KL Forest Eco Park

Bukit Nanas was gazetted as a forest reserve in 1906, which makes it one of the oldest protected forests in the country, and the reason it matters is that nobody ever cut it: nine hectares of lowland dipterocarp rainforest on a hill in the middle of Kuala Lumpur, with the city built up to its edges on every side and the KL Tower standing on top of it. Walking in from Jalan Raja Chulan the traffic noise drops away within about a hundred metres and the temperature falls several degrees. There are marked trails, some steep, and a canopy walkway of about two hundred metres strung between towers at around twenty metres, from which you look out across the crowns with the Petronas Towers behind them. Long-tailed macaques, monitor lizards, squirrels and a substantial bird list live here. It is free, it takes two hours, and almost no visitor to the city knows it is there.

What you actually see

• Uncut primary forest - nine hectares gazetted in 1906 and never logged.
• A canopy walkway - about two hundred metres at around twenty metres up.
• The city through the trees - the Petronas Towers seen over the crowns.
• Temperature dropping - several degrees cooler a hundred metres inside.

When to go

All year, in the morning. Two hours.

Honest expectations

The canopy walk closes in rain and lightning, which is frequent. Macaques will take food and bags - do not carry either openly. Trails are steep and slippery. It is small; two hours is enough.

Nearby

KL Tower stands on the hill; Bukit Bintang is a short walk south.