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Peter Michael

Walt Disnety Imagineering's director of Landscape design Paul Comstock is overseeing the gardens and Landscaping at Hong Kong's Disneyland

Hiking high into the Himalayas and some of the world's most primitive lands, my job has been to search for rare and exotic plants in every corner of the globe.

All told, my travels have taken me to 37 US states and 28 countries in search of rare plants.

During that time, I have faced dangers in far-off mountains while riding bucking jeeps and waddling elephants.

Described by some as the Walt Disney Imagineering's version of Indiana Jones, my role as director of landscape design has seen me involved with the landscape design of Disney theme parks and resorts in California, Florida, Paris and Tokyo.

I am currently overseeing the landscaping for Hong Kong Disneyland, the fifth Disney theme park destination in the world.

When I joined Imagineering in 1990 my task was to immediately begin working on concepts for Disney's Animal Kingdom, which was planned for the Walt Disney World in Florida.

In fact, in my first year with the company I enjoyed and made treks to Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar.

After a temporary assignment to Disneyland Paris in France in 1991, I rejoined the Animal Kingdom team and took off for Indonesia, Thailand and Nepal, hiking high into the Himalayas and some of the world's most primitive lands.

My mission was to create 'real' African and Asian landscapes at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The result of these travels is one of the world's greatest collection of tropical botanical wonders. Millions of trees, plants, shrubs, vines, grasses and ferns that I brought to Florida in the form of seeds and seedlings from some of the wildest regions of the world were planted in carefully designed areas.

One of my more memorable adventures included an encounter with a pair of young lionesses who confronted me and my guide in the Kalahari desert in central Africa.

After the animals had turned and casually strolled away, we found some well-picked antelope bones that suggested the lionesses had already satisfied their hunger.

But another  experience - a confrontation with a spider - was not so fortunate. The bright red and gray arachnid latched on to my arm while I was opening seed pods on a moringa horseradish tree. I survived the attack, but not without some discomfort.

Then there was my successful pairing with a wise old elephant in Nepal. With me aboard, the elephant tore her favourite grasses from the roadside and passed them over her shoulder to me. This helped me to fill my basket with trunk-picked grasses to replant for the elephants at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

I was raised in California where I worked in my father's nursery, the world's largest container plant nursery. I later went to college and spent four years studying art and mathematics at the US International University in England, but soon began to march to a different beat, literally.  As a drummer, I joined a rock group and spent the next several years on the road touring.

A near-fatal car accident soon helped me decide that being an itinerant musician wasn't for me.

Following months of recovery, and with my father's help, I got a job planting shrubs around a friend's home. That led to designing and building backyard rock gardens and waterfalls. Suddenly, I was in the landscaping business.

In 1990, after getting a degree and consulting at Disneyland, I joined Imagineering.

After the opening of Disney's Animal Kingdom in 1998, I continued working on the park, heading  the team responsible for the landscape architecture for Walt Disney World's Asia, which opened in 1999.

Also in 1999, I was promoted to director of landscape design and now am very fortunate to be involved in a number of Disney projects worldwide.



First Person