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Guided tour at the Sandakan Rainforest Park after the seminar.
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23rd December, 2007
SANDAKAN: Some 115 participants attended a seminar themed at “An introduction to a new eco-tourist destination: Sandakan Rainforest Park”on December 15, 2007.
The participants mainly tour operators, tourist guides, hotel managers and other nature- tourism stakeholders.
Held at the auditorium of the Sabah Forestry Department in the morning than on a guided tour of the park in the afternoon.
During which the participants were shown the park’s facilities: The Kebun Cina Gallery where historical, scientific and conservation values of the park are explained with posters, plant and animal specimens and historical documents, outdoor recreation facilities such as the jogging track and children’s playground, a natural pitcher plant garden which four species the Nepenthes ampularia, Nepenthes gracilis, Nepenthes mirabilis and Nepenthes rafflesiana of the insectivorous plants grow naturally and nature trails through pristine and semi-natural forests where the participants encountered live specimens (topotypes) of 13 species of plants, first discovered in the Sandakan Rainforest Park area.
They were also informed that facilities such as an entrance plaza, eateries and observation tower will be built in the near future.
The four species of pitcher plant that grow more than 20 clumps in the park have adapted very well to their environment, despite poor sandy soil and deficient in plant nutrients.
The pitchers which are extensions of the leaves contain a fluid which digests trapped animals (particularly insects) and the nutrients from the digested animals are absorbed by the pitcher plants.
The carnivorous plants defy conventional notion of plants being the primary producers in the food chain or food web of an ecosystem.
Another feature of the Park is the fact that it was a centre for field studies of plants in Borneo about a century ago, when Sandakan was the capital of the then British North Borneo.
The park which located at the boundary between Sandakan town and the wilderness of Borneo tropical jungle where natural exploration of the Borneo jungle conveniently started.
Early botanical exploration resulted in the discovery of about 110 new species of flowering plants.
In scientific jargon, the 110 types of specimen are of new species first named, collected from and kept in herbarium or in a plant museum. And these collection of plants are known as ‘topotypes’.
Through the effort of past and present forestry officials and researchers in the Sabah Forestry Department, the core area of the Sandakan Rainforest Park, legally gazetted Kebun Cina Forest Reserve, with an area of 148.6 hectares, to be preserved in its pristine conditions.
The Sandakan Rainforest Park topotypes had escaped the destruction of other localities type specimens that had suffered, which still can been seen on a collected area.
Within 200 metres of the Kebun Cina Gallery, a living topotype of Morinda elmeri -a vine closely related to Mengkudu or Noni-can be found along the nature/topotype trail.
The total length of the topotype nature trail that has been established is about 1.2 km.
The presence of such a large number of topotypes in a small area is unique, believed that nowhere else in the world can one see so many living specimens kept within a small area.
Ecotourists who visit Sandakan Rainforest Park can experience all this at a historically and scientifically significant site where new plant species were first discovered.
These topotypes can serve as a good reference material for studies. especially in modern techniques of using DNA.
In Sandakan Rainforest Park, plant experts from the Sabah Forestry Department have identified many plants along the jogging track and nature topotype trails.
About 30 species of birds werealso sighted by a group of bird watchers along the jogging track.
Interesting lowland mammals, reptiles, insects and other animals are also present in the Park.
The park is legally gazetted as “Kebun Cina (Chinese Farm or Orchard) Forest Reserve” having its origin from the early suburban settlement being established immediately after the founding of Sandakan by William B Pryer on June 21, 1879.
In the Kebun Cina Gallery, important events in this Chinese settlement dominated by the Hakka community are displayed.
Datuk Sam Mannan, the Director of Sabah Forestry Department, in his opening speech during the seminar, emphasized the importance of Sandakan Rainforest Park not only for the Sandakan resident, but for the whole world due to its high conservation and scientific values.
More information can be obtained at Sandakan Rainforest Park (trilingual, English, B.M. & Chinese) website: http://www.sandakanrfp.sabah.gov.my.
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