Taman Negara

Monkey Business
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This, I was really excited about!

Visiting a Tropical Rainforest has been high on my wish list of things to do this lifetime! I can't believe I'm really going to one of the oldest on the planet. Older than the Congo and the Amazon.

Taman Negara  is  a huge jungle spread over 4343 square kilometres thats still home to tigers and elephants although you'd be very lucky to see either.

The journey there is an adventure in itself. A small narrow boat escorts you up river for  a 3 hour trip past locals casting their fishing nets. A monitor basking on the bank gave us a taste of what awaited.

with stolen sugar
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The resort is split over both banks off the river.The main resort - the posh side - on one side , the floating restaurants and backpacker digs on the other. By some fluke  I was in the main resort , even had a dorm to myself the first night.

The restaurant is buffet style with  western food like moussaka, veg and mash. Very tempting when you've been living on spicy Malay and Indian food for a while.

The first activity was a ' night jungle safari ' ,actually a 4x4 drive round the palm plantations. The guide sitting atop with a poweful flashlight was able to pick out  ' leopard cats ' , a barn owl and some startled looking water buffaloes.

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The next morning was the canopy walk. Its a 450 metre swaying bridge set 30 m above the ground supported at intervals by 250yr old tualang trees. Some great views with the constant shrill sound of the cicadas. Very humid as you might expect and it wasn't long before I was drenched in sweat . Not attractive.Then a fairly easy trek up Tresek hill for a misty view of Mt. Tahan and the tree canopy.

For the last evening i went on a night walk.The sound of the jungle at night is amazing. a real cacophony of sounds all competing with each other. We got to see some smaller creatures like spiders , scorpion , glow-worms and the like.

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From a hide overlooking a salt-lick we saw deer. Once upon a time tigers had been seen from here , but alas not for some years.

I would have stopped longer for a trek into less visited areas but there wasn't enough people signed up , so reluctantly i headed out to the Cameron Highlands.