Gunung Gading National Park

The Gunung Gading national park is located 2km from the city of Lundu in western Sarawak, approximately 60km west of Kuching. The park clings to a number of rugged mountain peaks near the beaches at Pandan and Siar. It contains some waterfalls in the upper reaches of Sungai Lundu river which have become a popular recreational destination for both local and foreign visitors. The park was established in 1994 as a conservation zone for the parasitic rafflesia plant, famous for its large flowers which are the world's largest. The rafflesia plant grows from spores which settle on specific host plants, vines like the Tetrastigma. The spores grow on the host plant over a period of nine months and finally develop into a bud which becomes a giant flower, of brownish red colour. The rafflesia flower blooms for only a week only, then rots rapidly. At the time of visiting the Gunung Gading national park there was no blooming rafflesia, only some buds, the biggest of which was eight months old and would bloom soon.