Weekend in Taman Negara, Pahang

Last weekend, I followed mysista to an event at Taman Negara Pahang and I’m so glad I did because it was a memorable experience with loads of fun. I can only include 3 photos here as all the photo are still with mysista. I’ll post more once I get it  from her. Photo below are taken with my phone so pardon the quality.

The journey from KL to Woodland Resort at Kuala Tahan where we will be staying took around 3 hours 30 min by car. It was a pretty challenging drive as we depart at 2:30am towards the pitch-black highway heading to Jerantut.  It is advisable not to drive at night especially midnight as our visibility was totally restricted by thick fog, so thick that we could barely see 200m in front as soon as we exit the highway to Jerantut and all the way to Kuala Tahan. The drive from Padang Piol junction to Kuala Tahan got even more adventurous as we need to be extremely careful with cow sleeping on the middle of road, not to mention the foggy road with potholes.

Now, imagine that while you are concentrating looking for cow to avoid them amid the fog and dark road andddd suddenly…….. ok, I better stop here :p It was almost an hour of drive for a 50++ km stretch with average of 40km/h before we finally reached the resort at 6am *thank God that we reached safely   and fainted slept straightaway once we got to our room.

Did not bother to take other photo (only above) Got to get some sleep before the event start. The room was equipped with a single bed, a double bed with table and tv opposite it, a cupboard beside the entrance and attached toilet next to the bed. It’s an average room, so don’t expect so much but the toilet is pretty dirty though and bring your own hair dryer.

Woke up a few hours later to be greeted by this wonderful view with half of the forest still covered by mist. Isn’t it beautiful? Just sooo refreshing.

The 1st half of the event was indoor activity, therefore there’s nothing much to do. What excite me was the 2nd half and day 2 activity which was outdoor. We went for rapid shooting and visited an orang asli village that can be found along the riverside on day 1 and day 2, a short jungle trekking and canopy walk at the national park, just across the resort. A short boat ride, probably less than a minute and will land you in Mutiara Taman Negara, gateway to the protected forest.

We took a long wooden boat which are used for rapid shooting to the nearest aboriginal settlement from the jetty as others are not so comfortable with large group of people. They live a very simple lifestyle. Staying in a hut made by women and move around when there are no more crops or animals to hunt or in event of death and come back few years later. During our trip there, they demonstrated how to make fire using just only wood and rattan and how the men hunt animal using sumpit or blowpipe made from bamboo – not just any bamboo because they have to travel deep inside the forest which usually takes 2 weeks to reach.

Aren’t the baby cute? They are from the Bateq tribe. Some mothers are very shy that they stay behind the hut when we arrived. They allow you to play with their baby but they will watch you from behind. So, don’t ever think of kidnapping them

Some fact about the tribe:
1. For the girl to get marry, they will need to know how to build a hut
2. For the guy to get marry, they will need to know how to hunt using sumpit
3. They live a nomadic life

We stayed there for almost 45 minutes before continuing with the boat ride.

More pic to come. Stay tuned….