Pahang National Park is a popular ecotourism destination in Malaysia and the trip to Taman Negara, Pahang is a wonderful experience. You can find some useful travel tips and Taman Negara tour review in this article.
There are many attractions in terms of geological and biological in the park. Tahan mountain is the highest point in Peninsular Malaysia, and is located in Taman Negara at Kuala Tahan hikers can use as a starting point. National Park has many rare and endangered mammals such as the tiger, tapir, elephants, deer, wild boar, deer, and buffalo.
Departure Point – Han Travel’s office
Our expedition from KL to Taman Negara started as early as 08:00AM. We’re all required to gather at the Han Travel’s office in Wisma Selangor, located near to the famous Petaling Street. We left the big city by special van that was provided by Hans Travel. The journey took almost 4 hours to reach our destination and we stopped at few points for refreshments.
Boat From Kuala Tembeling Jetty to Kuala Tahan
We reached the Kuala Tembeling jetty at exactly 12:00PM and was asked to wait for the boat that was scheduled at 01:00PM. Our arrival was greeted by the friendly staffs of Han Travel and we were briefed a little bit about our boat ride to Kuala Tahan as well as the activities that can be we can participate in at Taman Negara. Once the boat arrived, we loaded our luggage on the boat and took the front seat – just to enjoy the fresh air. The journey took another 3 hours to reach Kuala Tahan. Along the way, we grabbed the opportunity to record a few scenes of the beautiful surroundings that I have ever encountered in my life.
Arrived Kuala Tahan
As we reached Kuala Tahan, we stopped at Mawar Restaurant – the meeting point for Han Travel’s guests. We were then guided to register ourselves for all the activities that we planned to take part during our visit, and was asked to get the entrance permit to Taman Negara, which is required for all visitors to enter that place. We had to pay RM1 per person and RM5 per camera. Later, a jeep came by to fetch us and we were sent to the Rainforest Resort to be our accommodations for the 3 days and 2 nights stay.
Stay at Rainforest Resort
Rainforest Resort is quite a popular resort in Kuala Tahan is recently managed by Han Travel. The resort consists of more than 90 rooms and we were given a deluxe room during our stay. We were greeted by the friendly staffs from the reception counter, who helped us check in to our room to rest and got ourselves refreshed.
Once we entered the room, we were surprised with the condition of the room. It was simple, but was designed to match the calm surrounding of the resort. Once we were ready, we met up with the owner of the resort, Mr. Kenny. We shared our experience during the trip and my first amazing boat trip from Kuala Tembeling jetty to Kuala Tahan.
Most of the rooms are provided with new furniture, and we even got the chance to see other types of rooms offered by the resort.
Dinner At Floating Restaurant
At 7:30PM, we got ready to join a dinner at the Floating Restaurant. Our main dish was a so-called wild-bred catfish that cost us almost RM200 all together, but it was the most delicious dinner I’ve had in months! And after that we joined one of the popular night activities available here – the Jungle Walk, which took about 2 hours. During that time, we spotted a few nocturnal fauna that is active at night like the Bird Eating Spider, scorpions, wild tapir and more. After that, we were sent back to our resort and had a refreshing night’s sleep after a tiring day.
Morning Activity – Canopy Walk and Hiking
The next day, we woke up as early as 07:00AM in order to catch our breakfast, which was served at the resort’s cafe. And after that, we get ourselves ready for the morning activity – the Canopy Walk and hiking, which was actually the main reason we came all the way here from KL.
Taman Negara’s famous canopy walkway is the longest of its kind in the world. From the treetops, we are able to see a lot of different types of trees and the enjoy magical surrounding that one can only find in Taman Negara. It took nearly 20 minutes to complete the whole activity and we climbed up further to the famous viewpoint of Gunung Tahan – Bukit Teresek.
The hiking took another 40 minutes to reach the viewpoint. The path to the highest point of Bukit Teresek is well-marked and easy to follow. And once we reached it, the stunning view of Gunung Tahan totally mesmerized us and we stayed on the viewpoint for almost 30 minutes, just to enjoy the scene. And after that, we went back to the boat and back to our resort to rest.
The Night Safari in Jungle
That night, we joined another night activity – the Night Safari. A jeep came by and fetched us from the resort and I had my chance to sit on top of the jeep to get the clearest view to every angle. The activity went on for almost 2 hours in the jungle and we saw a number of nocturnal animals. One of them the wildcats – the feline with the size of a normal cat but with the skin of a leopard. That was when I first realized that we actually do have beautiful creatures like this in Malaysia.
Apart of that, we also encountered the fox, some birds and many other types of animals in the darkness of the night. I took the chance to get to know other visitors along for the ride – most of foreigners were incredibly friendly. We shared our experiences and told them that this was actually my first time visiting one of the oldest rainforest in the world! Then we were sent back to our resort for another good night’s sleep.
Return Back to Kuala Lumpur
The next day, we got ready for our departure. After breakfast, we were sent to the Mawar Restaurant to wait for our boat back to Kuala Tembeling Jetty. And after that, we took the van and shot straight back to Kuala Lumpur.
It was a memorable journey for all of us and we want to thank everyone who made this trip possible. Thank you again and we hope to come again to make some more beautiful memories.
