Welcome to the Jungle

After a couple of days in Kuala Lumpur I decided it was time to get out. I didn't really want to sit on the beach just yet as I'd been doing that in Thailand so I opted for a spot of trekking in Taman Negara.

Taman Negara National Park is Malaysia's premier National Park which covers 4343 square kilometers. It is 130 million years old and said to be the oldest rain forest in the world. The park in home to elephants, tigers, leopards and many other large creatures but because of the scale and density of the jungle you'd be lucky to see any of them.

After a long mini bus ride we boarded a small boat for a boat ride up stream taking a few hours (can't really remember as I feel asleep!). The scenery was amazing and reminded myself of parts of Laos although this was real jungle with dense forest and vines entwining around trees and branches.

You could imagine walking through the jungle within metres of a animal and not actually realising it was there due to how dense the area is.

On our mini bus I met a guy from London, Chris, who was working for the WWF in Malaysia for a while. He'd been working in Borneo and was taking a break from work for three days. Also in our group were three english girls who had come from Thailand and were heading to Australia before the end of November.

Myself and Chris had a dorm room to ourselves and even had air conditioning, which I hadn't paid for. The resort we were staying in was right on the edge of the park and often sees some of the animals roaming around it but unfortunately due to the number of tourists it is much less common these days.

As we were finding our way round the resort I noticed a sign saying "monkey crossing" and wondered what it was for, I didn't really think that monkeys would cross there everyday. As we walked back towards our room I spotted a monkey on the roof of a resort bungalow, one by one more monkeys followed heading in the direction of the "monkey crossing". There must have been about 12-15 monkeys climbing across the bungalows and swinging from the trees. As well as monkeys there were a what looked like a family of wild bore roaming around the resort looking for food.

In the evening we went for a night walk through the jungle. Our guide did his best to scare us about the leeches in the jungle and most of the girls seemed worried enough. We saw many different creatures on the walk the most interesting being huge ants, big scorpions and a large snake sat in the tree about a metre from our heads.

I sat at the back of the group waiting to take a picture from underneath the snake. As every one moved on it was pitch black as I aimed my camera, I had no idea where the snake was but thought it was probably best to take a quick shot and then get out of there. Apparently it was a poisonous snake but as our guide said "not that poisonous.... but it can kill you.".

The next day we went on a longer trek to view the jungle from high on a hill. In the day time there were far less creatures around but the jungle was far from quiet. I had my first leech crawling up my leg, but I managed to flick it off before it started sucking any blood (Just like John Rambo!). In the afternoon we went to visit a local tribe who showed us how to us a blow pipe to kill monkeys and other creatures as well as how to make a fire from a couple of pieces of wood.

Although they were a genuine tribe like most tourist places they have changed due to the contact with people and money. They still hunt with the blow pipe but they probably use a lighter to start a fire. Their village had several huts and as a couple of tents, one of those modern ones that you can put up in about 60 seconds! The imagine of a tribe living in the jungle doesn't quite seem to fit with the tribe that now makes money from tourists. They seemed to have a good life anyhow, getting high all day and shooting a few monkeys now and again.

After the tribe visit we headed down the river rapids for something called "shootin the rapids", basically a trip for the tourist to get splashed by waves and go home soaking. It was quite good fun but I'd much rather have spent the time trekking further out into the jungle and maybe staying overnight in one of the many hides. The size of this rain forest is incredible and we only saw a tiny tiny fraction, it seemed there was so much more to see.  It was a good experience but I wish I had more time and money to actually trek with a guide deep into the jungle. If I ever come back to Malaysia I think it'll be on my list of things to do along with a visit to Borneo.