Crowd-puller: Shamsul Anuar says the geopark research centre aims to attract not only tourist but international researchers to conduct experiments in Lenggong.
IPOH: Plans are afoot to set up a geopark research centre in Lenggong, Perak, says Datuk Seri Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah.
The Lenggong MP and Lenggong Geo-community committee chairman said the centre will help boost education tourism in Lenggong.
“With the upcoming Visit Perak Year, we want to make sure that our attractions are ready for tourists.
“For now, we have the geopark gallery which features some of the research done in Lenggong,” he told reporters after officiating the closing ceremony of a geopark seminar here yesterday.
Shamsul Anuar, who is also the Deputy Home Minister said the research centre will attract researchers to Lenggong.
“We are hopeful that the centre will attract not only tourists but also international researchers to conduct experiments in Lenggong.
“We have more than just the Perak Man. Lenggong is also the site of a meteorite impact 1.83 million years ago (in Bukit Bunuh) and the volcanic ash deposits (in Bukit Sapi).
“We hope all these attractions, including the gallery, can help boost tourism in Lenggong,” he said.
About an hour’s drive from Ipoh, the Lenggong Valley is home to one of the oldest human skeletons and some of Malaysia’s oldest archaeological dig sites.
In 1991, archaeologist Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Siti Zuraina Abdul Majid discovered the 74,000-year-old Palaeolithic stone tool site in Lenggong, alongside the world-famous 11,000-year-old Perak Man.
Near Kampung Bukit Sapi, there is a massive boulder, and part of it is covered in volcanic ash that is said to be deposits from an eruption from Mount Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia, that occurred more than 74,000 years ago.
In July, Tourism Malaysia launched the Lembah Lenggong Archaeotourism and Geopark Packages to promote the historical and natural heritage of the Lenggong Geopark, the second National Geopark in Perak after the Kinta Valley Geopark.
