The Habitat on Penang Hill
This place is very special to us and if you haven’t been, you should go! It’s also baby friendly as there are paved paths for strollers. Kids and adults of all ages will relish breathing in the fresh, cooler, rain-forest air and feel immediately more relaxed and happy.
There’s a giant swing that the kids love and are great for photos, those who are more adventurous should try to zipline courses. The honeymoon course is a short tandem ride if you don’t want to make a big commitment, and I believe it’s the only one open at the moment. When the full course is available that’s truly an adventure and there is nothing like the feeling of flying through the canopy of one of the oldest rainforests in the world. We are so lucky to have the people at The Habitat, working so hard to preserve the natural beauty of Penang, and allowing the public to enjoy these green spaces.
Ok let me back up and start with some basics. There are 3 ways for you to get to The Habitat:
1) You can take the funicular from Ayer Itam
2) You can rent jeeps based just outside of the Botanical Gardens (off Waterfall Road) in Jesselton. This is a fun and wild ride and also comes with a pretty hefty price-tag.
3) The healthiest and most economical option of course is to hike up the hill!
You purchase a day pass when you arrive and they offer some ad ons like a 3-D experience and some short videos. You can then do a guided or unguided tour. Sometimes it’s nice to just wander around peacefully by yourself and sometimes it’s even better to be shown all of this amazing stuff around you that you might not even have noticed.
We had a birthday party up there with several families and kids of all ages. The food was catered and delicious, there was shelter for when it rained as well a clean showers. They organized fabulous guides who pointed out interesting things along our nature walk as well as organizing a scavenger hunt and some games.
Being alone up there under the stars with your friends was a priceless experience. It may have not been the most comfortable… I am not a camper by nature and my bones didn’t appreciate it, but my soul did and the kids absolutely loved it!
Another thing we got to experience during our overnight stay was the Night Safari. This can be arranged even if you aren’t camping up there and it’s incredible to see the different animals that come out at night and hear their different songs.
The Habitat needs everyone’s support to be able to continue the important conservation as well as research work that they do. Before Covid they managed to get Jane Goodall to come and experience one of Penang’s true treasures!
Whether you stop by for a walk or camp overnight, it’s a lovely place to visit and I also highly recommend their gift shop which offers high end Malaysian-centric merchandise and it’s attached to a lovely little spot for lunch or a coffee.
For more information visit their website at:
