“I think something’s changed,” said Eric Chong, owner of Green Acres, an eco-resort built within a durian orchard in Penang. “Our occupancies have doubled since last year. I think travellers are really looking for different, authentic experiences.”
Where are they coming from, I asked.
“Mainly Singapore,” he said, and he grinned sheepishly. “I think it’s for the durians.”
Yes, there may be a modicum of truth to the trend that travellers are indeed looking for different, authentic experiences but when it comes to this example, Eric is right – this is durian season and Green Acres, run by Eric and his wife Kim, boasts 100 “kampung” (natural) trees and 35 different varieties of durians, all natural, no hybrid, because this couple believes in keeping it natural.
The 16-acre orchard is pesticide-free, among other features that make this a place a model in nature conservation and environmental sensitivity. But first let’s get the durians out of the way because to pin Green Acres’ significance solely to this king of fruits is doing a disservice to Eric and Kim, who purchased the 50-year old orchard in 2009 and spent years developing it into an environmentally-sensitive nature retreat.
In recent years, durians as a tourist attraction have exploded, with travellers from the region flocking to Penang for its affordable, rich bounty. And one thing is true – travellers are searching wider and deeper for lesser known orchards to avoid the more commercial farms and Green Acres is popping up increasingly on organic searches.
More than a place to feast on durians
Getting there is part of the adventure. Located in Batu Itam, near Balik Pulau, Green Acres is located slightly uphill so you need a fairly robust car to get you up the trail. Once there, you are surrounded by nature, trees as tall as you can look up, and air as fresh as it gets on this island.
You see the durian trees but you are also in awe of the work Eric, a corporate trainer by profession, and Kim have put into the project to make it about “more than durians”.
The project started off as a dream by Eric, who wanted to re-create his childhood for his teenage son. “I remember growing up with nature, playing in orchards and fishing by the stream. And I wanted my son to experience some of that.”
Kim with the nutmeg jam
They offered their first durian tasting tour in 2014. “We were asked by customers if they could stay on the farm,” said Kim. That’s when they thought of adding accommodation. Its most-talked-about feature is a tree house nestled between two durian trees. There’s also a lodge, perfect for a family stay, and you can choose to cook in if you want.
Both are built using recycled timber of old village houses and durian wood and no nails are used. Ditto with the main lodge, where guests commune for breakfast and durian tasting.
The orchard is run on solar power which generates enough electricity to power lights and fans and allow guests to recharge their mobile devices. The water pimp uses kinetic energy to push fresh spring water uphill from the foot of the farm.
You can imagine the charm for urban folks to stay in a tree house, completed embraced by nature, and sleeping to the sound of durians falling onto the ground, and waking up to the chirping of birds. At peak season, the orchard can produce 500 durians a day. But there’s more than durians. Farm tours allow guests to appreciate other local fruits – Kim makes the most delicious nutmeg jam, by the way – and village tours take guests around the town of Balik Pulau to appreciate its local food and beaches.
The Habitat Penang Hill, a passion project in nature conservation
Eric and Kim are not alone in their desire to promote the messages of nature conservation in Penang. In fact, Eric was also involved as an advisor in the setting up of The Habitat, the nature park on Penang Hill, that’s doing more than its fair share to spread awareness that there is more to Penang than beaches, street food and heritage.
Allen Tan, who spent most of his career in construction and property development in Indochina and Hong Kong and who returned to Penang in 2014 to take on the project, is himself a convert. Born and raised in Penang, he did not grow up being aware of the rich bio-diversity of the Hill until he worked personally on The Habitat.
You could call The Habitat a passion project for founder Harry Cockrell, whose family runs Pacific Tiger Group, a privately held investment fund based in Hong Kong, and whose wife hails from Penang. Son Reza is co-founder and director of The Habitat and The Habitat Foundation. The family’s love for the hill came from the fact that they’ve had a home there for more than two decades.
What started off originally as a RM3 million development has ballooned into RM30 million given the complexities and challenges of developing their vision of a sustainable eco-tourism model in a pristine nature reserve on Penang Hill.
(Image credit: The Habitat)
The group won the tender called by the Penang State government to to develop the 18 acre plot of land in 2010 but work on the project only begain in 2013 due to some unforeseen delays. The Habitat opened its 1.6km Nature Trail in January 2016 and after that, added the Curtis Crest Tree Top Walk followed by the Langur Way Canopy Walk, said to be the only two-span ribbon bridge of its kind in the world. Sitting 40m above the forest floor, it is reputed to be the highest Canopy Walk in Malaysia since it sits atop Penang Hill at 700m above sea level.
Beyond marveling at the engineering feats that went into building these two walks, your breath is also taken away by the immersion into nature – you are literally suspended above the forest and so close to the giant trees you can almost touch them. The Canopy Walk also offers the highest vantage point from which to view Penang and Allen talks about “the forgotten views of Penang, the rolling hills and forests to the north and west of the island ending at the Andaman Sea.
He is right. I had forgotten this side of Penang.
During my visit, work on repairing the main entrance, which was hit by a landslide in Novemer 2017, was just being completed and The Habitat is to celebrate the reopening of the main entrance and official opening of its Flight of the Colugo Zipline Course at the end of July.
Building a viable ecotourism business base to serve a greater purpose
“The idea was to utilise only the air space within and build above the forest reserve so that we could minimise impace on the forest floor. Penang Hil sits on a virgin rainforest believed to be tens of million years old, so you can imagine the wealth of the bio-diversity here. Building above the ground was an exercise in human ingenuity – my respect for Penang contractors grew when I saw how patiently and creatively they worked around the challenges,” said Allen.
My respect for Penang’s nature also grew during my walk, accompanied by Farah, one of the several nature guides employed to “educate” visitors about the mysteries of Mother nature. First, she showed me a baby snake and giant millipede she and the Naturalist Team at The Habitat had found that morning. Then, she told me the history of the reserve and the bounty of life it hides and protects, most of it unseen to the human eye.
A new species of terrestrial crab was discovered on Penang Hll just two years ago by a professor, Dr Peter Ng, from National University of Singapore. The Habitat recently conducted a bio blitz in which it invited 117 scientists and bio-sciences students from Malaysia and around the world to collect date on the bio-diversity of Penang Hill. That findings of the bio blitz are being used in a dossier to support Penang’s bid to win UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status under the world body’s Man and the Biosphere Programme.
Allen said the Cockrell family’s vision is to have net procees from The Habitat go towards supporting the work of its not-for-profit sister organisation, The Habitat Foundation, which supports work under five main pillars – conservation, research, environmental education, sustainability and innovation, and training. “Our intention is to prove our model – that we can build a viable ecotourism base to generate income to serve a greater purpose.”
He is aware of the challenges that lie ahead but you could argue the most difficult part is over – they now have a product that is truly world class.
Coincidentally, while Allen and I were having coffee and curry puffs at The Habitat after our walk, Green Acres’ Eric was on one of his rounds at the park. We spoke of their respective journeys and then both of their eyes lit up when they started exchanging ideas about building eco-toilets. “That’s when you take bacteria to break down the hard stuff into compost. You add soil and then you use it to fertilise the plants. That’s what my grandmother did,” explained Eric.
I think Penang’s nature is in good hands, don’t you think?
• Featured image credit (The Habitat and Penang island from the air): The Habitat