Kebun Raya Bogor (Bogor botanical gardens) is South-East Asia’s largest botanical garden located in Bogor, Indonesia approximately 60km south of the capital Jakarta.

Covering an area of 87 hectares (210 acres) the botanical gardens include a range of different gardens, laboratories, a zoology museum and the presidential palace (where the current Indonesian President Jokowi resides) amongst other features.

The easiest way to get to Bogor from Jakarta is by train; a journey that will take approximately 1 hour (although you will likely find, as is often the case with Jakarta, that the train service may be very crowded - even at the weekends). During the journey you’ll pass through many stations, including the station right next to the University of Indonesia campus, as well as seeing many beautiful sights of the countryside and surrounding villages.

Unfortunately you’ll also see a lot of man made waste casually discarded in the countryside and around the edges of various settlements and suburbs of Jakarta. This makes for some very ugly sights amongst the beautiful countryside as waste management and caring for the environment doesn’t appear to be, at least in my experiences whilst traveling through the country, high on most Indonesians priority list.

The following photographs are only a small fraction of the waste that I saw during the journey.

Unlike in the UK I have yet to see any recycling schemes being implemented in any of the Indonesian cities that I have spent time in. Waste is simply discarded without any thought to how much of that might be able to be recycled. Maybe there are schemes in operation in some parts of Indonesia but if so I have yet to encounter them.

Once you arrive at Bogor (which you won’t be able to miss as it is the final station on the line) you’ll likely find that the traffic around and outside of the station is quite busy. With a city of 1 million inhabitants it’s unsurprising that there’s so much activity taking place there but even on a Sunday afternoon it was akin to being in Jakarta city centre. I couldn’t believe just how busy the roads were and how even 60km away the all-too familiar macet experience was being played out.

Bogor botanical gardens are located roughly 1KM from the station but I wouldn’t advise walking there due to the road system and volume of traffic circulating around the city centre. Your best option is to travel by taxi from the station (even with that inevitable Indonesian macet experience). If you have the Gojek app installed on your smartphone you can simply book a Gocar taxi for a small fee.

There are a number of entrances to the botanical gardens. I arrived at Pintu Tiga (gate 3) and after passing through the baggage inspection check (with armed police stationed there [as the presidential palace is also located within the grounds of the gardens] who were thankfully very friendly…always reassuring when someone is carrying a semi-automatic rifle) made my way down Jalan Astrid Avenue towards the southern area of the gardens.

Unsurprisingly, as I walked down the avenue, there were lots of open spaces to my left where families were enjoying a picnic, playing sports or simply relaxing (given the temperature and humidity in August this was hardly surprising - the heat is enough to sap even the most energetic of people).

On the left and towards the end of Jalan Astrid Avenue is the Grand Garden Resto & Cafe - a delightfully spacious and relaxing environment offering a wide range of meals and drinks while also providing welcome shelter from the sun.

Entry to the cafe was a little confusing though as the two gates situated on the perimeter of the cafe gardens were locked and it took a walk around the eastern perimeter to the nearby road in order to gain access.

The cafe gardens feature a wide range of sculptures, well maintained topiary, plenty of spacious seating and a beautifully constructed pond /fountain.

Within the cafe, which is raised above the garden (providing a rather beautiful and relaxing sweeping view of the surrounding landscape and nearby man-made lake), the seating arrangements are quite comfortably spaced.

Nearby there is an area featuring lots of photographs of current Indonesian president Jokowi meeting various foreign dignitaries as well as staff working at the cafe.

There’s also a seating area where Jokowi dined with former US president Barack Obama although I think you have to pay a small fee if you want to be photographed sitting there.

At the bottom of the grassy slope that the cafe is situated on top of is a small lake with a nearby seating area opposite the road.

Unsurprisingly, given how serene and beautiful this particular location is, a couple were part of a wedding photography shoot that was taking place nearby. I can imagine that region of the botanical gardens sees many such photo shoots.

I was a little frustrated by only getting to see such a small portion of the park (even as beautiful as that was though) due to the size of the botanical gardens environment. I had hoped to visit the presidential palace, orchidarium (the botanical gardens host hundred of species of different orchids) and see the monument dedicated to the wife of Sir Thomas Raffles. Sadly there wasn’t enough time to do that although I’m not disappointed by the regions of the gardens that I did get to witness during my time there.

That said I was disappointed though to see the damage caused by various visitors who had inscribed their names and other words into the leaves of certain plants located in the Mexican gardens. Seriously, what is it with the mindset of people who behave that way? So irritating to see the beauty of a location defiled by the stupidity of the low IQ crowd.

This was a disheartening sight and always unpleasant to see such damage although I did enjoy my visit to the gardens nonetheless. The scale of the botanical gardens was something else to behold though. I consider myself quite energetic but even I felt fatigued during my walk around there. Despite regular water intake I still felt dehydrated but then is that any surprise given the heat and humidity of the Indonesian climate?

Probably not.

I saw many beautiful sights during my walk; from the aquatic gardens to various tree species (some with incredibly vast and complex root systems which spanned many metres around the base of the tree; the visible portions of which were quite impressive to see) and man-made structures such as bridges, river corridors and eco-domes.

I’m not sure that Bogor has many visitor attractions outside of the botanical gardens but if you’re able to spare the time to visit the gardens (and various features such as the presidential palace and Orchidarium - which I sadly didn’t get chance to) I would highly recommend doing so.

If you’ve been in Jakarta or similarly busy city environments then you’ll appreciate the opportunity to relax in a natural environment and enjoy a respite from the noise and movement of the modern world.

Fee

Entry to the botanical gardens is free. I’m not sure if there are separate charges to visit certain attractions contained within there such as the Presidential palace or zoology museum however.

Getting there

If traveling from a nearby city such as Jakarta then take a train followed by a reliable taxi service such as Gocar.