Entry from Kuala Tahan

It would be my third trip to Taman Negara and I was looking forward to seeing it again even though the memories from my previous trip four years ago were still fresh in my mind. The three of us set out from Kuala Lumpur at about 8.30am and made our journey towards the town of Jerantut in state of Pahang. We had planned to catch the 1.00pm boat from the Kuala Tembeling Jetty which is approximately 10km away from Jerantut town. So in a green Waja we went and headed towards the Genting/Sempah.

Before I proceed further with my travel journal I thought it would be good to share a thing or two about Taman Negara. Well for the benefit of the foreigner, "Taman Negara" simply means National Park in Bahasa Malaysia (Malay language) The Park was established in 1939 and it is the known to be one of the oldest tropical rainforest in the world. It has evolved over a span of a hundred million years and its rich flora and fauna is truly a feast to every sense. The Park covers an area of about 4343 square kilometers (over a million acres) in the states of Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan in Malaysia. It is the most extensive protected area of lush green rainforest in the country where commercial logging is prohibited. Taman Negara is also home to Gunung Tahan (Tahan Mountain) , the highest peak (2187 metres) in Peninsular Malaysia.

We drove on Genting/Sempah highway until we reached the new East Coast Expressway which eventually led us to the Temerloh toll exit. After the toll we then made a right turn at traffic lights and stayed on route 98 towards Jerantut. , about 53km away. It was a pretty easy drive and traffic was light on this sunny Tuesday morning. The new East Coast Expressway certainly has cut short our journey by an entire hour so we arrived at Jerantut with lots of time to kill.

Journey up the Tembeling River

the sungei tembeling jetty

After spending about an hour mooching about in Jerantut town, we then made our way to the Kuala Tembeling Jetty to catch our one o'clock boat ride. When we arrived at the jetty area I was truly in for a surprise. It was far from what it used to be four years ago. Before it was mostly dirt with wooden shacks but now it has transformed to concrete and cement structures. I suppose it is a lot more organised and clean. We purchased our boat tickets and paid for our park permits along with licenses for our cameras. Those who intend to fish within the Taman Negara boundary are required to obtain licenses.

We made our way down the stairs that led us to the wooden jetty. There were many long sampans (boats) equipped with motors waiting to take people to Kuala Tahan, Taman Negara. We boarded our boat and thus our journey upstream on the Tembeling River began.

At first everyone was excited, eyes were darting from one side of the river bank to the other. Some were snapping shots of the passing kampungs (villages) and of little children swimming semi-naked in the river or the kampung folks fishing with their nets from wooden sampans. As the journey progressed everyone was lulled into a nap except the boatman of course! The boat ride normally takes about 2 ½ to 3 hours so I guess a nap was inevitable.

After what seemed like a long nap I woke up and noticed a change in the river and the surrounding scenery. As the river narrowed you start to get a feeling that you are entering deep into a forest as you begin to see the thick greenery looming ahead of you.

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