Friday, August 06, 2010

Tawau Hills Park, Not A Mere Natural Recreation Spot

TAWAU -- In 2006, American scientist Dr Roman Dial and two friends climbed up a 'Seraya Kuning Siput' (Shorea faquetiana) in Taman Bukit Tawau near here.

The trio risked life and limb in order to find out the accurate measurement of this tree, a tropical rainforest plant, located in the forest reserve of some 28,000 hectares.

After placing the end of the measuring tape at the tip of the highest point on the tree, Dr Dial, a professor in Biologi and Mathematic of Alaska Pacific University, finally recorded the tree's height at 88.32 metres.

That measurement made the Seraya Kuning Siput in Tawau Hills Park the highest tropical rainforest tree in the world.

After recording the tree's height, Dr Dial and his team then moved on to look for trees of other species in the park. In two square km there, they found seven more that measured more than 80 metres in height.

The discovery by Dr Dial and his team was recorded in the National Geographic magazine, July 2006 edition.

FOREST RESERVE

Even though the Seraya Kuning Siput in Tawau Hills Park is 10th among the world's tallest tree species, Malaysians should be proud of it as it is the tallest among the tropical species.

So far, the tallest tree in the world is of the redwood species (Sequoia sempervirens) found in Redwood Forest, Redwood National Park in California, United States at the height of 115.55 metres.

Meanwhile, out of the 25 tallest trees from various species various in the world, 11 are found in Tawau Hills Park with each exceeding 80 metres in height.

At the moment visitors to Tawau Hills Park would make it a must to view the world's tallest tropical rainforest tree there. A visit to the park is considered as 'incomplete' without taking a look at this gigantic tree.

TAWAU'S TREASURES

The world's tallest tropical tree is located 900 metres from the park's station and in order to get to the site, visitors have to move along a natural trail constructed by the park's authorities.

Along the trip to that spot the visitors can, apart from breathing in the fresh forest air, view the lush greenery comprising various plants and vegetation in the park.

For those who are lucky, they can see the Red Leaf Monkey that are quite 'friendly' with the visitors.

"We were surprised when the scientist told us that the world's tallest tropical rainforest tree is here. To us it is like a treasure to Tawau".

Continue reading at: Tawau Hills Park, Not A Mere Natural Recreation Spot
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