Visit to the Genting Tea Estate

Last Sunday, I was invited to a trip with MNS members to Dato' H.S. Barlow's estate in Genting Sempah. We were first given a brief tour of the estate's history told by M. Barlow himself (he wrote a book on Frank Swettenham's biography and the estate once was linked to him). Then, we went for a long walk around the 99-acre estate to see some of his prized collection of rare forest trees of Malaysia. After a picnic lunch at the very quaint gazebo at the end of the grass lawn, we were given a talk by M. Barlow on his extensive butterfly and moth collection: there were over 400 species of butterflies and 5000 over species of moth in the collection.

We entered from the back of the house through a steep staircase and through the workers' quarters...

 The front lawn was meticulously cared for and was fringed with huge clumps of flowering Bauhinias...

 The gazebo at the end of the lawn...

 The lawn end with a path down the slopes towards the forest garden...

 View of the house from the other end of the lawn...

 Nice rattan chairs for relaxation...

 The interiors reflect the colonial planter's architecture with rattan furniture and very open spaces and high ceilings for the tropical humidity.

A very long dining that can sit more than a dozen guests...

 One of the two sets of entomological cabinets used for housing the extensive collection of butterflies and moth caught in the estate's compound.

 Fruits of the very rare Shorea bentongensis - already extinct in the wild but thriving in the collection of the estate...