Taman Negara

Trip Start Jan 06, 2008
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57
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Trip End Dec 20, 2008


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Flag of Malaysia  ,
Thursday, June 26, 2008

After 3 hours bus and 3 hours boat, I arrived in Kuala Tahan, main village at the Taman Negara National Park. The site is stunning: it is the oldest rainforest in the world. The vegetation is obviously very dense, it is obviously very hot and I suspect the humidity to be over 90%. All the required conditions are therefore approved to go for a long and difficult trek in the jungle.

I met Dan, a German guy coming back from 1 year in Australia. We both wanted to do a 2 days trek in the jungle, without guide and sleeping outside,under a observatory roof. It cost the equivalent of 1.7 US$ each instead of the 80US$ each for an organised tour. We would be in peace, in the middle of the forest, with the biggest tarantulas, insects and other snakes in the world. It was supposed to be 6 hours the first day and 7 the second.

To cut it short, we decided to return to base camp after 2h30 of walking. Dan could not go on. He he he.
To be fair, we could stop only once by the river because there were millions of leeches climbing you shoes as soon as you stop 10 seconds (I counted 5 succesful leeches for me and probably three times more for Dan). That plus a difficult and technical trek (ropes necessary in places) made it very tiring. Just thinking of what it could be during the night in the jungle ... I was not unhappy to return.

Day 2 forecast: more heat + high humidity + canopy walk (that should amazing) + 3h trek + night walk.
I really feel being on top form and walking feels easy. The Inca Trail in November should be easy.
Day 2 reality: rain until 10:30 meaning less heat but even more leeches. Being alone, I almost run to do the trek in 2h and it helped against the leeches too (only 1 had a good meal from my right ankle). The canopy walk was impressive but no special animals or plants to see.

Tomorrow I leave for Cameron Highlands. Altitude should provide a cooler atmosphere to do more treks in the jungle and enjoy the tea plantations.
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