Return to Taman Negara, Malaysia – our favorite jungle hotspot

English: Entrance of the Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

View of Sungei Tembeling from Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Canopy Walkway in the Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Taman Negara (Park Narodowy Malezji) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After a five hour, road journey from Kuala Lumpur, we arrived at the river crossing and boarded our boat across to our resort hotel in the Taman Negara National Park. It’s the largest national park in Peninsular Malaysia and famous for its rainforest, birds, and insects.

The park was originally called King George National Park in the 1930s, but was renamed Taman Negara (“TN”) meaning “national park” after Malaya received independence from the British in 1957. TN is Malaysia’s oldest and largest national park. Open this link for hundreds of amazing photos of TN.

We were here last year and enjoyed it so much that we promised to return, but we didn’t realize at the time it would happen quite that quickly!

The first evening, we went on the night jungle trek at 9 PM, armed with torches and well sprayed with mosquito repellent, we walked for an hour with the park guide, who pointed to various unusual insects, including giant ants, termites, large butterfly, stick insects, unusual moths, large spiders, tree snakes, cicadas. crickets and one large, active scorpion. He also explained that Taman Negara is the oldest rain forest in the world and hosts some of the oldest trees. It was wonderful to listen to the variety of nocturnal insect sounds that broke the jungle silence. We returned to our lodge after a very long day and decided on an early night. Open this link for a selection of color photos of some of TN’s insect population.

The following day, we went on another organized trek, starting at 9.30 AM and lasting four hours. This particular walk, included Malaysia’s claim to the longest canopy walkway in the world (1.2 Km). Last year, we had not achieved the crossing, as “Tarzan” has a phobia to this kind of sensation, including the swaying motion at the height of the tree tops. The walkway has been extended and now comprises of eleven sections, including a stairway. Dividing each section is a viewing platform also used for amazing photo opportunity and “Jane” took advantage of them, whilst Tarzan bravely held on tightly. There was a Dutch lady crossing ahead of Tarzan, who was equally nervous and interestingly, there was a French gent who was also having difficulty and his wife volunteered that he was an airline pilot (we hope never to travel with him!). Well, Jane enjoyed the adventure, whilst Tarzan was really proud of successfully reaching the finish line, even if his legs were a bit wobbly, and his sun-tanned complexion had turned a bit pale. But Tarzan finished with a smile on his face, and that pleased Jane!

The canopy walkway took us approximately one hour and we still had a long way to go. We continued uphill for one kilometer of steep climbing, including holding on to uphill ropes – it was by now getting hot and humid, but we were rewarded with beautiful views, once we had reached our destination and were comforted by the fact that it was then downhill all the way, well nearly all the way. Open this link for some amazing photos of the canopy walkway and Teresek Hill.

In the afternoon, we took the ferry across the river to access internet availability.

In the resort, a variety of animals walk freely in their hunt for food and shade. Animals readily to be seen are monkeys, wild boar, samba deer and porcupines and they are a huge attraction for the guests. A variety of international guests visit the area, including Dutch, French, Italian, Scandinavian, Brits, Americans, Chinese and Malaysians, of course.

The following day we walked again, this time a two-hour walk, close to the river and returning to a nice secluded spot and relaxed on the river bank. This year, Taman Negara was experiencing the driest weather in twenty-five years and so sadly the river was quite narrow and shallow. Locals blamed the low river on the government’s policy of deforestation. The good news was that there were no leeches!

Our four days staying at this wonderful national park, taking long jungle walks each day, proved to be very relaxing, but it was soon time to leave and to travel to our next beauty spot. Our next destination was Malaysia’s East coast and island beaches – a total contrast and a completely different experience.

Watch this space and join us, on what can only be described as some of the most beautiful beaches in the world at Lang Tengah Island, Malaysia.