R and D
- Apr 6, 2019
- 4 min read

Taman Negara National Park

Hi All,

We set off from the Cameron Highlands on a four hour minivan journey to Jerantut where we boarded a long tail boat to travel up river to the entrance of Taman Negara National Park. Malaysia is currently in dry season which was evident by the low water level, only a foot deep in some places. Inevitably, after a few scrapes, we became grounded on a sandbar; the only solution was for everyone to get out of the boat and help push it off. This happened several times on the 5 hour trip before we eventually reached the remote village of Khala Tahan soaked from the waste down! We checked into our guest house and perused the various excursions on offer; we decided to plan our own night walk in the nearby jungle and then book onto an overnight rainforest trek to sleep in a cave.

Taman Negara is the worlds oldest rainforest and at over 1600 square miles is truly vast. We heard stories of people going missing having become disorientated after taking a wrong turn. The rainforest is home to tigers, elephants, tapirs and even the rare Sumatran rhinoceros. We set off into the night armed with a head torch and our phones; grateful of the GPS to ensure we kept to the trail. As we headed deeper in, the lights of the village disappeared and we were alone on the track. The noise from the insects was deafening, both of us continually scanning around hopping not to bump into a predator. (Un)fortunately all we saw on our walk were frogs, spiders and some huge insects.

The following morning we arrived at the expedition office and packed our sleeping bags, canned food and horribly thin roll mat. We met our guide and the other three guys in our group before boarding a longboat and travelling further up river to the remote trail head. Again getting stuck and having to walk to push the boat off the sand - something we became proficient at! We arrived at an abandoned lodge and our guide picked some chillies to go in our dinner that night. He explained the 5 hour route before we started trekking. We crossed a rusty suspension bridge and climbed up a steep bank. Throughout the day we walked through the humid jungle passing huge ferns and leaves the size of car doors. Despite carrying twice the gear we had and wearing rubber crocs our guide was rapid! We just about kept up, occasionally stopping for a water break or to look at plants used by aboriginal people, about 600 of whom still live a nomadic lifestyle inside the rainforest. He would also stop us to listen for bird calls, pointing out a large hornbill just as it heard us and flew away.

Sure enough, 5 hours later we arrived at the cave, our home for the night. It was far larger than we had imagined and could easily have fitted 6 standard British houses inside! We weren’t the only ones there... we could hear bats squeaking in the roof but at seeing our faces, our guide assured us they would fly out after dark around 8pm. After a quick wash in a nearby stream, Danielle got to work setting out our ground sheets and sleeping bags whilst Ross wielded a machete and started a fire. As the light faded our guide lit candles around the cave, making the gloomy limestone walls glow almost homely. He then took our unappetising canned curry and added spices and fresh veg to create a surprisingly decent dinner for us. He continued to exceed expectations by taking us on a night walk. Unfortunately we didn’t spot any large animals but saw some noisy frogs and a couple of dancing fireflys. We stopped at a clearing to take in the night sky before heading back to the cave for a night on our paper thin roll mats.

Surprisingly we slept really well on the bumpy ground, only waking when the bats returned at around 5am. We got up and went to the stream to wash, listening to a chorus of gibbons all around us. Then high above us we saw a crash of branches followed by loud whooping calls; we just managed to glimpse the black tail of a gibbon before it leapt to another tree and disappeared amongst the canopy. We returned to the cave for breakfast where our guide cooked us French toast before we began our second day of hiking in the jungle.

We arrived at a small cave and heard bats squeaking from inside. As we headed in, we could feel them flapping all above us. Once deeper inside our guide shined his torch up slowly to reveal hundreds of bats roosting and flying around the cave. He also pointed out a snake which he said ‘climb ’ the walls and prey on the bats. We turned a corner and found another snake high on the wall. No sooner had we spotted it, the snake sprung from the wall and sunk its teeth into an unsuspecting bat. Both tumbled to the floor with the snake coiled tightly around the bats body and its wings slowly ceased flapping. Watching these two nightmarish creatures fight felt like an episode of planet earth.... or perhaps alien vs predator! The final section of cave was a dark, low tunnel with bats flying between us, giving us the full Christian Bale batman experience!

We left the cave behind and walked through another 5 hours of jungle stopping at a stream for lunch. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts we only found elephant dung and a tapir's footprint. We pushed on and could hear the sound of the river through the forest. We had made it back to our boat, further down river than we had started. A short ride back downstream through a series of rapids and we had made it to the end of our two day adventure. We said goodbye to our guide and fellow trekkers and were pleased to lay down on a proper mattress in an air conditioned room, thankful we weren’t brought up in one of the tribes who live in Taman Negara!