Templer's Park

Templer's Park is a forest reserve in the Klang Valley, Selangor, Malaysia. The park is located about 6 kilometres from Rawang and 22 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur. It is 1,214 hectares in size and it was named in honour of Sir Gerald Templer, a British High Commissioner in Malaya.

On 8 September 1954, His Highness the Sultan of Selangor, the late Sultan Hishamuddin Alam Shah declared that Templer’s Park was dedicated by Selangor to serve as a refuge and a sanctuary for wildlife and a meeting-place for all who love and respect the beauty of nature.

The following year the government gazetted the area as a 'Botanical Garden and Public Park” under the land enactment (Notification 104-1955).

This forest reserve consists of multi-tiered waterfalls, jungle streams and trails. Several amenities are available in this forest reserve, such as picnic grounds, fishing spots, parking lots, public toilets and stalls. There are numerous picnic areas along the two streams and you will find visitors almost anytime. The track to the waterfall is a nice pleasure walk, almost level, crossing the stream several times.

The Kanching Falls, a few km north, are more spectacular, but these cascades are a suitable destination for young and old.

Wildlife that can be spotted in Templer's Park include the park monkey, the hawk-cuckoo, the crested serpent eagle, the emerald dove, the forest wagtail, malkohas, the barbet, the woodpecker, the flycatcher-shrike, the blue-winged leafbird, the earless agamid, the Malaysian crested lizard, various kinds of toads and snakes and serow (goat-antelopes). Studies by Malaysian Nature Society have confirmed that there is still a population of serow living in the vicinity.

Templar Park is the type locality where the holotype of the Malaysian spine-jawed snake Xenophidion schaeferi was collected in 1988. To date this is the only known specimen of this rare snake, which belongs in the obscure and primitive snake family Xenophidiidae. The family contains only one other species, X. acanthognathus, also only known from its holotype, which was collected in Sabah, northeast Borneo. These snakes are harmless, nonvenomous and thought to feed on earthworms or insect larvae.

Getting There

Templer's Park can be accessed from the Rawang exit of the North-South Expressway (PLUS Highway). Alternatively, you can also drive from Selayang towards Rawang used the trunk road. The entry cannot be missed as the park is located beside the busy trunk road to Rawang.

Attractions in Selangor