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Adventures in the Wild Jungles of Malaysia
(Taman Negara - the path least known)

misty mornings

After years of wanting to visit Taman Negara, I was lucky enough this time to hook up with two Malaysian friends who were just as eager to embark on a bit of jungle adventure. I have to admit that I probably wasn't fully aware of what I was getting into (which is a good thing or I would have missed out on this wonderful adventure). We set off by car and arrived at Taman Negara - Merapoh entrance. The idea was to enter Taman Negara from this entrance which has been far-less touristed than the Kuala Tahan entrance.

We waited around for our guide as it was Friday afternoon prayer time. I had to be reminded that people in the East Coast walk to a different beat to folks on the West Coast! We were then whizzed off on a 4-wheel roller-coaster drive to our base camp. Word of advice, if the driver asks you if you want to go on a roller-coaster ride, the correct answer is "No" unless of course if you enjoy having every bone in your body rattled and your knuckles turn white from trying to hang on for your dear life! Once we arrived at the base camp, we attempted to set up our tents (the guide and driver had left us for the night with promises to return to check up on us the next morning - we gathered they had great reservations about 3 city-slickers trying to rough it out in the great outdoors!).

Back to basics, and enjoying every bit of it!!!!

After struggling with our tents and finally getting them to stand up (somewhat)…it was time to take a bath in the fresh river running along the camp-site. I don't know about you, but being a true city girl I have never washed in fresh river water….let me tell you, 'What an experience!'. It was truly the highlight to my days in the jungle - there's nothing that quite compares to the exquisite, refreshing and totally invigorating feeling after bathing in clean, cool water listening to all of nature's cacophony. I think my two companions thought I had succumbed to jungle-fever with my obsession to the outdoor bathing ritual!

One of the things which made this whole experience so memorable was the feeling of going back to basics…where even a meal of Maggi Mee instant noodles tasted sooooo good (esp. when it took us 30 minutes to get the water to boil - there's nothing quite like anticipation to whet one's appetite!). We did nothing but sleep, eat, talk, bathe, talk, eat, sleep. No modern gadgets to entertain us- nothing but an appreciation of nature and the simplicity of nature.

Much to our guide's surprise, we were found fit and ready to go on our overnight hike to Lata Luis. The return route was 22 km - we hiked 11 km on our first day and camped beside a waterfall for the night. Once again, the highlight after 4-5 hours in the sweaty, humid jungle (and surviving a couple of leech bites) was…..bathing in the clean cool waterfall! Along the hike, we saw lots of beautiful tress, vines, big ferns and the sounds of wildlife (unfortunately we did not catch sight of any animals). Thankfully, our return hike was easier (we had eaten half our load!).

The next day we embarked on a day hike to Gua Gajah (Elephant Cave). Once again, during the hike we took in all of the beautiful flora and fauna, and the bewitching sounds of wildlife around us (sometimes it was a tad spooky cause you knew that the animals could see you but you couldn't see them). As we were about to approach the cave, our guides (we had 2 this time) began to act rather nervous as if looking out for something/someone.

We were signalled to stay low and told that there were poachers ahead of us. Our guides went on ahead and within minutes, we heard a group of men calling out to them. We stood there for awhile unsure what to do as wild thoughts raced through our minds… 'had the poachers taken our guides hostage?', 'will they come for us?', 'or will they leave us out here in the jungle to fend for ourselves and fend off the wildlife that might come get us?' (perhaps I should add that these were my own wild thoughts, my two companions were probably thinking quite calmly and rationally).

We decided after some deliberation to move forward and were immediately spotted by the group of men who silently and very quickly walked away into the jungle. Our guides tried to appear calm and explained that the people we saw were the 'orang asli' (native/indigenous people) and were not poachers and were free to hunt in the jungle for roots and plants. We had our doubts about this 'story'/explanation. In the jungles of Malaysia and in Taman Negara poaching is still a very real and recurring problem. These poachers come into the jungle equipped with guns and ammunitions and sometimes move in fairly large groups. What becomes even more difficult for the guides who are locals (i.e. they live in the surrounding villages) is when the poaching is carried out by members in their villages who are friends, neighbours etc.

elephant poo

Gua Gajah (Elephant Cave) is quite a fascinating place….it's where elephants sometimes come to rest or take shelter. Inside the cave, there were evidence of elephant droppings and markings made by the elephants. After a short wander around the cave, we made our way back…dying for our very first taste of ice cold Coca Cola after our 4 days absence from civilization (once a city-slicker…). I had a brilliant time in Taman Negara and truly enjoyed the respite from the crazy, gadgety world we live in where our senses our constantly titillated (or numbed?) by mass-advertising campaigns and the media screaming out to us that if only we had XXX, we would find eternal happiness and bliss. It was refreshing to be able to be so close to nature and to remember that sometimes it takes very little to be happy.

Article contributor: Eliza Lim

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