THE BUTTERFLY PARK AT BANTIMURUNG NATIONAL PARK

15th OCTOBER 2017 ~ The last stop at Bantimurung National Park was at the Butterfly Park, which was located like 500 metres outside the entrance. Again, visitors had to pay a small fee to get into this place, and would have to pay extra to walk on the suspension bridge.

I was excited to see the live butterflies there but unfortunately, there was none could be found. According to my guide, it could be because of the dry season and the heat. One interesting thing to note is even though there were trees and streams in Bantimurung National Park, but it was scorching hot. I wonder if it was because of the limestone hills that surrounded the area.

I had to settle for the suspension bridge, as well as other people who were there on that day. I was not particularly keen to try this but since I had paid for it, I would just do it. Furthermore, there were no butterflies around, remember?

There were many people at that spot so we had to take turns. First the staff strapped people with the safety harness and then only we started climbing up the tower. After that, the other staff would attach one end of the cord to the huge rope of the suspension bridge. You could see the net underneath the bridge but I think that was not a safety net. That was the net that prevented the butterflies from escaping from the park (even though there were no butterflies on that day).

looking down from the tower

Then you were ready to walk to one end, and walk back to the same point. Luckily, people were no shaking, swaying of rocking the bridge while I was walking on it so everything was alright. The people in my group, like everybody else were more busy posing and taking photographs.

If you think you could stand the heat or the sun ray, you could even use the yellow umbrellas provided. That would make you look more like a circus performer walking on a tightrope from afar.

That should be the last activity in Bantimurung before making my way back to the city. This should be a place you might consider visiting in Makassar especially if you are a nature lover.

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THE BUTTERFLY MUSEUM AT BANTIMURUNG NATIONAL PARK

Look, I have wings!

15th OCTOBER 2017 ~ Bantimurung National Park is also known as Butterfly Kingdom. Alfred Russel Wallace, a British naturalist, found 256 butterfly species from this area in 1857. [source: Wikipedia]

There was this small Butterfly Museum in the park, near the entrance. You have to pay a small fee to visit this building. Inside, there was a collection of butterflies and there were many of them - dead and being preserved. Where did all the butterflies come from?

This reminds me a lot of my first year in university. I had many friends doing courses like Diploma in Agriculture. One of their assignments was to collect insects and butterflies from the farm. They would then had to arrange and pin their collections (after suffocating these unfortunate creatures in chloroform) on the styrofoam in a box. And I was always there to join in the fun.

So if you like butterflies, this should be THE place you must visit when you are in Makassar.

Something interesting to share:

Lepidopterology - the study of butterflies and moths.

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BANTIMURUNG NATIONAL PARK IN MAKASSAR [PART 2]

[CONTINUATION OF PART ONE]

After the first section of the national park nearest to the entrance, and where a huge crowd were there to enjoy the cool water of the streams and waterfalls, I continued exploring. There was this concrete trek that led to a spot I was not sure of. So I just followed the path and I met only a few people walking.

There were no more waterfalls along the trek but a lazy river with bluish/greenish water.

There were even numerous stalls along the walkway in the forest just in case people wanted to stop for food or drinks.

And then there was this another small waterfall, but there was no one in the pool.

Bantimurung National Park is well-known for being a natural habitat for various species of butterflies. There are a Butterfly Museum and Butterfly Park here too.

Outside the entrance, there were stalls selling different sizes of dead butterflies and various other insects which had been preserved and framed.

Other attractions of the park are the caves (and I went into one of them), and the aforementioned Butterfly Museum (inside the national park) and Butterfly Park (located further away at the junction of the main road).

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