Taman Negara, Malaysia

My next destination was Malaysia, starting from Taman Negara, one of Malaysia's national parks .

Taman Negara is one of the oldest natural rainforests in the world, estimated to be more than 130 million years old. It has some of the tallest trees I have ever seen. You can read more about it at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Negara.

We had to rise early in the morning, in order to catch the boat at about 6:30 am. The sky was overcast, which unfortunately gave dull pictures with my camera. The scenery though was quite impressive.

We wound our way towards the village, got off the boat, and went to refresh in our rooms. There was a hotel, but I rent a room in a guesthouse. The family who accomodated me was very friendly, and the room was really nice. I unpacked, and went down to the floating restaurant to meet the rest of the group.

We had lunch together, and were told by our guide to go and rest, since we all had a very early rise, and because we were going to have a night safari.

And so we did. Boots, long trousers, hats and a torch, and off we went. The guide would stop every now and then to show us something, a scorpion, a grasshopper, a bird, and a couple of spiders. One of which was hairy. Like really hairy. And that meant dangerous. Apparently hairy spiders should be left alone and not harassed for any reason.

Can you see the little spider?

Hairy spider

We also went to a lookout post where there was a lot of deer but no tiger of course. Apparently the Malayan tiger is very snobbish.

The guide told us that tigers avoid humans, and will only come near us when they are famished. So, if you ever see a tiger in the jungle, do not be overly excited. They probably see you as food.

All in all, it was quite fun. After the night safari, we went back to our rooms, as we had another early rise in the morning.

After breakfast we made off to do more trekking, and see the Batek people, the indigenous people of Taman Negara. They are nomads, living off hunting, fishing and fruit picking. They are part of the Orang Asli, the “original people” of Malaysia.

They live in tents usually near the river (for fish, bathing, etc). In each tent live quite a lot of people. In the one we visited there was one man living with his wife and his eight children!

He showed us how to light fire, and shoot birds with his blowgun. Of course when you live in the jungle, these two are the basic skills that you must have: hunting, and lighting fire to cook and keep warm.

When I asked him what his favorite food was, he told me it was monkey meat. Well I have never tried it, so I can’t really comment.

The guide very discreetly told us that we could buy something from them if we wanted, which would enable them to buy medicines and tobacco. Because of course food is all around them, but medicines they have to buy.

After the Batek we went tree swinging. There was a tree swing next to the river, where you could play Tarzan and make your own splash in the water.

After tree swinging we went for the canopy walk. That was really awesome.

Pictures from the canopy walk

And that was the end of our day trekking. Back to the river restaurant, lunch, and relaxation. There was free time until dinner, and return to Kuala Lumpur in the morning.

I decided to follow my two Indian friends to Pilau Tioman.

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Thanks for reading.