everytime we passed by the advert at the road side then…… habis sudah, tu, dulu di saaaana tu, tiada sudah tu. he!he! – satu lagi takut pacat cause need to walk into the bush.
Nikli: Tak jauh sgt la baru sejam lebih dari rumah
Sueozana: Salam & thanks
Saharil: Dijemput dgn segala hormatnyer dtg KK lagi – for you mi casa es su casa bro
Rosma: Ada reason nak dtg KK bercuti later on bila2 dah rindu kat kitorang kat KK ni