A Terrifying Night in Taman Negara Jungle 

The Jungle in which we ventured into lays claim to being the oldest rainforest in the world, disputed only by Australia. In the 1930’s this rainforest was named the King George V National Park, which didn’t exactly sound very native. In 1957, Malaysia regained its independence. With the cry ‘Merdeka’, meaning freedom, they took back their country and renamed their rainforest. Terrifying night in Taman Negara Jungle

 Terrifying night in Tamen Negara Jungle

The name ‘Taman Negara’ simply means ‘National Park’ by definition, but screams adventure by nature.

 Terrifying night in Tamen Negara Jungle

This deeply diverse ancient jungle flourished during the jurassic era and is now over 130 million years old. We  had to cross a river in a small wooden boat to start our journey.  As we neared the shore, we could feel we were stepping into something truly phenomenal.  

Surviving ice ages, volcanoes and even humans means that this epic beauty remains a virgin rainforest,  so as you may imagine the biodiversity is off the chart.  From giant dipterocarp trees to tiny, but deadly snakes, this place keeps you on your toes and suspended in awe.

Navigating Deeper into the Jungle

As we neared a sign warning us to go no further without a guide, we decided to be each other’s guide and continued. Compass in hand and using the river to navigate, we made our way through the overgrown tracks to a beautiful waterfall. After a swim and a wash we ventured back into the jungle to retrace our steps back towards civilisation. During our trek, we had discussed and came to the conclusion that 8 British pounds was far too much to spend on one nights accommodation. So, we would find somewhere to hang our hammocks.

We took a west turn off the path and headed into the jungle to find somewhere to hang our hammocks before nightfall.  Not quite upto Bear Gryll’s standards we didn’t fancy our chances picking out which grubs wouldn’t bite back.  A little hungry,  we tried to fall asleep, as the jungle decided to wake up.   Despite the noise of our tummies giving the rest of the jungles mysterious beasts a run for their money, Pete had surprisingly little trouble sleeping. As I managed to calm my imagination, I drifted off to the gentle pitta patta of the rainforest creatures going about the about their mysterious nighttime activities.

 Terrifying night in Taman Negara Jungle

THEN

THUD CRUNCH THUD CRUNCH I bolted up and began to to try and wake Pete without catching the attention of the approaching beast.  

There was more than one.

Armed with a lighter and an aerosol, I was ready to really aggravate any wild beast that came our way.

The moonlight began to depict the shape of a huge creature, a herd of huge creatures.  

Baby elephants were my first thought. But, where were their ears? Why would a whole herd of baby elephants be by themselves?? As they neared, one rather large bold beast nudged my hammock to reach something under me. Thankfully it wasn’t actually me they were reaching for.

At this point, we still had no idea what these beast were, but they certainly seemed harmless and actually quite docile. The relief we felt when it appeared they meant us no harm and must in fact be vegetarian as they were pulling up branches and leaves was pretty euphoric.  

The euphoric relief didn’t last long.

It sharply occurred to us that if they were vegetarian , there could be a non-vegetarian tracking them. Laid in the hammocks, we were essentially two bags of ready to eat meat. We downed our hammocks, fled back to the main path and beasted it back to the huts we had seen on the edge of the river we had first crossed.

 Terrifying night in Taman Negara Jungle

Day Break

As the day broke we discovered that the only real injury was my leech bite.  As the morning unfolded and we had chance to speak to the locals we found out that the large mysterious beasts that woke us were indeed huge, but harmless Tapir. They were known to plod through the jungle in the early hours to hunt nothing other than plants.  

That same morning, we had a rather more sobering conversation over a coconut rice breakfast with a local guide. It was disturbing finding out just how close to danger we had been.  The local Malaysian had opened the conversation by telling us how the previous day, he had seen a Tiger in the jungle we had just been sleeping in.  From his description it had been frighteningly close to where we had hung our hammocks.  

Somewhere between queasy relief and gratitude we decided that next time we may just stay in a lodge rather than becoming Tiger’s Tapas.

Going there yourself ?

There are a few ways in and endless ways to explore.

Weeeee got a little bit carried away with our jungle adventures and overlooked finding somewhere to stay that night. You may want to be more organised and book in advance or you may want to take your chances with Tigers too, the choice is yours…

One Word: AGODA
Terrifying night in Taman Negara Jungle