D-Paradise Tropical Fruit World & Aboriginal Native Village

I took a drive to Melaka this morning to attend the opening of D-Paradise, a Tropical Fruit World and Aboriginal Native Village which has the World's largest collection of tropical, sub-tropical and continental fruits of over 800 types in a 168 acres of lush, undulating, tropical terrain at Lee Garden with the largest canopy walk in the world at 9km long.

D-Paradise has a diverse range of exotic wildlife, with rare species of flora and fauna. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of these attractions. In fact, I was looking forward to see the tribes which seems to be one of the main cultural attraction in that place, specifically the Padaung (Ring People) from the Philippines and the Agta tribe.

The Padaung tribe wear bronze rings around their neck and apparently, the ring makes for a whispery voice and those who wear them cannot yell. The rings are also worn on the arms and legs. The Agta are dark-skinned, kinky-haired pun nosed and thick lipped people who are less than 3 feet tall. They go bare footed. The men used to wear G-strings without shorts.

I would love to be in the presence of a swarm of dragon flies but did get the opportunity to visit the dragon fly sanctuary. There seems to be so many places of interest that I'd like to see such as the world's largest cactus collection, the pangolin sanctuary, mushroom farm, the mesmerizing bamboo garden, man-made bird-nest sanctuary, up close at the Crocodile Park (reminds me of Steve Irwin), the kongkang sanctuary (the so-called Malaysia's koala) and the everything else, but time didn't permit. I learnt that some of the animals will only come sometime next week in time for the launch by our very own PM this coming 15th November.

It wasn't really a fun trip this morning coz I didn't get to see what I was looking for. I got bitten by mosquitoes and the waiting time for the transportation was slow coz' the buggies haven't arrived yet. But was pretty happy to receive a basket of passion fruits which I love very much. (A good friend of mine used to stay in a farm and I love drinking the passion fruit juice which was simply refreshing!) PLUS a 2D 1N stay each at the D-CEO Village Resort which we were told valued at RM1,000!!!

My conclusion : it would be quite an educational trip for children and for those who loves nature, especially non-kampungnites. It's quite an expensive affair too coz the entry fee is RM49.90 for an adult and RM29.90 for kids age 4-11. Rental of a buggy for the whole day is at RM89.90. You definitely need a buggy to go round coz the area is extremely big. Though you can go cycling there, the hilly terrains can be quite a daunting task for some people. Accomodation : I'm not really sure, but at RM1,000 this seems to cost more than some of the 5 star hotels in KL. It's an interesting affair for foreigners though.

I think people like me shouldn't expect too much. My late grandparents used to stay in a kampung house (well, minus the 5 star treatment though) surrounded by lots of wild animals, pets, fruits and vegies. So, I can't comment much.










one of the Aboriginal Village

nicely decorated
wood carvings








The performance
theatre / stage
of the aboriginal tribe.







Bones, skulls
and more...







Entrace to the
gourd and melon
plantation.











Gourds






Monkey Cup
Pitchers
> a rare and exotic
insect-gobbling
carnivorous plant
in this World's Largest
collection of monkey
cup pitchers








Malaysia's very
own red berries..













Passion
Fruits













The pathway..














Some big,
long, red
chilli plant









Lone ranger : a pumpkin!!
D-Paradise has the World's
largest collection of pumpkins
which come in different
shapes and colours.