This beautiful park also commonly known as Bogor Botanical Gardens is located in the city of Bogor, covers an area of 87 hectares and has 15,000 types of trees and plants. It is just one (or so) hour from Jakarta by car (if you are lucky) and is a real treat to visit if you like what we might describe as “well tended nature”! Often, and understandably, the gardens are crowded with tourists, especially on Saturdays and Sundays. The entrance ticket is a very reasonable IDR 30,000 and around the gardens, there are scientific centers, including the Herbarium Bogoriense , Bogor Zoological Museum, and a Library. It is well worth a visit if you haven’t yet been there. But let’s look back in history to see how such an exquisite park came into being.
The Bogor Botanical Gardens were originally part of the ‘samida’ (artificial forest or artificial garden) which existed at least during the reign of Sri Baduga Maharaja (Prabu Siliwangi, 1474-1513) of the Sunda Kingdom, as written in the Batutulis (stone carving) inscription. The artificial forest was intended for the purpose of preserving the environment as a place to maintain rare wood seeds. In addition to the samida, a similar samida was also made on the border of Cianjur and Bogor (Ciung Wanara Forest). This forest was then left after the Sunda Kingdom was subdued by the Banten Sultanate , until Governor-General van der Capellen built a rest house in one corner in the mid-18th century.
In the early 1800s Governor-General Thomas Stamford Raffles, who lived at the Bogor Palace and had a great interest in botany, was interested in developing the Bogor Palace grounds into a beautiful garden. With the help of the botanist, W. Kent, who helped build Kew Gardens in London , Raffles turned the palace grounds into a classic English garden. This is the beginning of the Bogor Botanical Gardens in its current form.
Olivia Raffles Monument
In 1814 Olivia Raffles (wife of Governor General Thomas Stamford Raffles ) died of illness and was buried in Batavia. As a memorial, a monument to her was erected in the Bogor Botanical Gardens.
The idea of establishing a Botanical Garden originated from a biologist, namely Abner, who wrote a letter to the Governor General of GAG Ph. van der Capellen. The letter revealed his desire to ask for a plot of land that would be used as a useful plant garden, a place for teacher education, and a collection of plants for the development of other gardens.
Prof. Caspar Georg Karl Reinwardt was a German national who emigrated to the Netherlands and became a botanical and chemical scientist. He was then appointed Minister of agriculture, arts, and science in Java and its surroundings. He was interested in investigating the various plants used for medicine. He decided to collect all these plants in a botanical garden in Bogor City, which at that time was called Buitenzorg (from Dutch which means «no need to worry»). Reinwardt was also a pioneer in the field of herbarium manufacture. He later became known as the founder of Herbarium Bogoriense.
On May 18, 1817, Governor-General Godert Alexander Gerard Philip van der Capellen officially established the Bogor Botanical Gardens under the name Lands Plantentuin te Buitenzorg. Its establishment began with the swing of the first hoe in Pajajaranas a sign of the construction of the garden, which was led by Reinwardt himself, assisted by James Hooper and W. Kent.
Around 47 hectares of land around the Bogor Palace and the former samida were used as the first land for a botanical garden. Reinwardt was its first director from 1817 to 1822. He used this opportunity to collect plants and seeds from other parts of the archipelago. Bogor soon became the centre agricultural and horticultural development in Indonesia and the establishment of the Bogor Botanical Gardens can be said to have started the development of science in Indonesia. From here, several other scientific institutions were born, such as Bibliotheca Bogoriensis (1842), Herbarium Bogoriense (1844), Cibodas Botanical Gardens (1860), Treub Laboratory (1884), and Museum and Zoology Laboratory (1894).
On May 30, 1868, the Bogor Botanical Gardens were officially separated from the Bogor Palace grounds. At first this garden would only be used as an experimental garden for plantation crops that would be introduced to the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). However, in its development it was also used as a forum for research by scientists at that time ( 1880-1905).
BUT WHAT IS A “BOTANICAL GARDEN”?
The “5 Pillars” of Botanical Gardens are:
Conservation
Preserving the diversity of plant species ex situ (conservation outside the original habitat) as a reference collection of high scientific value for the development of potential for sustainable use, as well as being used as an important back-up for efforts to restore plant species threatened with extinction and restore degraded lands
Natural tourism
Creating natural tourism that has scientific content, as well as refreshing and inspiring to support a better social life.
Education
Presenting clearer information for visitors to increase knowledge in the fields of botany, conservation, the environment and the use of plants, as well as to stimulate the growth and development of awareness, concern, responsibility and community commitment to plant conservation.
Environmental Services
Provide an ecological impact for improving environmental quality which includes water management, biodiversity, carbon sequestration and landscape beauty.
Study
Implement and facilitate various research and development activities in the fields of conservation, domestic and plant reintroduction as well as economic botany.
Medicine Garden
The use of traditional medicines cannot be separated from the environment of Indonesian society. Therefore, as a conservation area, the Bogor Botanical Gardens also has a medicinal collection garden consisting of various types of plants. Visitors can find out the types and functions of each of these plants by reading the information boards in several collections of medicinal plants.
Nepenthes Park
Nepenthes Park is a conservation park built by Pertamina which is located in the Bogor Botanical Gardens area. Pertamina has conserved several types of Nepenthes plants in this area, including: Nepenthes mirabilis, Nepenthes reinwardtiana, Nepenthes ampullaria, Nepenthes gracilis, Nepenthes xhookeriana, Nepenthes sumatrana, and Nepenthes rafflesiana. Pertamina has a commitment to continue to carry out plant conservation in order to support the government in achieving the Target 15 Sustainable Development Goals to protect and preserve biodiversity.
In Indonesia, Nepenthes is known by the name “Kantong Semar”. Including carnivorous plants that produce pockets to trap and catch prey in the form of insects and other small animals to get nutrition. Nepenthes can be found on the islands of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua. Semar bags usually live in open, moist and nutrient-poor areas. Nepenthes is one of the plants that are threatened with extinction due to the conversion of land and forests as their natural habitat.
Two of the main attractions of the Bogor Botanical Gardens are the corpse flower ( Amorphophalus titanum ) because when it is close to blooming it will emit a strong smell of carrion. This flower can reach a height of 2m and is the largest compound flower in the plant world. The other is the oldest oil palm tree in Southeast Asia that is still alive today.
Monday – Friday 08.00 – 16.00 – Saturday, Sunday,
National Holidays 07.00 – 16.00 WIB – Through Doors 1 and 3
Bogor Botanical Gardens Visitor Center
0251-8311362
0852-1566-8934
