Sunday, July 16th I went to Kebun Raya Bogor (in English Bogor Botanical Garden) with a walking tour trip, Jakarta Good Guide. It is my third trip with the Jakarta Good Guide, before that, I went to Jayakarta and Taman Prasasti Museum. Even though I live near Bogor, it is my first time at Kebun Raya Bogor.
Kebun Raya Bogor is located near Bogor Station, based on Google Maps it is only 1,7km, an estimated 20 minutes of walking. Because of that, I decided to use a commuter line and walk for around 20 minutes.
I bought the ticket at the offline ticket counter for IDR25,500. Visitors can pay with a credit or debit card, QRIS, or use cash. The ticket also can buy online on https://tiketkebunraya.id/
According to the Unesco Website, Founded in 1817 by German Botanist, Dr. C.G.C. Reinwardt, Kebun Raya Bogor is the oldest botanical garden in Southeast Asia. Kebun Raya Bogor covers an area of around 75.4 ha. Kebun Raya Bogor is also the place for a conservation centre (ex-situ). For the collection, at least Kebun Raya Bogor has `1,350 specimens included in 213 families, 1201 genera, and 3,172 species.
From the main gate, there are a lot of big old trees. My favourite place is Taman Kantong Semar (Nepenthes Park), it is the place for the education centre for Nepenthes. At least 70% of species of Nepenthes are found in Indonesia, and Kebun Raya Bogor has at least 57 Nepenthes species from lowland areas.
Taman Kantong Semar is built like the natural habitat of Nepenthes, so the staff will watch and control temperature, and humidity.
After enjoying and observing Nepenthes, I moved to Taman Mexico. Taman Mexico is an area for plants from the desert, a dry area, with high temperature. At Taman Mexico, there are 100 species of plants such as cactus, agave, and yuca.
The funny thing is even cactus have glochids (cactus spines), they aren't safe from vandalism.
I also went to Taman Bambu (Bamboo Park). In this area, there are a lot of bamboo species, from big fat bamboo to thin bamboo, and there is also black bamboo. Dendrocalamus Gigantius Munro is a giant bamboo species covering East Asia to Southeast Asia.
Besides the bamboo area, there is a Dutch Cemetery. Why Dutch? Because Dutchmen come to this country for a long time. This is one of the historical sites at Kebun Raya Bogor. Most of the people buried here are people who contributed to the Bogor Botanical Gardens.
In a classic Dutch cemetery, the gravestone or tombstone there are a lot of symbols. Normally they will carve a lot of symbols, like family symbols, institution symbols, or organisation symbols like Freemason symbols.
That’s enough for this story. Kebun Raya has a lot of awesome things to explore, one day that is not enough for me. Ah, there are also bicycle, electric scooter, and golf cart rentals, so don’t worry if you are tired.
