TAMAN NEGARA

Taman Negara(the National Park)

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This site gives you the latest information about Taman Negara.

Taman Negara is Malaysia's largest National Park. It's the oldest tropical rainforest in the world. You can pay it a visit, but you have to buy a permit. In this National Park  (4,300 sq.) live: leopards, tigers, boars, deer, elephants, rhinoceros, hornbills, monkeys and many other animals. Book your room for the resort here <click>.

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The latest information
When you book a trip to the National Park "Taman Negara", the bus will leave at 9 o'clock in the morning from the Crown Plaza Mutiara Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Tour bus ticket is included, but not your boat ticket and the permits you need.
Tip: Stay the first night in the Mutiara Hotel*****. It's situated in the Golden Triangle of the city. You don't have to get up early and you can spend your day sight-seeing or shopping.
De bus leaves at 8 o'clock and does not wait for you! The journey takes four hours. There's only one stop at a petrol station. When you arrive in Kuala Tembeling, there are two counters.
- one for the "permits" for Taman Negara and to pay for your camera and fishing permit.
- one for your confirmation of the boat.
 
This is the way to do it quickly:
1. Go to counter 1 (permits Taman Negara/camera/fishing)
2. then go to counter 2 (confirmation for the boat)
3. Go back to counter 1 to receive and to pay for your permits
Backpackers can also buy bus- and boat tickets and permits.
After receiving your permits, you can enjoy a wonderful lunch under the trees, looking at the river. The boat will leave at 2 o'clock for the National Park. The boattrip takes 3 till 4 hours. You'll arrive around 16.30 in Taman Negara.
Tip: There's also a speedboat going to Taman Negara. It leaves at 1 o'clock and the trip takes 1 hour. Now you can spend the whole afternoon in the Park. We visited that afternoon an Orang Asli settlement. So we did an extra excursion.
After a panoramic boattrip on the Tembeling river you'll arrive in Taman Negara (16.30). After climbing up banks of the river you can check-in and you can go to your chalet. There is also a youth hostel and camping is allowed on some places. There are two shops and one restaurant. If your dinner is not included in your package, you can have dinner across the river on one of those floating restaurants. Across the river is....outside the Park (Kuala Tahan)! 

Excursions.
Day 1
If you have chosen to go by speedboat, then you can join the 16.30 excursion which goes to an Orang Asli settlement. That's a worthwhile experience. The Orang Asli are shy and gentile natives and they can usually be found along some of the forest trails or by the river. When the Orang Asli men  don't hunt or fish, the lay in their "houses" or they are making rapids.
A settlement has about 10 "houses". If something serious happens, like death, they move to another place and build another settlement. Building a new "house" takes 2 hours.
When they go hunting, they have over a hundred raids with them. The rapids have been dipped in a poison, which will paralyze the animals. They shoot at birds and monkeys. When there's a big party, like marriage, they go hunting for a deer.
You can practice your rapid shooting in the settlement of the Orang Asli

At night time there's a walk through the rainforest. You can hear all the sounds and see the fireflies and the fluorescent lichen.
Don't be afraid to meet tigers, leopards, elephants. They live deep in the jungle. to meet them you have to make a trip to Mount Tahan and that takes a week

Day 2
The next day there's a walk on the program. After leaving your chalet, you have to walk a kilometer, before you come to the "canopy walkway". That's a walk across a 400 meter man-made bridge, suspended 25 to 40 meters above the ground (look at the photo). It's the longest canopy walk of its kind. Every morning the ropes are inspected. The canopy walk gives you the opportunity to view the rich and divers flora and fauna at the very summit of the forest. You will see: birds, monkeys and squirrels. The experience is marvelous.     

In the afternoon there's a boat trip on the Tahan-river. Don't forget to take your swimming suit. The river is not so deep and wide as the Tembeling river.
In the front of the boat sits a boy with a stick, who tries to avoid big stones and tree trunks, which are laying under the water. The more you go in the rainforest, the more the river gets shallow. Sometimes the outboard motor hits the ground and stops.
Then, suddenly, you can't go any further. It's too shallow. You have to get out and walk for a 500 meters and then you see a refreshing waterfalls. It's now time for a swim. You can sit between two rocks and you have a natural Jacuzzi. Lovely to let yourself float in the river.
Don't be afraid for crocodile. They don't live in West Malaysia. Crocodiles love only still water.  

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Traveling back to Kuala Lumpur takes the whole day. You'll leave Taman Negara at 9 o'clock and the boat goes fast. You go downstream and that goes faster than upstream. After 2½ hours you're back in Kuala Tembeling. Soon the bus will come from Kuala Lumpur with other tourists. Take the right bus! It's not the only one! The bus will leave at 12.30, so you'll back at 16.30 at the Mutiara Hotel. Maybe one night more.