In some cases of person who lives in big city, every Sunday is a day where you will spend a whole day for taking a rest at home. You are trying to having as many as time with the lovely bed that you have missed for a week because of your activities. Another people are looking for a perfect place to escape from their problem during work or study. A place where can give you a break for a moment to forget your problems and give relaxing time through its beautiful scenery and fresh air such as city park.
In my city, Bandung, Indonesia, there is a park named Taman Hutan Raya Djuanda (THRD) or Djuanda Grand Forest City Park. It is located in northern area of the city. The park covers for 59 km2 land area and consist of many species of plants and animals. Since Bandung geographic located in high latitude, it makes the park become special. Like no other city park in the region, THRD is more likely a forest. You may see the tree height more than ten meter, the waterfall or even the stream that will divide the city to be two parts. Even so, you can do many activities there, such as jogging, hiking, and biking. For those who love photography, it is a good place to take hundred of shots because it has many objects to take. Meanwhile, it can also be a science laboratory for the students to learn about nature.
From this point, I am thinking that the city park has a similar function like a real forest. If forest is a lung for the earth, the park is a lung for the city. It has important roles to keep the city weather and supply of water are stable. In this case, people in the city play important roles to tackle the environmental issues such as climate change. Whether realize it or not, a person who doing activities in the park was help to manage the ecosystem in the small scale. That kind of activities will remind people how important are forest for our daily life. It is also make being a part of this action is not as difficult as we thought. The increasing problems of environmental issues need individual actions. That is why we could say that as local actions to solve global problems.
Whether it is forest or city park, both of them provide many good things for human kind. I believe the way how we should caring the world is began from how we caring the nearest environment around us. This is how we should celebrate World Environment Day. It is a small step for a big impact.
This blog post is in participation of blog competition hosted by United Nations Environment Program and in partnership with TreeHugger to celebrate World Environment Day 2011.
This essay was great and very inspiring. If I didn’t read it I probably would not know about the hidden forest in my hometown. Thank You.
Ragil, thank you for your comment. Next time we should make some plan to visit the park by bicycle.
wow… great very inspiring thx for the information
whoaa !! cud b a refernce 4 me, gyhaaha actually i just found out ths place from u
thanks thanks, =)
Great reference Achmad! others as a fashion city, Bandung hiding a many natural beauty and thought you’re successfully explore one. speak for green! and keep bandung stay cold.
You should coming again to Bandung, Adit!
interesting. Yesterday, when I crossed a lake in front of Gedung Sate, Im imagining it would be great if that lake transformed into a city park like your writing. Hehe
Thank you for your comment, Fahmi. I think you should take a trip with your friends in THRD. There are many activities you can do with them.
whoa nice info, thanks! giving me inspiration about environment that we’re live in. nice place, anyway, you should take me there Ahmad!
You are the one who should take me there tante! take me there at the night. Lets explore the park at the night!
Agreeeeee with annisa… You should take us memeto!! someday
What a great writings Achmad! Sure you’re very proud about your own town. Besides those old and modern buildings in the city, there’s a natural hidden treasures lay beneath. Well sure I admit it that you’re open our eyes and makes us want to go there. Feel it with our own senses. What a lovely feeling!
damn you achmad, now I feel sentimental. I missed that forest
Does Bandung better than Nottingham? You can also participate in World Environment Day at 5th June in Nottingham. Thank you Mas Wirya
come to bandung mas wiryaaaaaaa!
let’s have another trip to THRD..
Achmad, I have forgotten THRD until I read your blog, thanks for reminding ^ ^ this should be promoted more for youths in our city, for them to appreciate nature more..
hmmm… it’s a good alternative way to spend weekends… thx for the info
Achmad! Your essay makes me miss the arduous journey we made to the waterfall! Hehehe… 3 jam trekking uphill, 30 minit “trekking” downhill ;p Great write-up by a great tour guide (haha). Perhaps you should also mention how this forest can also be a good place to learn history through the preservation of some historical artefacts/elements – like Gua Jepang, Gua Belanda and the stone where the original Sundanese script is inscribed. That in itself is an informative piece of history to a visitor and foreigner like me, seeing that the Sundanese script is similar to Sanskrit. Finally, you can also add how it illustrates the ecological cycle of the kelinci… where in the beginning when we start our journey – we see cute rabbits, and as we trek uphill further into the forest about an hour later, we see “Sate Kelinci” . Hehehehehe…
We should visit another place on your next trip to Bandung, Sarah. Many thanks for you.
good forest in the big city, love it
this place is one of my favorite places in Bandung.
i spent my childhood there with my cousins. :’)
thank you for letting people know about this place ya.. and i think pcmi jabar have to do the ‘institutional visit’ to THRD someday..
let’s make a plan!
COOL!! lets balance the earth !! lol ^^
Aunque nunca he estado al THRD, pienso que ese parque tiene una parte importante como el pulmón de la ciudad,,
Me gusta tu frase “It is a small step for a big impact.”
Es que deberíamos nosotros, la gente, tratar al entorno..
¡una Buena escritura, hombre!
To Ahmad :
nice writing….i hope people will be move to more notice about their surrounding.
let’s explore…it’s a big world out there!!
hi ahmad! what an inspiring writing….
agree with that! and now, I am in Korea, see that in here every residents area has its own small park….
nowadays bandung is full of pollution, THRDt can be the solution
)
save the forest save the earth. saya cinta bandung
Just FYI. THR Djuanda also consist several unique objects. There is two colonial-era tunnel, which known as “Gua Jepang” and “Gua Belanda. Curug Dago and Curug Maribaya (waterfalls) also located inside the THR.
I hope this essay will be a boost for people from Bandung or outside to spend their time in THR Djuanda. When lot of activity in the THR Djuanda, insyaallah the “bad guys” wont have the guts to disturb the eco-system of THR.
Good writing, Ahmad.
Indra-Komunitas Aleut
Hi Achyary,
Great post on all that you derive from your local park. It is great to read a post from someone in Indonesia, where we hear deforestation rates are so high. I talk a bit about this in my own blog: http://goo.gl/OOgGt I would like to travel to Indonesia some day and visit your forests, and I’m happy to hear that there are people like you working hard to preserve them.
You are also right that local parks make a difference in both oxygen levels as well as air quality in a city. In some cities, local oxygen levels are very low because of all the cars and other burning activities, which uses up the O2 and puts out carbon dioxide instead.
Good luck with the contest! I entered too here: http://integrales.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/to-the-giving-trees-thank-you/ It’s a bit about my own experience in the forests near my home in Canada. More than winning, I think it is interesting to connect with like minded people like you.
whoaaaa, such a cool writing, and cool place, tho.
:D
let’s go there, LOlitaaaa..
Again, nice post from you ahmad..Though it’s still lacking in grammar..hehehehe….But nevertheless, this is inspiring…eventhough i have lived in bandung for 22 years, I’ve never visited this place…yet it looks so beautiful…can you take me there sometimes Mad?….I vote for ahmad in this competition!!!
and let’s keep our forest and park clean!!^_^
hai ahmad, you’ve wrote nice and encouraging post
it seems that only few people know about this park. thanks to you, now we know that we have such park to visit. But, in my selfish opinion, to promote the park for a wider people will possibly harm and litter the park. If this park is aimed for city forest, let’s just keep it hidden. And thanks for it’s located quite far, people tend to not go there tho they know, hehehe…
Instead of that, it would be good if our city has a park that located in the center of the city so it’s not too far for people to escape from the hustle and bustle of bandung. speaking of which, can we consider taman tegalega as city park also? cz i think so. we just need to add more trees there
Wow…..I never heard about that park before. It’s sound interesting, I never been been there anyway. Bandung was a very comfortable place to live but now it’s hot and too crowded. I hope the local gov will promote it more. So, in the future people will go to bandung for visit the park, not the mall.