ECOPARK, AN OASIS IN CIBINONG

MODERN life requests us to live in like million flurry of activity to achieve what is needed, and people lose their quality time with fam­ily. This time, mostly people go to the Malls when they need to get out of the bustle of everyday life to relieve their fatigue. It is lucky for the citizens reside in the center of Bogor, they can visit Botanical Gardens and around Puncak highland. What about the people around district of Bogor who live mostly in surrounding Cibinong?

Located not far from the center of Bo­gor Regional Government Office, ECOPARK is in the area of Indonesian Institute of Re­search and Sciences (LIPI), or better known as Bakosurtanal and this can be a cheap alterna­tive tourist destination in the district of Bogor. Situated at Km 46, Jalan Raya Bogor, ECOPARK which was built in 2002 is actually destined for a learning place, to observe and investigate the natural ecosystems in the lowlands in Indone­sia, as well as the supervision place of Bakosur­tanal.

There are various kinds of rare plants for re­search purposes. With good arrangement made in such way, the lake is located in the center of park surrounded by green grass seeing like car­pet, and there is also wooden bridge made to connect the park. ECOPARK looks so beautiful. The lake which is located in the middle of the park, is part of a nature conservation park that becomes part of the extension of the Botanical Gardens.

ECOPARK often used as sport center at morning or noon time. Known at first as Lake of Dora assuming that at the beginning of the con­struction, there are a lot of children were play­ing while carrying their Dora doll, the anima­tion doll that was booming on TV at that time. Dora was told as a little girl who often makes the adventure trip and figures out something needed by lot of people using the maps. She always plays with Booths her friend. From this Dora story, people had the idea to build an Ecol­ogy Park and was famous once as Lake of Dora.

Because of its beauty, its strategic location, and free of charge, Lake Dora is also often used for pre-wedding location, besides its aim as an educational place. There are lots of fish and lo­tus flowers decorating the lake beautifully.

The park is always crowded at weekends, especially in the afternoon. A suitable place for a family picnic while enjoying lunch brought from home. For visitors, it is enough to pay only for parking charge. ECOPARK that was built aiming for the educational tourism place often engages counseling for students in order to learn the plants and other creatures that exist in the park. It lies near about 500 meters from the gate of the local government or Cibinong City Mall, heading to Bogor makes ECOPARK is accessible to anyone. One important thing is to keep the environment in good way in this well managed park so that everyone will be happy to travel in this beautiful ECO­PARK. Happy Weekend.