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Published: March 27th 2007
Floating Restuarants
Floating Restaurants just outside the park It’s nearing the end of my time here in SE Asia and although there are still hundreds of places I would like to see, I only have time for a few short trips. One of the places left to visit is Taman Negara, the world’s oldest rainforest located in the Malaysian province of Pahang. This area of the world has never been affected by an ice age nor does it have any active volcanoes. This has allowed Taman Negara to survive and continue to be one of the most pristine primary rainforest still standing (at an age of 130 million years old).
I have been planning a trip to Taman Negara for quite some time and when I finally found a time to do it, no one else from my school could come. Never the less, I decided to head to the Malaysian National Park by myself. The trip started with a 10 hour night train from Johor Bahru at the bottom of Malaysia all the way to Jerantut, a town just outside the park. Early the next morning I was able to catch a bus to Kuala Tembeling where you can hire a river boat to take you
Canopy Walk
Me hiking the longest canopy walkway in the world up the 60 km river into the rainforest. The boat trip was one of the most beautiful parts of the trip as you were in the complete wilderness watching fish jump and random animals grazing near the shore. Arriving in Kuala Tahan around noon, I lucked into a free room for the first night thanks to an elderly European couple who were not happy with the quality of the room that they had already paid for. That afternoon two Brits, a German and myself, whom I met on the river boat, went for a short trek to the canopy walk. The canopy walkway is the longest in the world and offers spectacular views over the rainforest canopy and Tahan River. The walkways are 25 meters off the ground and allow you to see the details of the top of the rainforest canopy which you can’t make out from the bottom.
The following day, Andy (The German) and I decided to opt out of using a guide and set out own trekking route. The route started with a hill climb to Bukit Teresek, a viewpoint where you can look over the northern part of the Tahan River. The hike down
Blue Skies
Amazing sky on the way into Taman Negara from the viewpoint was almost as rough as the climb up so it took quite some time. After Bukit Teresek we started the larger part of our trek out to the cascading rapids (Lata Berkoh). This part was much less explored and really made you appreciate the denseness of the rainforest. One of the greatest things in the rainforest was the lack of silence (as odd as that sounds for being in the middle of nowhere). For the entire 9 hours we were trekking there was a constant symphony of animals communicating. By 5:00 that night we made it back completely exhausted, drenched in sweat and covered with leeches. The total trek took us through 19 km of Taman Negara. The rest of that day consisted of drinking water, a shower and bed.
Monday morning it was time to head back to Singapore so I caught the river boat back to Kuala Tembeling, the bus back to Jerantut and the Jungle train back to Singapore. This train ride was much more interesting as it was during the day and weaved through more of the dense Malaysian Rainforest. Taman Negara was an amazing place to visit (my first time in
View from the entrance
Kuala Tahan from the front of the park a rainforest) and gave me a great idea of what traveling alone is like.
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Doug/Dad
non-member comment
Wow
Pictures are incredible Steve. You've had quite an experience, and you should be very proud of what you've done and seen. I know we are very proud of you.