The Sama Jaya Nature Reserve – also known as Sama Jaya Forest Park or Taman Rimba Sama Jaya – was the first urban forest park to be established in Kuching, and is located just a 10-minute drive away from the city centre. It was gazetted as a protected area in 2000.
The nature reserve is a popular place among local residents who wish to exercise and enjoy fresh air in natural surroundings. It covers a fairly small area of around 38 hectares, and is surrounded on all sides by residential streets and commercial developments.
The park, which also serves as a conservation and educational centre, is managed and well maintained by the Sarawak Forestry Corporation.
Its virgin and secondary forest, as well as patches of swamp, act as a wildlife refuge, particularly for small mammals, lizards, amphibians and insects. The swamp areas are inhabited by croaking frogs who make quite a noise but are not so easy to spot.
Two jogging/walking trails, ranging in length from 1-1.6km, wind their way around the reserve, in addition to a couple of shorter nature trail loops. There is also a fitness trail with outdoor gym equipment.
The trails are made of concrete, so it is safe to move around without worrying about stepping on a snake or other lurking critters. And best of all, you can’t get lost.
Next to the carpark (where parking is free!) is a walled-off area called the Sarawak-Hiroshima Friendship Garden, which was built in 1997 with help from Japanese landscape designers.
It includes a teahouse – seemingly not open when this writer visited – and some original Japanese stone lanterns, plus artfully placed rocks.
For locals, the park is an excellent place to exercise and appreciate nature. For foreign visitors, it is a safe place in which to become acclimatised and get a taste of the Bornean wilderness before venturing out to more adventurous locations such as Bako National Park.
Learn more about the Sama Jaya Nature Reserve here.
Sama Jaya Nature Reserve
14, Lorong Setia Raja 14a,
Taman Rimba,
93350 Kuching, Sarawak
Opening hours: 7am-6pm daily
This article first appeared on Malaysia Traveller.