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Link to Taman Negara National Park East Entry - Kuala Koh

Link to Taman Negara Endau Rompin - East  from Kahang Town

Endau Rompin West entry from Bekok town near Segamat

Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia premier National Park, covers 4343 square kilometers covering Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu state is 130 million years old, the oldest rain forest in the world. The highest mountain in the Peninsular, Gunung Tahan, 2186 meters stands in the park. Covered with primary jungle and scattered limestone outcrop, it is truly the outdoor destination for the holidaymakers.

Access is by boat and quite recently on off road tracks. For the lucky travelers, watch the Smooth Otters or Small Clawed Otter. Spot the three species of kingfisher and hear the calls of the white Handed Gibbons, the Great Argus Peasant and the shrill call of the Cicadas.

Visit the numerous caves around the park. The favorite being Gua Telinga or Ear Cave. Home of thousands of Round Leaf Bats, Giant Toads, Whip Spiders and Cave Racer Snakes. The longest Canopy Walkway in the world, spanning 460 meters long and 40 meters off the ground is not to be missed.

For birds watchers, bring along your field book and binoculars and spot the Greater Racquet Tail Drongo, Southern Oied Hornbill, various Spiders Hunters, Sunbirds, Broadbills, Malkohas, Peasants and many more. Listen to the "orchestra" in the early morning.

Other activities includes spending the night in the Hide, Fishing, Rapids Shooting or visit the Cascades.

Jungle and Wildlife in Taman Negara
Taman Negara National Park on Peninsular Malaysia contains the oldest jungle in the world. It has never been destroyed by ice ages or other causes. The human race is the only threat for this jungle. We reach the jungle by jungle train, bus, and boat, and spend a few nights in the jungle in search for wildlife.

Jungle Train
From Kota Bharu we take the so-called jungle train to Jerantut. The route crosses the jungle, leading to beautiful views from the train. In the middle of the route through the jungle, the train has to exchange a carriage because of some disorder. It takes 2 hours, but the delay is considered to be normal here.

Help yourself Guesthouse
Jerantut is little more than a transfer hub for tourists on their way to Taman Negara. When the train arrives, we search for Green Park Guesthouse, described in our guidebook as the best in town. Once there, it doesn’t seem to be much, and we are left to ourselves after check-in. Apparently the staff is more concerned with their new rest house. But we manage with the few other guests.
The briefing about the jungle in Taman Negara we are offered in the rest house is a bit disappointing. The owner, a Taman Negara jungle guide, is not present and his son doesn’t have much to tell us. But we can buy the tickets for the bus, boat, and entrance to the park, so we settle for that.


To the jungle
The following morning the bus brings us to Kuala Tembeling, where we are put on the boat. The boat journey is great, and we manage to spot some otters along the way. For the rest it’s merely forest and hills we see, but the scenery is very nice.
The boat arrives in Kuala Tenga. This little village is situated on the opposite side of the river from the headquarters and entrance to Taman Negara National Park. The headquarters include luxury resorts, but backpackers like us settle for the cheaper accommodation in the village. We have to climb a hill though, which is exhausting in the heat. But we manage to find a nice bungalow for little money.


Taman Negara Headquarters
After a shower and a well deserved meal we head for the park. A boat brings us to the headquarters where we investigate the different possibilities. It is possible to make walks in the park without a guide. The paths are marked and there is a map available with routes. There are also organised walks with a guide, and we decide to book a guided night walk, so we learn what goes on around us at night.
But first, we head out on our own. We walk through the resort before we enter the jungle. A path leads us to a hide, a shelter for spotting animals. We settle hear for a while, and spot some nice birds and squirrels.


Night Walk
The night walk starts with a peek in the swamp area behind the Taman Negara resort bungalows. We hear lots of sounds, but can see nothing, until the guide’s flashlight shines right into the eyes of a deer. This is tonight’s bonus, since we will mainly search for insects. We search a little more since he hears the sound of a civet (cat with a long snout), but without success. Yet, it is exciting to hear that the wildlife is there, so close to the resort.
We walk further into the jungle, while the guide is showing us merely insects. We see different types of spiders, walking sticks, ants, and grasshoppers. All of them a size bigger than we are used to. We also see fresh marks of wild pigs and hear them as well, but these are probably on the run for us. All in all, a nice tour, where we learn a little more about the jungle.


Paths in the Jungle
The next morning we wake up early to make a long hike in the jungle of Taman Negara. The paths in the jungle are frequently walked, so we don’t need a machete to cut our way through the bush. Yet, the walk isn’t easy, in parts it is steep uphill, where the roots of the trees double as stairs. On our way we see a lot of butterflies and ants, and hear the sounds of what are probably beautiful birds. On top of the hill, we enjoy a nice view but do not stay long since we are attacked by mosquitoes.
From the hill we head for the canopy walk. This is a hanging bridge in the top of the trees. It is supposed to give an impression of what lives high in the trees, but with the load noise of the tourists on the bridge, that’s very little. But at least the views are nice, and we can see the different types of trees. Apparently, the mosquitoes are also active on these heights.


Orang Asli
In the afternoon we book a tour to the Orang Asli. These are the indigenous people who still live in the jungle, hunting and fishing in the river. We learn how they make fire and use a bow-pipe for hunting. And of course, we can try those ourselves. It is very nice to have seen these people, but we are under the impression that the tourists are spoiling it. We are irritated by a fellow tourist who gives them a sack full of western candy and even cigarettes. This way, they pick up the wrong western habits.
Most of the evenings we eat in the restaurants on the water. The quality of the meals differs however. The restaurants also double as boarding docks for the boats, so the tourists will come anyway, even if the food isn’t very good. We learn to pick the restaurants a bit further up the river, which are better and more scenic.


Spending the night in a hide
For our last night in Taman Negara we reserved a spot in one of the hides further in the jungle. Wildlife often show themselves at night or early in the morning, and therefore beds are created in the some of the hides. Unfortunately, we can only choose one of two hides, since one is destroyed by elephants (!!), and one is in maintenance. The two remaining hides are situated 3 kilometers from the headquarters. The path to ours follows the river, passes ridges and bridges, and crosses fallen trees. Once in while we see lizards and butterflies.
When we almost reach the hide, we have to cross the river. The ground is covered with rocks and fast flowing water is half a meter deep. On our bare feet and with our clothes on our back we balance to the other side, and are glad our clothes are still dry.


The River
Our hide is located close to the river. We are the first to arrive (there are seven beds), and we install our stuff. At the salt lick where the hide looks upon is nothing to see, so head for the river. We take a swim there until we hear something in the bush. When we investigate it appears to be a large black pheasant like bird with a big white tail. We try to come closer for a good picture and eventually scare him away.
We return to the river for a swim and sit on the shore. It is a beautiful spot where we see many king fishers, small colored birds with large beaks picking fish from the water. In fact, it is a nicer place than the hide itself, so we stay here until it gets dark.

Back in the hide, the others have arrived. We do not keep a schedule to spot the wild on the salt lick, but most of the night someone is posting. At a certain time, a large deer arrives and everybody is waked to see it. Unfortunately, it is the only wildlife we get to see today. Yet, it is a nice experience to sleep in the jungle, with all its noises, especially at dusk and dawn.

Before we walk back to Taman Negara headquarters, we take a look at another hide, near a stream where animals come to drink. We hear that last night a bear came hear, lucky bastards. But at least we see two different species of monkeys and some lizards on our way back.

The boat journey back from Taman Negara to Kuala Tembeling is as nice as the first time, although we have some trouble with the engine. But, after it gets fixed, we arrive safely in Kuala Tembeling, and with the bus in Jerantut. From there, we take the night train to Kuala Lumpur, ending our jungle adventure in Taman Negara.

 

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Taman Negara ("National Park or Garden") is Malaysia’s Premier National Park. It is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, unspoilt rainforests in the world, and it is estimated to have evolved over 130 million years.
Located mainly in the delightful Malaysian state of Pahang, Taman Negara also straddles the borders of two other states in the north, namely Kelantan and Terengganu. It is accessible via several popular and main access routes, although there are other less developed access points.
With an area of 4,343 square kilometers (1,676 square miles) or more than a million acres, Taman Negara is the largest park and the most extensive protected rainforest area in Malaysia.
Besides the dense virgin jungle, it also houses Peninsular Malaysia’s highest mountain in the Tahan Range, namely, Gunung Tahan at 2,187 meters (7,173 feet).
As a protected area, tree-cutting or logging and other commercial development and activities are strictly prohibited. So far no commercial logging has occurred.


BRIEF HISTORY
Taman Negara was originally set aside, during the British rule, as a wildlife reserve in 1925 by way of a Pahang State Legislation, to protect wildlife and game species in the lush rainforests of Pahang.
Gazetted in 1925 as the Gunung Tahan Game Reserve, this early section of the park covered over 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of untouched natural tropical rainforest.
Following the separate gazettes made through enactments by the states of Pahang, Trengganu and Kelantan in 1938-1939, Taman Negara was later formally established as a national park. These enactments incorporated further extensions of forest areas bordering Pahang in the two northern states of Malaysia.
The park was originally named in 1939 as the King George V Park to commemorate England’s King George’s Silver Jubilee. After Malaysia achieved independence in 1957, the park was renamed as Taman Negara and remained so until today.



ACTIVITIES AND JUNGLE EXPERIENCE
Taman Negara offers visitors and travelers, especially the adventurous and curious ones, a never-ending opportunity to explore and experience Malaysia’s rich natural treasure of unspoilt verdant jungles, rivers and mountains.
When you first enter the park, you will perhaps feel awed and overwhelmed by the richness, diversity and beauty of the plants and trees species in this National Park. This is not surprising as one-third of all the world’s flowering plants are found in Malaysia.
You will find that the largest plant community in Taman Negara is the lowland rainforest – where although trees are dominant, they co-exist with other plant forms like shrubs, parasites, climbers and lichens, fungi and others.
To the herbal and plant naturalists, do take your time to identify and marvel at the richness, age and sizes of the diverse plant and tree species. Tall and huge trees stand imposingly in the jungle, like lords of the low species below.

FISHING AND ANGLING FUN
Taman Negara is a favored spot for fishing for avid anglers, with the rivers and stream providing varieties of fishes. However do make sure you have obtained the necessary permit or license to fish at the selected rivers.
Kelisa, kelah, toman, patin and other species abound in the cool jungle rivers. And they are far bigger than the ordinary ones found in the markets.



Reminiscences of My First Fishing Trip there
I remember, while on a fishing trip during my first visit there in 1982, my guide (cum the boatman), caught a huge “toman” (Greater Snakehead) fish, after several castings into the river from the boat. His fishing net was however so heavy that frankly, I myself couldn’t carry the end portion of it!
You see, as a town person, I was so used to fishing using those nylon nets. When in Taman Negara, these nets looked like they were more suited for the aquarium, and you will embarrassed using them.
The crude iron fishing net used by my guide cum boatman was really the first time I saw such big iron nettings. It was quite abnormal to me as they were really heavy. I couldn’t even carry them let alone cast them! But apparently those heavy nets are quite normal in Taman Negara since the fishes are also abnormally big in those unspoilt jungle rivers!
Well, to continue the story …
Since the two town guys (me and my friend) who were in the boat weren’t any help to him in pulling up the huge fish, our guide jumped into the river and then he cradled the fish using both hands. But while trying to load the fish onto the boat, the fish suddenly jumped and swam quickly away. Well, we felt really down seeing the big one that got away.
This toman fish was so huge that it rekindled stories related by my father when I was small, of the jungle toman fish eating small monkeys and other small animals, as part of its food. They were also said to snap a person’s leg dangling from a boat, just like barracudas in the Amazons (although barracudas bite, not snap, and are very much smaller than these tomans).
However, at the end of the day we were not disappointed since we did have fresh fishes for dinner. Well, another party of our fishing fiends in another boat further upriver caught three big kelah (Malaysian mahseer) fishes and when we grilled them for dinner over a campfire, about five of us couldn’t finish them. These Taman Negara kelah fishes were also huge ones, double or triple the size of those sold in the city or town markets.



Well, besides fishing and angling, Taman Negara is a haven for many nature activities.
I will take you in another web page, to other fun and thrilling activities you can do there, like: -

* bird-watching,
* wild-life watching,
* boating,
* mountain climbing,
* caves exploring,
* jungle trekking,
* river rafting,
* photography,
* walking on suspended walkways,
* individually guided tours,
* night-time safaris
* and many others.

So do keep coming to this web site from time to time or subscribe below to my FREE monthly newsletter – Pahang-Delights Babbler - for updates, or add my feeds to your RSS feeder.

FACILITIES AVAILABLE
You will find that Taman Negara is served with very good visitor facilities including chalet accommodation, restaurants, guides and transport. Hostels and camping out in the open are also popular choices.
Find the best deal, compare prices and read what other travelers have to say about Mutiara Taman Negara
Find the best deal, compare prices and read what other travelers have to say about hotels in Kuantan
The favorite access to Taman Negara is through the town of Jerantut, then via a three-hour boat ride to Kuala Tahan, where the Park’s Headquarters (“Park’s HQ”) are located.
Permits are required for entry, camera and fishing, and fees are payable at the Park’s HQ. Your tour or travel agent usually will see you through these.



GETTING THERE
Taman Negara can be reached via three main park entrances. Of these, the most popular and easy – and the standard route for most travellers- is via Kuala Tahan.
The journey to Kuala Tahan is an exciting one requiring a road or rail as well as a river journey. The access routes to the other main parts of Taman Negara are generally adequate but problems may arise due to the less developed public transport available.

Kuala Tahan
By Road and River
Most visitors to Taman Negara will commence their journey from the main park access which is via Sungai Tembeling in Pahang. The departure point is from Kuala Tembeling near Jerantut, 230 kilometers (140 miles) or about three to four hours drive from Kuala Lumpur and 220 kilometers (135 miles) or two and half hours from Kuantan.
From here it is a two to three hour journey by mechanized sampan or boat, depending on water levels, to travel the 69 kilometers (43 miles) to the Park HQ at Kuala Tahan.
Alternatively there is a 75 kilometer (46 mile) – two hours- rough road journey from Jerantut to Park HQ.

Kuala Koh, Kelantan
Kuala Koh is another park access, but it is more difficult in the sense that public transport to the park, other than taxis, is non-existent and you will find few travel operators who have organized tours there.
However, visitors with their own transport, preferably a 4x4 vehicle, will find this access point possible.
If you wish to take this access route, you can take the bus or even the train to Gua Musang from Kuala Lumpur, and from Gua Musang, hire a taxi all the way to the park. But don’t forget to arrange for the taxi to return on a designated day for the return journey.

Terengganu
From the Terengganu side of the park, there are several ways to get to Taman Negara.
Visitors can take a flight or take the bus from any major town to Kuala Terengganu. From there taxis will deliver you directly to Pengkalan Gawi, Tasik Kenyir (Lake Kenyir) and, ultimately, to the park entrance.
From the park entrance, then you will be taken to the southern sections of the lake by boat. The Park Ranger Station is located at Tanjung Mentong, and a boat journey from Pengkalan Gawi will take about an hour and a half to reach it.
Tasik Kenyir itself is one of Malaysia’s popular nature-based or eco-tourism attractions, with quaint resorts and chalets surrounding it.
Tasik Kenyir is in fact the largest man-made lake not only in Malaysia, but also in South–east Asia. Visitors will find fishing and other water activities a thrilling experience.

Merapoh, Pahang
Merapoh, which is situated south of Gua Musang (in Kelantan), provides an alternative and quicker access to Gunung Tahan.
The turn-off to the park is located on the Kuala Lipis to Gua Musang Road, about 20 kilometers (12 miles ) south of Gua Musang. The road heads off the main road to the right and the Ranger Station is located about 6 kilometers (4 miles) along a road that is accessible to most types of vehicles.
However, the Ranger Station located at Sungai Relau is the farthest that cars can drive, and further access in the park is only allowed using the park’s vehicles.
The nearest train station to Merapoh is the town of Gua Musang and from here buses or taxis are available for the journey to the park turn-off.