New forest park gives Thais much-needed green space
Bursting with trees, ponds, plants and birdlife, a new inner-city park is delighting residents of Thailand’s bustling, congested capital. Every day, crowds visit Benjakitti Forest Park to savour a taste of nature in the heart of Bangkok.
It’s part of a drive to create a greener, more livable Bangkok by 2030, by bringing shade, peace and quiet to the hot, cacophonous city.
Another park adjacent to the site was built in the 1990s, with a vast, man-made lake. But the new, semi-wild, 41-hectare extension has captured the capital’s imagination.
On weekends up to 12,000 people a day use its nature trail, walkways and cycling paths, snapping photos from its viewing platforms to fill their social media feeds.
The site was previously home to the factories of the state Thailand Tobacco Monopoly. A phased transformation began several years ago, and this year visitors began swarming ahead of its planned official inauguration in August. The thrumming of machinery has ceased, to be replaced by birdsong and chirping frogs. Even the rumble of nearby traffic fades to a barely discernible hum.
“I love it,” said 44-year-old music teacher Luckachai Krichnoi, who declared his aversion to air-conditioned rooms and shopping malls.
“I love the outdoors and fresh air. Bangkok does not have that many big parks. I am glad we have this beautiful space.”
The design mixes the old with the new. The architects retained more than 1,700 of the site’s original, mature trees, then planted almost 7,000 others - most of them saplings - to create pockets of forest throughout the park. As they
age, their foliage will grow and spread, deepening the cover.
The park’s already a hit with nature-lovers such as birdwatcher and photographer Somsak Jaitrong, who said he visits almost every day and has
spotted more than 40 species so far, though others have counted many more.
Surrounded by concrete and steel, city residents currently enjoy just 7 square metres of urban green space per head,
according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority.
The aim is to increase that to 10 square metres by 2030 through a much-touted parkbuilding programme, and by planting more trees.