The area around Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands is full of natural attractions and small farm parks. We visited one of them — the Butterfly Farm — as part of our tour of the Cameron Highlands.
The farm is called “Butterfly Farm“, but you can actually see other insects here too, along with lush thickets and strikingly bright flowers. It now operates as ZooMania Butterfly Farm and is essentially a small zoo: besides butterflies and insects there are reptile terrariums, waterfowl, rabbits, meerkats and wallabies (according to local reference sites, as of October 2026).
The farm sits by the village of Kea Farm — beyond Brinchang on Route 59, the highlands’ main road, within walking distance of the local market. According to local guides there is still no public transport in the Cameron Highlands in 2026, so you can get there by tour minivan, taxi or Grab (highland taxis run without meters — agree the fare before getting in). Local guides do not recommend hitchhiking — it simply is not done in Malaysia.
We went with a tour, but the taxi option is really rather good. You can hire a taxi for a few hours and the driver will take you along the same route, except you can stay in each place as long as you like — no rushing anywhere, just see everything at your own pace. Some taxi drivers also make decent guides and can run a private tour for you.
In 2015 our four-hour tour cost 40 ringgit per person, and an hour of taxi time was 25 ringgit — the BusOnlineTicket aggregator quotes the same benchmark of 25 ringgit per hour for a highland taxi as of October 2026. There are no up-to-date prices for sightseeing tours from Tanah Rata in open sources, so check with agencies on the ground and decide for yourself which option suits you best.
If your trip falls in winter 2026–2027, check the calendar: Malaysian schoolchildren are on holiday from 5 to 31 December 2026 (including in Pahang, where the highlands are located), and 6–8 February 2027 brings three consecutive days off for Chinese New Year. At such times accommodation in the highlands gets more expensive and the road to Kea Farm seizes up in traffic on public holidays — locals advise against heading there after 10:00–11:00. And one entry formality: before flying to Malaysia you need to complete the electronic arrival card, the MDAC, on the Immigration Department of Malaysia’s website.
This is where the farm is:
To the left of the entrance there is a small shop selling flowers and local souvenirs — various teas, all sorts of strawberry sweets, honey and so on:
Even if you come with a tour, you have to pay for entry.
When we were here in 2015, an adult ticket cost 5 ringgit and a child’s ticket 2 ringgit:
Our tickets:
Entry costs more now: around 15 ringgit per adult — that is the price quoted by local tour operator Explore Camerons, and the cameron.com.my portal gives the same figure as of October 2026.
In we go:
Although the grounds are small, there are signs with arrows everywhere so you know which way to go:
And here is the first butterfly:
If you expect to see a huge number of different butterflies, the farm will disappoint you — there are plenty of them, but almost all are of a single species. It is worth coming here more for the unusual plants and flowers:
Flowers everywhere:
Here you can judge the size of a butterfly better — it is almost the same size as a goldfish:
The farm feels more like a botanical garden — greenery all around and pretty paths laid out. The whole farm is wrapped in plastic sheeting to keep the warmth and humidity in (outside, incidentally, it is rather chilly, which is why I am walking around in a hoodie):
A huge butterfly pretends to be a leaf — it is amazing how precisely its colouring matches real leaves:
You are not allowed to touch the butterflies (not that we touch them):
It looks as if all the farm’s butterflies have flocked to this one spot:
Another beauty:
The most varied vegetation:
It is not just flowers everywhere — you come across cacti too:
What do you make of cacti this size:
Moving on:
Practically “hanging gardens”:
I do not understand this strange tradition, but it is what it is — tourists draw all over the poor cacti:
One rather amusing fluffy creature:
The flowers really are beautiful:
Wandering as if we were completely alone:
In reality the place is full of people, and many visitors are more interested in the terrariums:
I am not very fond of reptiles, but I cannot walk past — you ought to know what to be wary of:
There are hardly any birds on the grounds, just a few species familiar to us — ducks, for example:
Or a rooster:
But back to the flowers — the best part of the farm:
And more:
And here a whole field of them:
Closer up:
I do not even know what they do with all these flowers — I have not seen them on sale anywhere except this farm:
A pity I do not know the names, but these flowers grow back home in Russia too (not all year round, of course, but still):
The flower field from the other side — this is practically the edge of the farm, and somewhere in the distance is the exit:
Simply gorgeous:
And this is closer to the exit:
The flowers are grown in tubs first, and then they are either planted out here or taken to other farms:
Phew, scorpions — can you see them hiding under the stones:
One of the strangest bugs — it disguises itself as a blade of grass:
A cactus plantation:
Beautiful but prickly:
A huge round cactus:
And this little flower simply won me over:
That was the end of our walk around the farm — there is nothing more to see. The whole visit took about 30 minutes: we strolled round unhurriedly, looked at everything and still had time to pop into the shop.
The shop’s assortment — the challenge is to find something without strawberry in it:
I do not know whether it is worth making a special trip to this farm — there is nothing extraordinary here; the flowers are beautiful, but there are few actual butterflies. The tea plantations impressed us far more, but if you have time, why not drop in on the butterfly farm? Incidentally, the local guides from Explore Camerons also counted only a few butterfly species in their review of the farm.
Tell us in the comments: have you ever been to a butterfly farm like this? Which country has the best tropical butterfly farm? For now, the greatest variety we have seen was, oddly enough, at an exhibition in Moscow.
