One of the oldest jungles in the world
Trip Start
Aug 25, 2010
1
49
65
Trip End
Ongoing
Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
You stay in a little village on the banks of a river, which you need to cross to enter the actual jungle. The night we arrived there was heavy rain, but in the morning it was clear, so we woke early in order to enter the jungle and hike up a hill to get a view across the park before it got too hot. There are several well marked paths in the jungle so it is possible to walk by yourself.
Despite getting up early, inside the jungle it was really humid and sticky, so within minutes we were sweating. Although there were paths the vegetation was thick all around and across the path were interweaving roots and hanging vines, helping to make our way hazardous. Like the Amazon jungle it was amazing to see the size of some of the trees and their roots, which when you stand next to them you truly get a sense of their immense size and the feeling that you are in an ancient place. There were many species of plants all competing for the light on the jungle floor along with giant bamboo and elaborately twisted vines, scary looking vines with large spikes sticking out of them, which could inflict a lot of damage if accidentally walked into! Unfortunately we did not see any of the wildlife which is suppose to inhabit the park, such as tigers, but we did see some fascinating insects.
We walked up a steep and arduous path to reach a vista of the jungle, which seemed to go on forever and then we looped around to walk along the canopy walkway. The canopy walkway was a series of rope bridges in the treetops of the jungle, which creaked noisily when you stepped on them and just to scare Carla Aff would step on moments after Carla despite a sign stating to leave 5 meters in between! The view from the top was great though and well worth the heart stopping moments of fear as you think the entire structure could collapse!!
