Exotic Treasures of Malaysia

The Taman Negara is the largest National Park in the country and is situated in the center of the Malaysian Peninsula. There is protection and preservation of indigenous flora and fauna. Taman Negara is indeed one the oldest rainforests in the entire world, estimated at 130 million years old. Peninsular Malaysia's highest mountain, Gunung Tahan (2,187 meters), is located in Taman Negara.

This trip is all about adventure and that’s exactly what Gauri, Phillip and I plan on doing. We want to be able to see things we would never be able to see back home, all I know is there are no jungles in Calgary and today is our nature trip.

To start our morning off as usual we went to the closest café we could find and got our selves some breakfast. After breakfast we went back to the hotel room to grab our backpacks that were filled with bug spray, long pants and shirts, water, and sunscreen. Now I may be adventurous but nothing can express my fear of bugs…. nothing! I am absolutely terrified of probably every bug out there so for me to be walking through the jungle is a huge improvement. But in order to see all the cool things like elephant’s, tapir, bear, and tigers. In order to see any of these things I must get over my fears.

Some of the most popular activities at Taman Negara are river cruises and jungle trekking. The canopy walk we did is honestly a must-see the view is phenomenal. Observation hides are another great way to observe wildlife. Simple huts built high above the ground allow guests to stay overnight to catch opportunities to observe animals in their natural habitat. We did the river cruise the jungle trek and the canopy walk. I didn’t know Phillip is extremely scared of heights and was grabbing onto anything he could, I took my eye off him for one second and looked up to find him with his arms wrapped around a tree holding on for dear life….this gives new meaning to the term tree huger. It was a great day it was a lot of fun to see animals, and the different types of plants. It for sure is nothing like the little ravine I have in my community.

We thought it was a great Idea to spend the night since it takes at least a few days just to be able to see everything. Because it is expensive to stay at the resort we found a place just across the river, is a little place called "Kuala Tahan". In this tiny town, which is just outside the National Park are some hostels that we decided to stay in. I made Gauri and Phillip do a bug search before bed just in case. After knowing there were no bugs in any of the rooms we enjoyed a peaceful sleep listening to nature.