Sharing is Living

Before I went, I couldn’t find any comprehensive information about this forest. So here is my report for fellow future travelers who’s planning to go there.

I first knew about Taman Negara (TN) from KLIA’s airport brochure. The selling point of it, for me, was that TN is the oldest rainforest on earth. The oldest, can you imagine that? This is due to the ‘fact’ that during the ice age, TN was never frozen, so life as it was, continued there. Taman Negara, which literally means, Country’s Park, but in essence is more of a National Park, is huge. Only about 5% of it is ‘developed’, which means marked trails and regular patrols etc, and the rest is pure wilderness.

It is located in the Pahang province, to the North of Kuala Lumpur(KL), about 5 - 6 hours away.

Transportation

If you’re going from KL, it’s about half a day’s worth of journey. First you take a bus from KL to Kuala Tembeling, for 3 hours or so. Then, from Kuala Tembeling, you go to TN by a boat, for another 3 - 4 hours. Dude, it’s wayyyyy in the boonies. During the 1st 15 mins on the boat it was fun, but then you get enough of it. Passing time by napping and reading were great though. It was really something to be able to do such mundane things in a spectacular surroundings.

However, if you want to take the whole trip by bus, you can do that. So the boat ride will be replaced by another 2 hr trip by bus.

Accomodations

This was a mystery to me, but not anymore! First of all, the official entrance to TN is only accessible by boats, because there’s a river surrounding it. (If you want to swim your way through from the other bank, it’s doable…)
The official TN only has 1 lodging, which is the Mutiara Taman Negara Resort. If you stay here, you are staying IN Taman Negara. Otherwise, you are staying OUTside of TN, and you’ll have to cross the river every time you want to have a walk in TN. From what I’ve read, for the so so accommodations, be prepared to pay top dollar for Mutiara. They have the monopoly of convenience, so why not?

The other option is to stay in lodgings across the river. There are many of them. Most of them are hostels, some of them aren’t very good. But cheap. The only drawback to this is the inconvenience of river crossing. But even then, it’s cheap (only RM 1/boat) and its serves visitors until 11pm.

I stayed at Park Lodge outside TN, and boy oh boy, the location isn’t ideal. It’s far from the river crossing, and although the distance can be said walkable, it’s a waste of time to do so. Luckily, the wonderful lodge owner provides pick up and drop off by car. But I still dislike the fact of having to rely on that service and of having to wait for the pick up once in a while. It’s just constricting. I wished I stayed at Ecoton Lodge, it was closer (but a fellow traveler said the accommodation was horrible).

We chose a a private room with fan, and private bath. The room smelled, the blanket was too small for two people, and it’s small. The bathroom was fine. Although the shower didn’t work, I used a hose that worked just fine. I didn’t report it, because I think it was a lost cause. There were little ants in the bathroom, but I guess that’s normal in the tropics? I just hosed them down, and problem solved temporarily.

Other hostels are: Liana hostel (the cheapest), Ecoton, Pesona Village, and more. I should have kept the brochure map, but alas I did not. But when you get there, just make sure to choose an accommodation that looks the closest to the river. Park Lodge was the farthest.

I know they’re called hostels. Hostels are no hotels, and in the middle of the jungle, they are even more so.

Food

There are several restaurants there, almost all of them are on a floating platform on the riverside, so you dine on a floating restaurant. Food was surprisingly good, I had no complaints. After a long day of hiking and whatnot, they all tasted so good.

Park Lodge gave us free breakfast, of toast, butter, jam, tea and coffee. If you need more sustenance for the day ahead, the kind lady owner will make more toast for you.

There is also a floating mini-market. Very mini, but you can get snacks, cigarettes, water there. The path are rocky and sandy, not easy, but hey, it’s TN.

Internet

There is an internet place across the river. You are not that far away from the rest of the world, it seems.

Activities

TN canopy walkway - is the greatest thing on earth! I’ve read the brochures, I’ve seen the videos, but to actually walk those walkways was one of the most exhilarating thing I’ve done in my life. I was sweating the whole time; one from the sun beating down, and the other from fear. The platform is only about foot wide, and you have to walk as if you’re in the catwalk, that is it to step in the center at all times. If you walk carelessly, just know that you will topple over. There are no accidents so far, but when you’re walking it, you’ll wonder if you’ll be the first casualty in the history of Taman Negara. The views were amazing. Looking up, looking down, looking sideways - whoever had the original idea to build it needs to be rewarded. It is not one long walkway, but rather, separated into 6-7 walkways. Some are longer, some shorter. All amazing.

Night jungle walk in TN - was amazing! You have to do it yourself to experience it. It’s pitch dark, the only source of light is from your guide’s torchlight, your own measly torchlight, and the bright stars above. All the crickets are awake and making sound, you can hardly hear anything else, it’s sooo loud it’s amazing.

We had Mr. Herman as our guide, and he was excellent. He found us crickets, insects, mating insects, glow in the dark mushrooms, bats, moths, stick insects, geckos, birds, medicine plants, and furniture plants. From the hideout, we saw several deers that night. Under the torchlight, their eyes glow like some alien creatures, it was brilliant. The path is clearly visible, but you still have to watch your steps and evade some unruly branches. It was a dream come true, my own Nat Geo or Discovery channel trip.

Hiking to Bukit Teresek (Teresek Hill) - was utterly exhausting! The view from the top was okay, I don’t think it was out of this world, but it was still nice, and this hike is still a must-to-do when you’re at TN. There are 2 viewpoints. One is you looking at the forest across the river, and the other you looking at Taman Negara. The view isn’t 180 degrees or even 360 degrees. More like 90 degrees of views, obstructed by trees and branches around it. But like I said, it’s still nice. At the top, supposedly you can see Mount Tahan, the highest mountain in Malaysia. Unfortunately it wasn’t a clear day, so clouds were covering the mountain.

1st viewpoint

The path is clearly marked, but tree roots made it harder, and it’s 1.4 km of trail. After the first viewpoint, the trail becomes much much easier, so don’t give up after you’ve reached it. The elevation was also steep, so it’s really not for the unfit. At some places, wide ’stairs’ were made, and this made it easier somewhat, but no less exhausting. While going up is tiring, going down requires more concentration. Since it’s so steep, your knees and ankles will take the brunt of the force of going down, and they will be sore tomorrow morning. Bring muscle relaxant.

top of bukit Teresek.

Shooting rapids - when they said be prepared to get wet, they should have said instead, be prepare to get soaked, or drenched, from top to bottom. There is no way you can survive the activity untouched. Shooting rapid is more of a contrived way to have fun and get wet, but really, it was fun. The boat went against the current, and at some points, where current was more irregular, and I’m sure it’s because the boat guy did some abracadabra by speeeding or slowing down during those rapids, we got splashed violently by water. The trip was only for few miles, and on the way back, we stopped for an hour or so for a swim at the river bank, near one of the resort. There’s smaller river running through the resort, and the water is clear and cool. You can laze around for hours there, the smaller rivers creates a natural jacuzzi.

Swimming on the big river is hard, because of the current, I guess. But put on your life vest, and you can enjoy floating in the brown water without much effort. It was fun!

Visit Orang Asli (aborigines) - was very interesting. They wear clothes, have cooking pans, little boys and girls were mostly naked or half naked (shirt no short), lots of kids, very laid back life. Supposedly this tribe is nomadic, but I guess not very much so. When we went, the tribe have stayed for 8 months, longer than ‘normal’. They would move whenever someone dies, they burn logs and continually have fire in order to chase insects and mosquitoes away, they hunt and fish, they have a running water donated by the government, government also sends food and medicine once in a while. They have no concept of time, they said, they just wake up in the morning, and live for that day.

The highlight of this visit was actually seeing them make fire, and make darts for hunting. Very interesting process, and refined to perfections. It’s unbelievable what they use. They have good aim too, on a distance of 20 - 25 feet, the hunter hit the target 2 out of 3.

Ear cave - we didn’t go, but people said it was interesting. It’s a cave full of little cute bats, I read earlier people said it’s one of the better things to do at TN. Shucks, why didn’t I know that before?

Night Safari - exciting, but not recommended. First of all, the safari is not in TN. It’s on a Palm field, that is the home of many different animals. We saw some, we saw a big hog, little birds, little snakes, lotsa spiders, and a hiding mongoose identified only by its eyes. It was a cool thing to do a safari in a 4wd, sitting at the back in open air, with cushions designed specifically for this purpose. But still, I was kind of disappointed about it. If you go to a night safari, just be sure that there is no guarantee of seeing any large animals.

Travel Agent

A big part of my enjoyment for this trip is due to Han Travel, the travel office who arranged for the package. I love traveling and exploring independently, but I still like to be taken care of. We got the 3d/2n full board and lodging package, and are totally glad about it. For RM425, it includes: lodging, food, several activities, all transportations to and back. Sometimes Han take their own sweet time in answering emails, but in the end they do a good job. They still run the bus and boat trip, even when there’s only 1 person on it. I can only presume that they’re making a boatload of money during the high season to be able to afford such extravagance. The bus, is the big bus, the 50 people air conditioned bus. On our way to TN, there were only 8 people. On our way back to KL, it was only me and my brother. Thanks Han, however you do it, it’s nice to have a reliable transport with reasonable price.

All of the activities above can be booked at Han Travel. I saw another wooden plank sign indicating travel services, but Han seems to be the only one that is really organized about it.

If you have any questions about TN, let me know and maybe I can answer.

Till next time!