Taman Negara

We just had a spur of the moment road trip to Taman Negara. After a year of coastal holidays we headed inland for the rainforest in search of some of Malaysia's great (tigers, elephants, tapirs, loris', wild pigs and mozzies). Unfortunately we managed only the wild pigs, free range chickens, one snake and a lot of insects.

As we are living in Kuantan we have our own car, so it was a 3 and half hour trip from Kuantan. Along the free way to KL, getting off at Termerloh and following signs to Jeruntut and then finally following signs to Kuala Tahun. If you are going by public transport you can bus or train to Jeruntut and then boat up the river for 3 hours to Kuala Tahun. As we drove we stopped at the bus terminal where there were a heap of accommodation signs and some hawkers anxiously looking to lure a tourist to their hostel. We mustn't have looked that inviting as no one approached us, and we didn't realise that the roadworks out the front of the school was blocking the way to the carpark of the tourist information centre.

Nevertheless we checked out a few places like Matt Leon village (looked great right in the forest and on the river but no one to take our money), then we headed down to the river and stopped at what looked to be a popular cafe. A friendly local lady pointed out the Mutiara across the river and said it was expensive, the the left across the river were some huts that she said were park ranger quarters and behind us at the top of a river rock hill were the cheap hostels, our kind of place.

We walked through a few and opted for TRV as it had some huts with fans and tables and chairs out the front with a bit of grass to set up the esky and let the kids run free. There were also some very relaxed locals in hammocks playing guitars which also suited us.

Our room cost 60RM and had a double bed on the bottom and a single bed bunk above, a ceiling fan, western loo and cold water shower. Late afternoon the shower was warm and to be honest it was sooooo humid that a cool shower was bliss. The first night we got carried away by mosquitoes and caught in a rainstorm, but after a day of travel and with two very excited kids playing flashlight in the hut we needed an early night.



The first sound of the morning were the roosters, followed by an apprentice destroying the "call to prayer" song over loud distorted speakers, shortly followed by Tom asking what's that sound to every boat he heard along the river all before the sun came up.

Breakfast was a delcious Roti Pisang (Banana pancake) and Teh O. Tom and Claire had a great time with the chef trying to stretch out the roti dough and counting in Bahasa as he cut the banana slices. A real nice icebreaker being able to speak the slightest amount of Bahasa.

After breaky we went across the river to what we had learnt was the "real" tourist centre in the Mutiara compound. We bought our national park tickets and camera licence and as we thought we were only going 1.5km to the Canopy Walk we declined a guide. The path was initially really easy with metal boardwalk type steps about 50cm above the rainforest floor, it then turned to mud and windy paths. The 1.5km turned into a 2 hour hike through all kinds of terrain and each time we were about to give up we saw another sign to the Titian Kanopi 1km further. Tom and Claire are 3 and half and were fantastic, they walked the whole way, we had to help at steep and slippery parts but at no stage were we lugging them on our backs.

Eventually we found a sign to the canopy that was 100m away, this was a rather steep climb up to a hanging suspension bridge kind of setup above the canopy. This was 5RM for adults and 3RM for kids and really worth the walk. It gave you a great appreciation for how old and tall the rainforest is. Instead of walking back to the Mutiara we found a sign to a jetty (jeti) and waited hoping we could hitch hike back to Kuala Tahun. We weren't the only ones with this thought in mind and although we didn't have guide we quickly flagged down a boat and negotiated our way back.

That afternoon we did another tour which included rapids and swimming. This was 30RM for adults and lasted an hour and 15min. We went up river over 6 or so rapids and stopped at a nice river beach for a swim. Sma our boat driver was super friendly and we watched as he swung tarzan style from a Lianna tree limb. The kids had a great time swimming with just their bubble backs. In different seasons I guess you can sit in tubes and drift down the river but this was not available.

Along the river at Kuala Tahun are about 7 or 8 pontoon restaurants and mini marts. LBK is where we booked our boat ride from, but I would not recommend the food. The one directly opposite Mutiara is the most populated and this led us to a false sense that the food would be good too, unfortunately the number of people was too many for the poor kitchen hand and food here was not great. Our best meal was at the Nusa ...... pontoon.

Taman Negara and Kuala Tahun are really in indigenous Malay areas. So food is halal and alcohol, well we didn't come across any. We took an esky with beers and had these back out at the front of our hut at TRV, but ice could not be found to keep them cold over a number of days.

Overall Taman Negara was good to visit, I would say 2 nights is plenty unless you are planning on hiking out to a hide to camp the night. I wouldn't be in a hurry to head back and if you are going for the wild life I'd consider Borneo for a better chance of seeing any.