The World's Oldest Rainforest...

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We left Kuala Terengganu a little apprehensive about the journey ahead of us and with good cause.
Taman Negara is notoriously difficult to reach and for us it was no exception! Following a 7hr night bus journey from Terengganu to Kuala Lumpur, we loitered in the hotel lobby of the 5* Crowne Plaza Hotel (they were not pleased to see us!) and boarded a second bus after 3hrs that would take 3hrs. Having reached the small town of Kuala Tembeling we embarked on a 3hr boat journey in an uncomfortable wooden long boat and then- finally- having reached Kuala Tahan and the headquarters of the national park, we took one final 15 minute boat journey to our camp.

I was really excited to have arrived and, despite the exhaustion, the boat journeys were really scenic and really enjoyable. The camp we were staying at is the furthest one into the jungle and is situated on a bend in the river surrounded by lush trees and vegetation. We booked into the dorm but to our delight found that we were the only people occupying the nine bed room! Things were looking up...

Taman Negara is the oldest rainforest in the world and is thought to be roughly 130 million years old, having been unaffected by the ice age or any other natural disaters over the millenia. It is home to a variety of monsterously big insects, reptiles and large mammals, like rhinos, elephants, tigers, monkeys, tapirs, wild cats and bears.

We decided to do a jungle trek without the aid of a guide or suitable walking shoes and soon found oursleves in the depths of the jungle in search of a waterfall a couple of hours away. This involved crossing several rivers and avoiding leeches at every turn. At one point, when Aisling was midway across the river, i saw a HUGE water monitor and i seriously thought it was an alligator. I decided it was best not to freak her out to much (she appears to have an innate fear of crossing rivers?...) and kept quiet... thankfully it turned out to be nothing interested in harming us, but those were a stressful few minutes! The walk itself wasn't too bad and the jungle was beautiful- really dense and lush and filled with gigantic bugs (ants the size of cockroaches, centipedes the size of snakes, beetles the size of mice), with tiny tribal villages dotted throughout and massive ferns and flowers every few steps. Definitely worth the physical exertion (although that is easy for me to say as the only person who was not bitten by a leech or did not fall into the river!)...

I only wish somebody had warned us that the waterfall we hiked for over 2hrs to reach was barely more than a trickle of water over a 5ft high pile of rocks...

I also am very proud to say that I braved the canopy walk, facing my fear of heights. The canopy walk is a narrow, wooden, bridge suspended 50m above the ground by ropes, that extends for 450m and is the longest of it's kind in the world. It affords those who do it an amazing view of the jungle from a height and a view of the jungle canopy and the creatures that live there. It was good fun when you didnt look down and we all survived.

On our last night we went on a night jungle safari and were brought deeper into the jungle in a 4-by-4 (with a guide this time!) in search of nocturnal animals. Again we didnt see much- mostly bats, lizards, frogs and a variety of things we probably could have seen in the bathrooms back at the camp (!) but, it was worth the trip just to hear the jungle noises and see the place from a night-time perspective. So although the wildlife eluded us once again, all was not lost.

In fact, the lizard living in our dorn room was so big that we couldn't really complain about not seeing anything else during our treks or safaris!!

It was well worth the difficult journey to get to Taman Negara and it was really amazing spending a few days in the rainforest, dodging insects and leeches and avoiding the daily afternoon thunder storms.

The journey there really just makes you feel like you really are in the depths of nowhere and makes your time in the jungle feel all the more remote and adventurous, so if anything, the journey was essential for that 'intrepid explorer' atmosphere!

We left the camp feeling like we could have used a little more time the explore the countryside and riverways and vowing to recommend the place to everyone we encountered and, also looking forward to the chage of scenery and a less hot and humid environment!

So two boats and a bus later and we had left the rainforest well and truly behind us and were on our way 5000ft above sea level, up the mountians to the Cameron Highlands.

Next stop: Tanah Rata!...

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