Taman Negara, where leeches tried to eat us

Less than a week ago, I came off of a 3 day, 2 night trek in one of Malaysia's many National Parks. Kristina, Lynsey, and I made our way to Taman Negara in search of either a 3 or 4 day trek within the jungle. We settled on an option from our guesthouse and started quite the trend. When we first signed up we were the only three slated to go, but by 8:00 that evening, 13 were signed up for either 2 or 3 days.

Canopy Walkway

View from a platform.

To start our trek off, we had to ferry across the river to the park office and declare our clothing, plastics, batteries, and other items we had stuffed into our backpacks. I thought this was a great idea but then was a bit disappointed upon returning when the rangers made no effort to check that we had all our declared items. After our declaration, we took a short boat ride to the canopy platform jetty, climbed 5 minutes up a series of stairs, paid 5 ringgit, and found ourselves on a platform leading to the canopy walkway. The canopy walkway is the longest in the world at just over 500 meters. There are guides stationed at the different platforms to make sure that everyone follows the 5 meters apart, and only 5 on a bridge at a time rules. While I loved the canopy walkway, I found it really messed with my equilibrium and just continues to prove how much I am like my mother. This is not a bad thing but it wasn't fun to feel slightly dizzy while on the bridges. Upon reaching the platforms, I was fine and oohed and aahed over the views of the jungle and river just like everyone else. The bridge that messed with my head the most was the ladder that took us up to the highest point of the walkway. It was swung a ton and was weird to be taking short mincing steps up rather than walking flat or outright climbing it like a ladder. As I said, I enjoyed the canopy walkway but was extraordinarily happy to reach the ground.

Hammed

From here, we took a bit of a longer boat ride up the river to an old ranger's station for a quick lunch, consisting of chicken and rice and jungle mangoes for dessert, before beginning our trek. Our one guide, Hammed, had lived at the ranger's station as a child as his father worked for the National Park. However, Hammed also enjoyed telling stories, so I'm not entirely sure how much of what he said was true and how much was BS. Despite the stories, Hammed was fairly knowledgeable about jungle plants and birds.

The actual walking for this particular trek was not very difficult. Nothing was very steep and the trail was clearly defined and well maintained unlike our adventure in Laos. But, I kid you not, 40 minutes into our 4 hour hike on the first day, we ran into a huge thunderstorm and rain that just would not stop. The thunder and lightening was a bit frightening because it seemed so close and we were in the middle of a jungle with nothing for shelter. Finally, in about hour 3, the rain did start to slow but of course didn't fully stop until after we had reached the cave we were staying in for the night.

The aftermath of the leeches.

With the rain, came the leeches. I was fairly lucky and only had about 12 on me that first day, 50% of which actually latched on. Kristina and Lynsey had at least 12 on their feet because of their more open shoes. By the time they either fell off or were burned off at the cave, it looked like they had participated in some sort of slasher film. The cave for the evening was quite comfortable and didn't have any bats. It was a huge cave and our other guide, Amy Buda, said it was some 500 million years old as it had once been under the sea. Again, I don't know how accurate his information is but considering the jungle itself is over 130 million years old, I'm inclined to believe him.

Swinging like Jane.

Day 2, we got lucky because it never rained and we got a chance to swing over a small stream like Tarzan and Jane. Again, the trekking itself wasn't difficult and the hardest part came when trying to climb over giant trees that had fallen and obstructed the path. The vine swinging was definitely the highlight of the day for me. At first, I was going to do it (I was being a chicken) but then thought that I'll probably never have the opportunity to go on a jungle vine swing again and ended up going 3 times, even though the third time was a bit unintentional! Our lunch was a simple noodle soup affair in the middle of a river sandbar.

Blow Dart

That evening, the six of us staying on for the third day, spent the night in an Orang Asli traditional village. This particular tribe used to be nomadic and relied on the jungle for all their needs. However, with tourism, they have started to shift away from their traditional practices and are now relying on tourism dollars to supplement their income. As part of the 'tourism' show we got to see the traditional ways of starting a fire and how they use a blow dart to hunt monkeys and other small animals. I will say watching the man shoot the blow dart was pretty awesome.

Working by headlamp to chop beef and veggies.

Our accommodation for the evening was a bamboo and grass hut on the sand. I was surprised by how much I missed the cave for it's comfort and lack of cockroaches. I don't know what happened, but after the sun went down, the cockroaches came out in full force and were everywhere! Thankfully, they were the baby and adolescent ones rather than the full grown adults, so they didn't freak me out. We had a very late dinner because Hammed had to return with the other group to get us more food as our supplies brought by the boat driver consisted of cookies, one loaf of bread, and three cans of curry chicken for seven people and two meals. He came back with a bunch of veggies, rice, and beef. He made a delicious beef curry, veggie omelet, fried veggies, and enough rice to feed 20 people. Dinner was delicious and welcomed after 4 hours of hiking and a light lunch.

Day 3 was the easiest hike of all and we only walked for about 90 minutes. The first hour was on a trail leading back to the canopy walkway and the last 30 minutes was on the boardwalk from the canopy walkway back to the park office. Aside from the leeches, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Taman Negara. If anyone is up for an adventure with leeches and a fairly easy hike, I'd highly recommend a short trek through an awesome 130 million year old jungle!