Walking / Hiking at Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam

Not sure if the 10.1km at Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam or Shah Alam Botanical Park (also known as Taman Pertanian Malaysia) was a hike or a walk. Basically, we walked on hilly tar road to Empangan Sg. Baru, then hiked on forest trails to Empangan Air Kuning. We were checking out the attractions along the way too so it was rather leisure.

empangan air kuning hiking
Group wefie at Empangan Air Kuning during our hike at Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam.

RK and I just hiked Bukit Sapu Tangan located within Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam slightly more than a month back. Our friends didn’t go and so when they said they want to go, we thought we should go to the park again but to visit the canopy walkway while they hike Bukit Sapu Tangan; we started the day separately.

We were told at the entrance that the canopy walkway was only 500m walk away. It’s next to Taman Haiwan. We had a very slow walk to Taman Haiwan because I was constantly distracted by the cultural attractions within the park i.e. indigenious huts, Chinese gazebo, paddy field, etc.

cultural attraction taman botani negara shah alam
There were Malay, Chinese and Indian gazebos spotted nearby the entrance of the park. I took photo of the Chinese’s only because it’s CNY!
shah alam botanical park
Loved the view of the lotus leaves on the water. I knew it’d be a photography adventure if we end up not sweating a bit. Because it’s so pretty everywhere!

 

paddy field taman pertanian negara
What do you call “tali air” in English? Irrigation? I don’t know. Check out the sun ray and paddy field. So pretty to cycle around!
nature photography shah alam
Yes, I was chasing the sun ray. I was so excited every time I spotted the sun ray peeking through the leaves. Isn’t it so pretty?! <3
samsung galaxy s6 camera photo
Another one taken with my Samsung Galaxy S6. I was taking so many pictures because I was so happy this camera doesn’t disappoint! Finally done with my sad Redmi Note 3 camera.
horse animal selfie
Inside the Taman Haiwan, I was taking selfie with the horses! They actually walked closer to me when I moved closer the stopped there for this photo before they minded their own businesses later. Yay!

Visiting the attractions reminded me of two things: (1) my photography workshop with Petronas when I was 12-year-old and (2) photos my late father took of me when I was very young.

Honestly, I didn’t pay attention when the lady at the entrance told us the direction to the canopy walk. I only remembered her saying “Taman Haiwan” so I walked straight in there without realizing that canopy walkway was opposite Taman Haiwan. It was a short walk away from Taman Haiwan, according to our friends who detoured there instead of hiking Bukit Sapu Tangan.

canopy walk taman botani shah alam
Taken from Alicia’s Instagram account. She says the canopy walk looked a little sad though so don’t have too much expectation.

RK realized we missed the canopy walk but decided to keep walking anyway, thinking we’d come back for it on our way out. We kept walking up and down some hilly tar road until we reached the junction to Empangan Air Kuning.

water activity taman botani shah alam
When we returned to this path later in the day, this area was more happening. There was water activities, food stall and flying fox nearby.

The road to Empangan Air Kuning was a little steep, going downwards. Downhill, there was a serene lake where anglers could fish. The view was pretty spectacular! Loved the greenery and reflective water.

fishing at empangan air kuning
How many fishing decks can you spot? Later in the morning, we spotted more people fishing.
empangan air kuning dam
Don’t you find the reflective lake so calming? Empangan Air Kuning is actually a retired water dam.
empangan air kuning taman botani shah alam
Here’s a panorama view. Spot RK drinking somewhere in the photo!

There was a signage indicating a trail to Empangan Sg. Baru but because it looked very quiet, RK advised against taking the trail. We headed back to the tar road and aimed for Empangan Sg. Baru from there.

We actually bumped into our friends (who were supposed to be hiking Bukit Sapu Tangan) strolling around in the park. They joined us on our walk to the dam located at the edge of Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam even though most people actually cycled there because it was quite a distance!

flash flood
The road was flooded. We almost gave up walking to Empangan Sg. Baru. Thankfully we did some obstacle course stuffs on the grass to get to the other side. Wee~!
empangan sg baru
Yessss! Finally arrived at Empangan Sg. Baru. One last climb before we see the water dam!

Meh… Empangan Sg. Baru seemed to be poorly maintained. We couldn’t access the decks around the retired water dam and the water was…green and brown. Not sure if it’s dirty or that’s how it’s supposed to be. The green was beautiful and mesmerizing but the brown looked disgusting.

broken deck
Look at the broken deck! So broken yet so beautiful. LOL.
empangan sg baru taman botani shah alam
Looks pretty right? Like some emerald lagoon and whatnot. But all the decks were broken or denied access so nobody hung out here.
empangan sungai baru
Isn’t this pretty? Could use this as wallpaper. No filter photo by Samsung Galaxy S6.
I took the previous photo from this spot. Check out the brown water at bottom right. Yup. I said it was disgustingly brown. What a turn-off.

We saw signage of trail that would lead us to Empangan Air Kuning and Bukit Sapu Tangan. Wanted to take that trail until we saw a sign indicating that we need to get permission to take the route. I guess you can take the route with a guide? There were educational jungle trekking services offered for at least RM35/pax at the entrance; maybe with that you can access that trail?

The trail looked very overgrown and quiet so we didn’t want to breach the notice too. Definitely didn’t want to get lost and get into trouble taking unauthorized trail, right?

hiking trail to air kuning dam and bukit sapu tangan
“Trek Hutan ke Empangan Sungai Air Kuning dan Bukit Sapu Tangan”
no entry to hiking trail to empangan air kuning and bukit sapu tangan
“Laluan Rentas Hutan” and yada yada saying no entry without permission. Can you even spot the trail?
On the way out, RK wanted to eat his cereal and milk. That’s how this genius ate his cereal and milk during a hike. =.='”

We took on Jalan Berani instead because the trail looked a lot clearer and it seemed shorter too; we wanted to head back out via Empangan Air Kuning. It was a very easy trail to walk actually. Pretty flat all along the way with almost no obstacles…until we almost walked right into Empangan Air Kuning.

The trail ended at a bushy hillside. There was a super short and bushy trail on our right but it lead us right INTO the water dam. Nope. Not gonna do that.

jalan berani taman botani shah alam
Jalan Berani. Jeng jeng jeng jeng. Doesn’t the name just make you think twice before embarking?
hiking couple photo
Asked the couple to stop for a photo. Hehehe. Can pass?
jalan berani hiking
The brown trail at the end of Jalan Berani was upwards and pretty small actually. RK was hidden behind the bushes already when I clicked the shutter.

We thought we had to walk all the way back out to the junction where we turned into Jalan Berani. Thankfully, our curiosity led us to discover a little trail across the stream. The crossing was located nearby a group of rocks under some shades towards the end of Jalan Berani. There was a laminated paper hung on a tree, marking a “Empangan Air Kuning-Air Terjun” route.

hiking at taman botani shah alam
Here’s a little crossing we spotted across the stream. Didn’t look like there was any clear trail right? We wouldn’t have hiked there if not for the marking.

We didn’t spot the said waterfall but we managed to find our way around Empangan Air Kuning! And yes, we came out at the trail that RK and I avoided during our first stop at Empangan Air Kuning.

jungle hammock
Guessing this is a camping, picnic or resting site. There was a hammock! The water was clear but very shallow for any dipping.
jungle trail hiking taman botani shah alam
Thankfully, there was a clear trail after we walked past the hammock. Finally, we were hiking on jungle trails instead of tar roads.
hiking trail taman botani shah alam
There was a vulnerable-looking bridge along the trail that we hiked. It didn’t look secure at all but held our weights anyway.
hiking at taman botani shah alam
Our faces when we came out from the jungle without ending up inside the dam!

Our legs were aching by then and we were wandering around too long in the park so we headed straight out, skipping the canopy walk that I wanted to visit from the beginning…

mapmywalk hiking taman pertanian negara
The route on the right was the one we took towards Empangan Sg. Baru. The one on the left was the shorter jungle trail we took via Jalan Berani towards Empangan Air Kuning. Spent almost 3 hours wandering around in the park! >.<
mapmywalk elevation taman pertanian shah alam
Not sure where we hit the highest peak. We just took whatever road we saw in front of us, going up and down the hilly park.

Oh well. The park’s huge. If anyone wants me to go there again for fun, I would — just to do more sight seeing and discover more wonders about the park. I don’t mind going for a date there too if RK ever wants to bring me back to Taman Botani Shah Alam.

FYI, we paid RM3/car for parking and RM3/pax for ticket into Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam. Additional charges apply for visit to the Four Season House.

2 thoughts on “Walking / Hiking at Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam”

    1. Hi Jojo! Early morning once the place is open will be good. For outdoor activity in Malaysia, the weather typically gets hot about 10am onward. The evening weather is not any better I feel. Plus, Taman Botani closes quite early in the evening.

      Reply

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