This 130 million year old jungle has elephants, tigers, Sumatran rhinos, sunbears, and all manner of creepy crawly insects. In reality, even after trecking quite far into the rainforest to sleep in a specially designed animal watching station and staying up all night with mega strong animal watching torches we saw none of these wild and wonderful creatures. We did see a fearless porcupine (big and smelly), a scavenging bear cat (also smelly), some pretty large spiders (which scared Jez to death and stopped him from using the toilet at a vital moment)There were evil rats clambering over faces in the night, jumping blood sucking leaches and quite a few trips and falls either in streams or over muddy sludge hidden tree routes. But,like most adventures it was good fun........when you look back!

The Jungle Railway
We were told that the 'jungle train' took us south towards this evolutionary gem on a beautiful alternative yet long journey that was worth the 4.30 wake up call even though the aircon would'nt work and cockroachs climbed out from inside the seats while you were taking a nap. It was long and it was beautiful, the aircon worked just fine so we froze, there were no annoying roaches but the locals made up for it. Several different groups at several different times throughout the 7 hour journey from Khota Baru to Jerantut decided that although the carriages were completely empty they would sit in the seats directly behind and infront of us and talk unnecessarily loudly for the length of their journey. The children laughed if we had a quick peck and told on us to their parents and we were watched very closely for any open displays of alienness. They meant no harm at all, infact we were good entertainment!

Kuala Tahan



We chose the three hour calming peaceful long boat trip to get to Kuala Tahan in Taman Negara. I slept most of the way on the thick cushions and wallowed in memories of Venezuala and Bolivia. Feeling tired from a sleepness night thanks to metal springs digging in our back from every angle we decided on the more expensive but nicer looking Nusa camp. It was much further down the river from the town, quieter and more jungle-like, nestled away from the tour touts and the competing floating cafes. On day one we slept!

Asli Waterfall
Just to test out our current trekking abilities we opted for a 3 hour walk to the Asli waterfall. It was hot and humid and by the time we arrived we did'nt care if we offended any of the local Muslim Malays by stipping off and jumping in. Thankfully it is the country of the Orang Asli Aboriginals and they are a lot less likely to be offended by displays of flesh while bathing. We walked through one of their villages on the way and had a little nose at their palm huts and containers full of palm oil ready to be sold and used by other locals to varnish their homes or boats. One couple had decided to merge cultures and whilst they lived in the wooden tree frame of a hut, slept in a tent that fit neatly inside. Happy we could hack the wilderness we prepared ourselves for a night in a hide.

Bumbung Kumbang Hide Animal Observation Centre



Bumbun Kumbang is one of a few observation hides that have been built feet away from salt licks in the Teman Negara. The aim is for tourists to stay the night and try to spot some of the wildlife as they come to quench their thirst. Sounds great in theory and probabaly would be awesome if you actaully got to see any wildlife.

The hide was empty when we got there. It was dirty outside with rubbish strewn all over the place, empty takeaway cartons, water bottles and toilet paper.We cursed the last lot of 'guests' and eagerly went to find our beds for the night. A choice of 12 wooden bunks, no mattresses, no windows and no mozzie nets. We were'nt really surprised, we had our sleeping bags and had even hired some carry mats. Excited we braved the toilet/shower and waited, taking our first glimpse of 'the' view that we would have for the next 20 hours.

We cheated a bit and took Nusa camps very handy riverboat service to the jetty and walked for an hour to the hide. An hour was enough. The humidity was completely draining. We had planned to walk the 12km back to the main village the following day but as different groups trickled in bursting our bubble some of them recounted their disasterous 9 hour treck and we slowly changed our minds. It seemed nobody was planning on walking back after all.

The wrong visitors



We sat and watched and watched and watched and as dusk passed no animals seemed thirsty that night. Maybe sunrise would bring more luck, especially if the Kiwi's kept their mouths shut for more than 30 seconds. 11 beds were taken and even the die hards began to filter off 'the bench' by 3am. The most exciting parts of the night were the constant sightings of the bear cat that was eating from the rubbish, the real culprit of the mess downstairs and the rats. A very 'well to do' but very green cambridge medical student had made the 7 hour treck into a 10 hour treck, had run out of water half way and had been drinking from streams, pulled off loads of leechs along the way, had to carry his tiny girlfriend and her handbags and made a 2 hour detour for supplies to a village that had been trampled by elephants and was therefore closed. He was in a bit of a mess but holding up. This all changed at about 4am when he was woken up by a rat crawling over his face. I could'nt help but laugh. It was like a horror film for the poor lad. These rats were militant. They were scaling the ropes of hammocks after smelling crackers in people bags, nibbling our sleeping mats and there were even stories of them licking people fingers if they had not bothered to wash them after eating. Nothing would make them budge. They just sat, your food in their paws, staring, daring you to risk getting nearer and contracting rabies. There was no way I was going to wake Jez up, he would'nt have slept a wink knowing all this was going on.

Safely out of the jungle, dissapointed with the lack of tigers but fascinated by the leaches we kept finding we joined the herd and awaited a boat that another couple had booked. It did'nt come. 3 hours later the first boat going down stream stopped and let us aboard. Jez and I had plans for that day. We had to get a move on.

The world's longest canopy walkway.



Everyone we met who had already done this slated it. We loved it. We were alone,just the two of us, 45 metres above the ground, walking on metal ladders suspended by rope, our heads in the tree tops with amazing views of the Tembeling river and this awesome national park for miles and miles. Some bits were a bit hairy especially the one's that rose at neat 90 degree angle, directly upwards but it was great fun.

Gua Telinga Bat Cave



Nusa Camp had worked out a great boat timetable for us which meant that even after our 3 hour wait we still were able to do the canopy walkway and the bat cave and get back to Jerantut on the same day. They ferried us from jetty to jetty and even rearraged the riverboat timetable to suit us, saving us a good sum of money in private charters.

We had been told to take a torch. We did but ours is not great. If the cambridge medic had'nt turned up with his hired mega doody one we would'nt have ventured past the first cave because we wouldnt have known there was more to see. And boy was there more to see, 80 metres of it. Half an hour later we had walked through mini streams, clambered up wet slippery rocks and squeezed through very small gaps which opened up into yet more caves. In every section were little bats. Bats, bats and more bats. Everywhere. They were sleeping, as they do, upside down, looking very comfy,cute little things. Even though they fly, Jeremy was'nt scared of them ...they have sonar and arent going to dive bomb his bald spot!

On our bus trip out of the park and back to Jerantut a guide sat next to us and answered all of the hundred million questions we fired at him about Taman Negara. He inspired us to look into the Orang Asli and their lifestyle, something we had'nt got involved with after funny experiences as tourists on tours to indigenous villages in Venezuala and Panama. He taught us that not all new experiences are new if you let them be and shook us awake a bit reviving some of the adventure in us that may have been lying dormant after seeing and experiencing so much in the last 3 years.