Taman Negara National Park, Kelantan, Malaysia

4Shawn_Storm 5:00 PM Mar 29, 2013

A huge rainforest that is fairly easy to explore.
I just did a self guided solo trip to Taman Negara and had a good experience. This review is going to be very long because I am going to include my entire experience (with transportation, lodging, food, exploration, etc). I found it hard to get such details on the internet, so figure I should go ahead and document it here. If this interests you then read on! I was really excited to visit Taman Negara since I first heard about it. I like jungles and have been to many tropical rainforests all over the world. Since Taman Negara is supposedly the "oldest", I figured I had to pay it a visit. However, despite it being extremely old, I didn't find it that much more impressive than other jungles that I have visited. I kind of expected a jungle wonderland with huge trees everywhere and tons of wildlife. There were some large trees and some wildlife, but it didn't blow my socks off. I have been to other jungles in Asia and Central America that were more visually impressive. With all that said, it was still nice and worth checking out. I started my journey to Taman Negara in Kuala Lumpur. From what I could tell, most people chose to visit on a tour package. The two main companies that offer such packages appear to be Han Travel and NKS Travel. They both offer nearly identical options at very similar prices. The most popular package is the "3 day 2 night full tour" with meals, lodging, transport, etc all provided. Cost is currently around 350 RM if you opt to stay in a dorm (more expensive otherwise). Note that "3 days 2 nights" really means 2 days of mostly traveling and *1* full day of being at Taman Negara. This might be enough for some people, but I am certain it wouldn't of been enough for me. The tour offices tried really hard to convince me that I needed to sign up for a package. They insisted that doing it solo without a tour was a bad idea and even "unsafe". I was skeptical, but they almost had me convinced. Luckily I saw another review on tripadvisor that convinced me that doing it myself was totally possible. So I decided to go on my own and steer clear of the packages. I started my trip in the early morning (around 7am) and took a Light Rail from China Town to the Titiwangsa station and then a very short walk to Pekeliling Bus Station (there are signs that guide you between the two stations on a dedicated walkway). At Pekeliling Station I got an 8am bus to Jerantut. The cost was roughly 17 RM and the bus was very new and nice with comfortable seats and nice cold A/C. The bus was only half full, so I also got two seats to myself (which was great for napping). The ride was roughly 3 hours and we got to Jerantut around 11am. From there I shared a taxi with two other travelers to the jetty at Kuala Tembeling, which cost 5 RM per person (total fare was 15 RM). I had considered just going to Taman Negara by bus the entire way, but I figured a boat ride into the park would be nice. Once I arrived at the jetty, it became clear that I had been dropped off into the tourist zone. The jetty has two prominent ticket offices belonging to NKS Travel and Han Travel. They both charge 35 RM for a boat ticket and you are basically taking the same boats as the people on a tour package. I tried to find a "local boat", but it didn't seem to exist from what I could see. I suppose most locals just take the local bus (7 RM) instead of a long and expensive boat ride. There is also a small park office at the jetty where you can pay your 1 RM entry fee and 5 RM camera permit. Note that as other reviews have pointed out, the Han Travel restaurant at the jetty is HORRIBLE. Possibly the worst food I have had on my entire trip. There are a couple local restaurants up the road, but I didn't try them since there was no english menus that I saw and I don't yet know the Malaysian menu terminology. The boat ride itself took about 3 hours and was somewhat uneventful (I actually fell asleep during part of it). I have taken many epic boat rides in SE Asia, so it was not very exciting to me, but if you have not done such things then it is probably worth it. I was on the NKS Tour boat, so we got dropped off at the NKS Tour office in Kuala Tahan. Kuala Tahan is a very small town/village which is directly across the river from the actual park. The town has approximately 20 guest houses to choose from, many of which are quite shabby and overpriced. There are a few newer ones with A/C and clean looking rooms, but they all seem to charge 90 RM or more. This was too much for me (and I hadn't found anyone to share a room with), so I opted for one of the cheaper (and funkier) places. I looked at 10 different guest houses and finally settled for Tahan Guesthouse. The room wasn't very clean and smelled a bit musty, but was way nicer than most of the other filthy mold infested guesthouses I had checked out. The owner was super nice and the location was quiet, so it worked out. By the way, you can stay across the river in the actual park at the Mutiara Resort. However, it is quite expensive. Food in Kuala Tahan is not so great, especially if you are a vegetarian like myself. There are a bunch of "floating restaurants" on the river which are similarly priced and have pretty much the same assortment of basic dishes such as fried rice, fried noodles, vegetables and rice, etc. The portions were routinely small, the quality not very good, and the prices a bit high (4-10+ RM for basic veggie dishes). There are also a few small restaurants scattered about town that aren't any better or much cheaper (at least none that I found). Honestly, the food scene was my least favorite part of visiting Kuala Tahan (especially after the amazing food in Kuala Lumpur). I ate at 7 of the local restaurants and my personal favorite was Mama Chops (which ironically is at the Han Travel office). I also thought the Family Restaurant was ok (and seemed very popular). I hear the fancy restaurant across the river at Mutiara is good, but it was way too spendy for me (20-30+ RM per dish) and didn't seem to have many veggie options. To get to the park, you must take a 1 minute boat ride across the river (which costs 1 RM), or you can swim across if you are hard core (I saw a few people do this). Getting across is quick and easy (I never had to wait more than a minute or two for a boat). The park itself is huge and includes a whole bunch of trails ranging from short to very long. The entrance to the park is at the Mutiara Resort and there are a number of easy trails around the entrance. Most of the close in trails are built up walkways that run just above the jungle floor and have stairs where it gets steep. They are very easy to traverse and enable you to explore without "getting your feet dirty" so to speak. Once you venture further out, the trails become basic (but decently maintained) dirt trails (watch out for leeches once you get on the dirt trails). The most popular nearby attraction is the canopy walkway which is a number of rope bridges connecting platforms high up in the trees. You can walk there (on the raised walkways) which is an easy 1.2 KM each way, or you can also take a boat directly there. It has a 5 RM entry fee and is worth checking out. All the tours go there, so I showed up right before they opened and had the entire place to myself (which was great). However, when I visited, half of the canopy walkway was closed for "maintenance", and I suspect it may continue to be this way for awhile. It is still nice, but not very long and definitely not what is advertised. Other attractions include the "hides" (raised wooden huts looking over an area that may have wildlife), a number of caves (all quite far from the park entrance), local tribal villages (not sure about visiting these without a tour), and more. It is easy to sign up for various tours in Kuala Tahan, so you can custom tailor your own tour package if desired. It is also possible to simply explore on your own and not do any tours. I didn't sign up for any tours. Instead, I spent 3 full days wandering around the jungle. I did all the raised walkway paths as well as a few of the longer dirt trails. It can get hot in the mid day, so I would start super early (around sunrise), take a lunch break and afternoon nap, and then explore some more in the late afternoon/evening. I was amazed how few people I saw on the paths (I assume most people were on their tours somewhere else). I really enjoyed walking out into the jungle and simply sitting in one spot listening to the sounds and looking out for animals. There are actually a fair amount of animals to be seen if you are patient, quiet, and look very carefully. In terms of animals, I saw quite a few including many insects, tons of birds (including the neat looking hornbills), a few snakes and reptiles (including a few large monitor lizards), some barking deer, a couple of wild pigs, and a tapir (which was the coolest animal I saw). Surprisingly, I saw the most animals right at the park entrance hanging out at the Mutiara Resort. They seem to come there for human food scraps, as well as for the big fig tree which is right at the entrance. Also, I observed many tourists feeding the animals (and even petting them!!). The barking deer and tapir seemed just fine with being manhandled, as long as the person was feeding them at the same time. You are not supposed to feed the wild animals, but people do it anyways (which does not mean you should). There you have it. If you are still reading, I hope this review was helpful to you. :)

4MichaelHuxley 5:00 PM Jan 4, 2011

Excellent Jungle trekking, but avoid the tour groups
Taman Negara is a great place to base yourself for a few jungle treks, wether short day hikes to week long yomps. But it is extremely touristy which tends to ruin the place a bit. The one resort on the place is nice and fancy, but is extremely overpriced and it is not necessary to stay there; it is much better to stay at one of the small, cheap guesthouses across the river. DO NOT get any of the overpriced tours at the visitor centre. You do not need to hire a guide either, not unless you are planning to do the 9 day hike up the mountain (in which case you HAVE to hire a guide). The day hikes are very easy to do on your own, the trails around the main site are easily marked. One of the highlights is the Jungle canopy, yes you will have to queue for it, but it's worth it for the experience. It is a nice experience eating on one of the many boats along the river, but the menus can be hit and miss (depending wether they have run out of the ingredients or not); unfortunately there aren't many other places to eat unless you count the overpriced and extremely poorly serviced restaurant at the resort. However, when the boats have all the ingredients, the food is great!