“Rimba Ilmu”, which means the forest of knowledge, is a hidden tropical botanical garden on the campus of University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. This is the place where all PGCians turned into a bunch of curious kids as we were excited to check out the different species of plants and trees.
During our visit to this botanical garden, Thary from Urban Biodiversity Initiative (UBI) guided us by sharing the uniqueness and function of the various plant species. The abundancy of green plants amazed us. We were in love with the hidden jungle in KL city. It is not only about the plants but also the wild creatures that live in it.
As a city kids it was a rare opportunity for us to step into greenery that would bring us into a moment of peace and tranquillity from our hectic daily working life. And of course we had fun, because getting close to the nature always helps us to distress and slow down our pace.
We wouldn’t know how many lives are there within this piece of land. But Thary’s sharing made us understand that our nature is full with possibilities. Even drains next to our house can become a habitat for different wild shrubs to grow and live! Going “Eco” is not about having a few plants as building decoration, but to truly understand the beauty and importance of living together with the natural living habitants.
“Nature doesn't need people - people need nature; nature would survive the extinction of the human being and go on just fine, but human culture, human beings, cannot survive without nature.”
~~Harrison Ford
UBI offer a range of programmes and initiatives in partnership with the University of Malaya (UM). They are loosely based and run most of their programmes at UM’s Rimba Ilmu Botanic Garden. We are grateful that these people are striving not only in conducting urban ecology research and conservation, but also in environmental education for our kids and future leaders.
Once again, we would like to thank the team for their warm welcome and passionate sharing on the botanic garden. We appreciate their efforts and green initiatives in the study on biodiversity to keep every reminded on one simple thing: even if we live in cities, we cannot allow ourselves to forget that we are a part of nature.
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