Taiping Lake Gardens

The gardens were opened in the 1880s on a set of worked-out tin mines that had filled with water, which is why the lakes are irregular and unexpectedly deep in places. What makes them memorable is the line of old rain trees along the causeway, whose branches lean out almost horizontally over the water and trail long curtains of growth, a shape produced by decades of reaching for light. Taiping is among the wettest towns in the country, so the gardens are green in a way few places on the peninsula manage, and also rained on constantly. A zoo occupies one corner with a night safari session, and behind everything the Bukit Larut ridge rises into cloud.

History

The site was a mining ground until 1880, when it became the first public garden in Malaya, the idea of Colonel Robert Sandilands Frowd Walker, on abandoned tin workings given by Chung Keng Quee; in 1884 it was planted with grasses, flowers and trees, and part was fenced to keep out bulls (Wikipedia, Taiping Lake Gardens).

Highlights

• The rain trees - old trees leaning horizontally over the lakes along the causeway.
• The mining lakes - flooded nineteenth-century tin workings that shape the whole park.
• Taiping Zoo - the adjacent zoo, with an evening night safari session.
• The Bukit Larut backdrop - the hill station ridge rising directly behind the gardens.

When to go

Early morning and late afternoon are the times, both for the light on the water and for the temperature. Rain is likely on most afternoons, since this is one of the wettest corners of the peninsula, so carry something waterproof. The zoo keeps separate hours and the night safari runs after dark on a fixed schedule.

Good to know

It is a municipal park rather than a botanical collection, so labelling and glasshouses are minimal. The lakeside road carries traffic and parking spills onto the verges at weekends. The zoo is old-fashioned and its enclosures are small by modern standards, which some visitors find difficult. Persistent afternoon rain can wash out a visit entirely.

Nearby

Bukit Larut hill station sits directly above; the Matang mangroves at Kuala Sepetang are half an hour west.

Key facts