I would never have thought that while traveling around Southeast Asia, the most extreme day in Taman Negara Park would turn out to be the one I remember best. There was everything that day – sweat, tears and blood. And I paid for it.
Taman Negara (mal. national park) is nothing else than a huge national park located on mainland Malaysia. The park covers 4,343 km2 and is located in three Malaysian states: Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu. According to current knowledge, it’s the oldest rainforest in the world, estimated to be around 130 million years old.
I consider it a grave sin to miss this attraction while visiting Malaysia. Malaysia is rich in spectacular nature, and Taman Negara is its signature work on the continent. I believe that this is a must-see for anyone who is not a fan of large metropolises and the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur.
Taman Negara park- how to get there?
The easiest way to get to the park, and more specifically the village of Kuala Tahan, is from two places:
- Kuala Lumpur (around 5 h)
- Cameron Highlands (Tanah Rata area – around 6 h)
The route connecting these towns is operated by at least two tourist agencies:
- Han Travel Sdn Bhd
- NKS Hotel and Travel Sdn Bhd
I recommend their offers. The agencies are well organized and, apart from transport, offer trips, inform about the rules in force on site and all fees we have to pay in the park. Of course, everything is commercialized and undoubtedly prepared for tourists. But anyway, there are not many other alternatives to getting to the park.
For our transport with the operator NKS Hotel and Travel Sdn Bhd from Cameron Highlands, we paid 104.50 MYR per person (or 20,72 EUR if 1 MYR = 0,20 EUR).
As always, I bought tickets on 12go.asia, but you can also get them on busonlineticket.com. You can buy return tickets one day in advance at the agency’s office.
The road to Kuala Tahan almost always leads through the town of Jerantut. Here, there is usually a short break and a transfer to another bus. This bus will take you directly to the village in the heart of Taman Negara. Well, I write „short,” but I mean about one hour. This is where the company’s staff will provide you with all the information and answer your questions. You will need your ID throughout the process, so have it handy.
You can also get to Kuala Tahan by boat. However, this is a seasonal solution and depends on the water level in the river and the weather. If you are interested in this option, direct your questions to the agency’s employees.
Taman Negara park – where to sleep, what to eat?
Kuala Tahan has a well-developed accommodation base, considering the conditions in the village. You won’t find luxuries there, but there are basic, intimate accommodations. (I’m lying – we can find accommodation of a higher standard. But due to the specificity of the place, guesthouses and chalets are much more atmospheric and not much worse in quality).
We spent three nights in D’pinggir Guest Room – a modest guestroom, slightly away from the „center” of the village. I recommend it, although on hot days like we had, the air conditioning worked poorly. The object is located in an open space, away from any shadow, so it heats up quickly. Three days cost us about 211 PLN + tourist tax. (46,88 EUR +tourist tax).
If we talk about food, there are surprisingly quite a lot of restaurants to choose from. They are mainly located by the river, and the rest are in the central part of the village. You can easily find a place for an inexpensive breakfast in the morning and a more hearty dinner. We were delighted with the meal prepared at Moma Chop – Delicious and incredibly filling Indian dishes.
Guided tour + prices
Why is it worth going beyond the main trails of Taman Negara park? Walking along the footbridge is fine if you have children with you. Or if your health condition prevents you from exploring the evergreen rainforest. Otherwise, I don’t accept excuses 🙂
Entrance tickets cost only 1 MYR. But the devil’s in the details – you receive an entrance pass, which you must watch like a hawk, because its absence during inspection results in a fine of up to 10,000 MYR (We were checked twice). If you want to take photos in the park, you also have to pay. It’s only 5 MYR, but for each equipment you plan to take photos with. There are also financial penalties for non-compliance with the regulation.
The entrance to the park is on the other side of the river. If you want to get there, you have to use a Longboat, which is some kind of taxi on water. On the other bank, go towards the Park Center building, where you will complete all the formalities, pay the fees and be directed further.
Tour options
Local offices offer several options for visiting the park:
- A day trip through the forest (often leading to a waterfall and then by boat to a village of natives). It was our choice,
- A two-day trek with an overnight stay in a cave or jungle,
- Night safari,
- Various combinations of the above options, and personalized trips.
Let me also be clear: the prices of guided tours to Taman Negara park have gone up significantly. On many blogs I saw prices that were 50% – 80% lower than the current ones from June 2023. We paid 300 MYR /2 people for our one-day trip (300 MYR ~ 60 EUR).
On the route, we will reach the Canopy Walkway, the world’s longest system of footbridges suspended on trees. The whole area is around 550 m, and the walk among the treetops takes 20 – 30 minutes. Cost 5 MYR ~ 4,50 PLN.
Is it dangerous in the jungle?
As if I got this question in the first three hours of the trek, I would answer no. However, the reality is different and the number of things that can happen is quite large.
- Before entering Taman Negara Park, the guide asks about your health – allergies, hypertension, heart problems, respiratory diseases. If you are taking medication, he may ask you to instruct him if you need to administer it. The guide also has a first aid kit with basic supplies and serum.
- The jungle has a life of its own – you may encounter spiders, scorpions, snakes, leeches. Sometimes one false move can end tragically. There are quite a large number of venomous and potentially deadly creatures. The most important thing is to look under your feet. If you are bitten/stung report it to your guide.
- Heat and almost 100% humidity guarantee extremely unfavorable conditions for humans. Sweat pours into your eyes, and the more you drink, the more you sweat. It’s very easy to get dehydrated, so remember to drink!
- I don’t advise underestimating the place and straying from the designated paths without an experienced person. The jungle has no mercy and, according to the guide, disappearances occur from time to time. According to locals, the jungle demands a sacrifice every 6 years in exchange for the opportunity to admire its interior. Some victims return, but not everyone is so lucky. For example, the body of an American woman named Grace was never found. However, the body of a several-year-old boy, the youngest victim of the forest, was found. Another missing person was a Hindu who spent nine days looking for a way out. One photographer was found after 19 (!) days. Humility – the key word.
- Being in a rainforest, expect rain – be prepared for this circumstance and keep reading.
Taman Negara park, Part I – Sweat
A walk along a designated path, beautiful weather, although hot and humid, but you walk in almost constant shade. There are slight hills on the route, but mostly flat. Nothing I didn’t expect. This is how I can describe the first hours of walking.
Our guide was young but experienced. He had a lot of knowledge about flora and fauna and was happy to share it. He was able to spot the animals watching us in the forest, presented rare plant species, and talked about local herbal medicine and natural medicine practices. There were plenty of breaks at the beginning. Everyone in our group had time to breathe and adjust to the extreme humidity in the forest.
It turned out that he also guides Polish tours from two well-known commercial travel agencies. In this way, he learned some useful words in Polish: „mosquitoes, frogs, spiders, scorpions, leeches…„. He listed in Polish the creatures we must watch out for. In fact, all of the above seemed obvious to encounter in the jungle, only the leeches made us wonder. We asked the guide if he was sure he meant leeches? Maybe he meant ticks? After all, the Polish language is not that close to him.
He meant leeches. Until that day, I didn’t know that leeches could also live on land. And that day I experienced a little trauma.
Halfway there, after about 3,5 hours of walking, we stopped for a longer break by the river to eat lunch provided by the expedition organizer – rice with egg. Finally, the sky appeared beyond the treetops. And the view wasn’t great – it was obviously going to rain.
Taman Negara park, Part II – Tears
It turned out it’s not just some rain there. It was a real tropical downpour, lasting more than two hours. We walked through the jungle in a total storm, relying entirely on the knowledge and experience of the guide. If you get lost in the jungle, during such a downpour, your chances of finding your path are almost zero. You will spin around your own axis twice and I guarantee you that you will lose your orientation. Everything looks the same there, and the image is blurred by the rain.
The rain was so intense that I had to take out a towel and wrap it around my head. It’s all because the water was dripping down my face. I was afraid that the lenses would fall out of my eyes.
Risk and adrenaline
The dry ground immediately turned into slippery mud. Vision was limited by the downpour, forcing us to grab onto trees and branches for safety. Safety ropes were installed on steep descents. It will not be an exaggeration to say that one of these ropes saved my life. If it weren’t for it, I would have slid down the mud to the very bottom of a several-meter-long slope, hitting rocks and tree roots. At that moment the entire tour froze, because if my grip had not held the weight, it could have been a tragedy. According to my husband, the guide stood still at that moment, not knowing how he could help me.
Thanks God, adrenaline gave me power, causing me to slip, and then rock, on the rope I was still holding, somewhere in the middle of the slope. I had to hold the rope all the time, because my legs on the mud were splitting in all directions. For balance’s sake, I would like to add that everyone in our five-person group slipped at this point. Even the guide. The difference was that I did it in the most spectacular way 🙂
*I don’t have a single photo from that period – the downpour made it impossible to take out the phones.
Taman Negara park, part III – Blood
As soon as the first rain appeared, leeches also appeared. This was surprising, because I was not aware that leeches could live on land. Just five minutes earlier there was not a single one! In Malaysia, it can be said that something „comes out like leeches after the rain.”
A French couple and a Malaysian living in Borneo made a mistake – they wore shorts. On average, every few minutes they were forced to pull off the legs of wandering slugs, which were just looking for the right place to bite into. They wait on the leaves and in the grass near the ground, and when your foot is there (or if only it stays longer), they quickly crawl onto your shoes and then head upwards.
We had long pants, socks and covered shoes. My long pants had an elastic band at the ankle and I considered them to be good protection, especially since I was also protected by long socks. I was wrong. During a wonderful bath at the waterfall, which was the destination of our journey, we headed towards the river. Before the boat that would take us to the native village arrived, we had time to get ready. It was time for me to pull up my pants.
How not to remove leeches
So what? Of course I had leeches. One of them was so drunk that instead of a worm, it look like a snail. I immediately pulled it away from my leg – it was an instinct, inconsistent with the correct technique of removing leeches. The second leech – not yet bitten into – was removed by R., because it was so small and slippery that I couldn’t handle it.
While R. was fighting the leech, blood started flowing from the wound left by the first one. Leeches in their saliva contain hirudin, which prevents blood from clotting, and histamine, which dilates blood vessels. Additionally, their saliva contains an anesthetic, so I didn’t even feel the bite. Thanks God, leeches do not spread diseases, but by the end of the day I was bleeding from the wound.
How to prepare for jungle trekking?
There is no joke with nature. Based on my experience in Taman Negara park, I have prepared a list of how to prepare for jungle trekking:
- Clothing: covered sports shoes + long socks (not short socks) – long, fitted pants – leggings, short-sleeved T-shirt, comfortable sports bra, headgear, capacious backpack,
- Food: When taking a full-day guided tour, you get lunch (lunch, e.g. rice with egg, 1.5l bottle of water, fruit, crackers, candy bar, etc.), I recommend buying another drink apart from water, which in my opinion does not quench thirst very well. A drink with electrolytes, isotonic, orange juice would be perfect. If for some reason the organizer does not offer food, the above examples will be great,
- Mugga or other insect repellents,
- If you are taking a multi-day trip with an overnight stay in the jungle, ask about a sleeping bag. The organizers may offer a set, but it’s better to have your own,
- Small cash (paid entrance tickets, Canopy Walkway, souvenirs in the native village) and documents, preferably hidden in a waterproof case (in case of rain or when crossing by boat, where you will definitely get wet). IMPORTANT: There is no ATM in the village , stock up on cash,
- Sunscreen.
Summary
Did I enjoy my Taman Negara park adventure? Definitely yes! I must admit that it was one of the hardest days during the trip, where fatigue, hunger and unfavorable weather conditions gave us a hard time, but it was worth it. After such a day, you feel primarily satisfaction and relief.
To tell you the truth, even before the trip, I was considering purchasing an additional „Night Safari” trip. After what we experienced, I decided that it would be enough for us ;). Maybe if we had our clothes back before the night tour, which we had given away for washing, I would still be tempted. In the end, the laundry didn’t make it back to us. Well, we didn’t have better clothing for our return to the forest.
Anyway, I recommend the trip to everyone even though I know how I presented it – almost as if I was fighting for survival! But such adventures shape character – not giving up, facing adversities, the ability to adapt to situations. I also learned a great survival lesson there! Now at least I give myself a chance to survive in a tropical forest 😉
And most important – it was MY EXPERIENCE. We were unlucky and the weather taught us a lesson, but I’m sure that if the sun had stayed with us for the rest of the trip, I wouldn’t have had so many memories. Perhaps your adventure will be full of different experiences – and that’s good! Anything can happen in the jungle 🙂
If you like contact with nature, you will also like Penang in Malaysia!
