Medicinal rose garden, new attraction at Mardi Cameron Highlands

KUALA LUMPUR: The Mardi Cameron Highlands Agrotechnology Park in Pahang is fast becoming one of the preferred tourist destinations with visitor arrivals reaching 400,000 as of mid-December.
Its manager, Nordin Mad Ali said the 12.3-hectare park in Tanah Rata and managed by the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) is also growing fast through various agro-based attractions.
He said to ensure the agrotechnology park continued to entice visitors, new attractions or innovations were being created so that its agro-based products remained 'fresh' and interesting to them.
"Mardi Cameron Highlands receives the most number of visitors this year compared to the previous five years. As such Mardi needs to add a little twist from time to time and based on the existing plan, a "Rose Garden" with medicinal value will be developed.
"At present, 'Black Rose' is one of the agro products that will be available in the Rose Garden next year," he told Bernama recently.
He was met in conjunction with the second series Road to Agro Tourism programme to the Central Zone covering Kuala Kangsar, Perak and Cameron Highlands in Pahang from Dec 12 to 14.
The programme, organised by the Malaysia Tourism Council (MTC) with the support of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture (MOTAC) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry (MOA) was to promote domestic agro tourism destinations through six series that started in the South Zone in September.
Nordin said the English Garden is currently the favourite location for visitors to capture memorable portraits besides the gardens and Strawberries Cafes, tea plantations, tea mills, fertigation plots, sales centres and caravan parks for those who want to experience their own travelling tourism experience.
"The English concept is evoked through a landscape of windmills, water showers and floral species of multi hues with a pleasant temperature that ranges between 15°C and 24°C to produce an atmosphere in a cold climate," he said.
In enjoying the beauty and aesthetic value in the five MARDI agrotechnology park stations that engaged in the agrotourism sector, he said the identity of knowledge on the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flora and fauna was being maintained.
"Each agrotechnology park station is developed with a distinctive environment according to its unique local features such as Cameron Highlands, which has the English concept and in Cherating, it is characterised by livestock and fisheries tourism while in Kuala Kangsar it is based on fruits and durians," he added. — Bernama