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Published: March 21st 2008
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Taman Negara is one of the oldest rainforests in the world, estimated to be 130 million years old. The entire park is about 4,343 sq km (or about 2,692 miles). There can be found tigers, elephants, monkeys, tapirs, birds and insects as well as interesting plants and flowers and loads of German tourists. There are hiking trails, caves for explorations and a canopy walk. For the extremely adventurous, they offer huts that are out in the middle of the jungle (it took one guy 6 hours to hike there) where you can stay overnight in an observation hide (sticks stuck in the ground with a tarp on top basically). At one of these hides you might be able to come in contact with one of the afore mentioned animals (except the German tourists- they are not nocturnal as far as research suggests). Sounds pretty cool, right?
Wrong!
I arrived mid-afternoon, too late to book one of the day tours. So, I found a dorm room (10 RM= app. 3.15 USD) and dropped my stuff. The village of Kuala Tahan is a sleepy little village with about 8 restaurants, 20 stray cats, 2 washing machines (in the entire town) and
a few hostels and resorts. There arent any bars, no music, TV, etc, and worst of all- NO BEER! To be fair I knew that heading in, but I assumed there might be some other activities I could participate in when not in the actual park. Well, there really isnt. Unless rain counts.
To get to the park, you take a 2 minute boat ride from one the the restaurants. The restaurtants are all floating on the bank of the river. This is actually really cool! When a boat goes by really fast and riles up the waves, you can sit there eating breakfast and feel the slight rise and fall of the restaurant on the waves. I really enjoy being on boats and in the water, so that part is cool to me.
Anyway, I booked a "Canopy walk and jungle trek tour" for the next morning. It was a little rough. The guide went really fast and left the slower members of the group (including me, of course) behind. When we finally caught up to where the rest of the group was, the guide would move on immediately, without us getting a rest or without explaining
all the fascinating jungle information to us that he'd gone over while we were behind. The trek was pretty steep and it was much hotter than when I did the climb in Cameron highlands, so I was a little over heated. After about an hour or more of strenuous hiking, we reached the top. The view was nice, but after Cameron Highlands, it was a little less spectacular. Back down the hill.
When we finally arrived at the canopy walk, we were told it was a 2 hour wait because they only let 4 people on at a time and they were about 300 deep! So we bagged that and went back for a shower. I ended up moving to a nicer dorm with A/C and hanging out with one of the girls from the tour. After dinner, we decided to go on the Night Jungle Cruise, where the nocturnal animals can be spotted along the banks of the river, or in the treetops, while you are cruising along in the boat. Unfortunately, we didnt see anything. Not even a bug. The guide pointed to something in the trees that he said was a monkey, but I think he
was making it up since we hadnt seen anything for like an hour. Anyway, the tour was a waste of money, but being in the boat along the river was great. The stars were out and although it was a little cloudy, I got to look at some of the constellations that I would never see from our hemisphere. I thought I picked out a few that I knew, but who knows! Anyway, that part was really nice.
I was going to leave this morning, but the alarm in the cheap watch I bought didnt go off, so I missed the bus. Im sure this incident surprises no one! Anyway, I went and did the canopy walk this morning (with out the guide, thank you very much!). It was nice, but after having been through the rain forest of Costa Rica and doing their canopy tour (which included zip lines and rappelling) I wasnt blown away. It was still fun though, and I got a nice view of the river and tree tops.
Anyway, I will be off tomorrow- this time for sure- and will be heading to the Perhentian islands. After all this trekking, Im ready for
a little beach R&R. Im betting the scenery is awesome and Im looking forward to doing some snorkeling. Will update soon, hope they have internet there.
Love!
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