South East Asian Trips

Malaysia has many big reserved parks and islands that have been declared as national parks. This national park guide page will explore in greater details where one can go to experience the protected species of this tropical country. Malaysia's forest are among the oldest in the world and will continue to hold this record as many of them have been gazetted as National Parks. Many of the national parks have been established as early as the 21st century.

The country has a warm tropical climate with a temperature range of 16 °C in the highlands to 30 °C in the lowlands. The annual rainfall average is in the range of 200 cm. The abundance of sun and rain have enabled many greeneries to grow and enveloped the undisturbed parks of the country, only waiting to be explored by the curiousity of the human mind.

Malaysia is truly a treasure trove for nature-lovers. Appreciate the cool escape offered from our highland townships. Blaze a trail down past towering trees in a wet jungle teeming with life and sound. Visit the Aborigines in their settlements and witness how they have adapted perfectly to a life in the forest. This is Malaysia in all its natural beauty and splendour.

Bako National Park

The Park covers 2,742 hectares of a rugged sand stone peninsula to the east of the Bako River near Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. Millions of years of erosion have created a coastline of steep cliffs, rocky headlands and stretches of white, sandy bays. Wave erosion at the base of the cliffs has carved many of the rocks into fantastically shaped sea arches and seastacks. Coloured patterns formed by iron deposition have also dominated the rocky headlands.

The coastline is also dotted by a sandstone cliff vegetation characteristic of Bako. Other major vegetation types include the mangrove forest, mixed dipterocarp forest, peat swamp forest, kerangas (heath) forest, and kerangas scrub on the plateau; it's possible to see just about every type of vegetation found on Borneo at Bako.

For further information, please contact
Sarawak Tourism Centre
Tel: 082-240620
Fax: 082-427151

The Park At A Glance
Size: 2,742 hectares
Flora Fauna - Beach forest, cliff vegetation, mangrove swamp, mixed dipterocarp, kerangas pole forest and padang scrub. Nearly every plant in Borneo is visible here. Animal highlights include the rare proboscis monkey, silver-leaf monkeys, long-tailed macaques, and monitor lizards.

Activities
Jungle-trekking, swimming, sunbathing, bird watching, touring the seastacks. During the monsoon season, from October to March, the sea is rough because of and access to the Park may not be possible

How to Reach
The park is accessible from Kuching along a 37 km road and a short ferry ride across Sungai Santubong. The Bako Road is flanked by coconut plantations before reaching Kampung Bako near the mouth of Sungai Bako. To reach the park, another 25-minute longboat ride along the Bako River is needed. The return fare is RM50.00 per per boatload journey. The maximum capacity of the boats is 10 persons.

A regular bus service operates from Kuching to Kampong Bako.

Crocker Range Park

Located south of Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. Although there are no tourist facilities at this park, Crocker Range is densely populated with wildlife and is a trekker's paradise. Primates such as orangutans, gibbons, tarsiers, longtailed and pigtailed macaques, along with porcupines, bears, civet cats, marbled cats, and wild pigs roam the park freely. Hornbills, pheasants and partridges can also be seen, as well as the renowned Rafflesia, the world's largest flower.

The Park At A Glance
Flora & Fauna - The park consists mostly of dipterocarps forest with a small percentage of montaine forest. The park has many varieties of wildlife, including five species of primates.

(Please note that Crocker Range currently has no tourist facilities, but there are plans to construct an office and renovate existing forestry buildings as the Park Headquarters).

Kinabalu National Park

One hundred and thirty eight kilometers from Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah, rises the majestic Mount Kinabalu. With its peak at 4,101 meters (and growing), Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain in South-East Asia. This distinction has earned it considerable attention in myth and legend as well as in geography, and the mountain has for most of history been revered as a sacred spot. The hundreds of square kilometers encompassed by its slopes, from sea level to the jagged stone edge marking its summit, form the Kinabalu National Park. Within this area is found some of the richest flora in the world, ranging from lowland dipterocarp forest to the montane oak, rhododendron, and conifer forests of the middle altitudes and eventually to the alpine meadows and stunted, windswept bushes of the summit. The climb up Kinabalu is one reason why many visitors come. Despite its intimidating size, Kinabalu is one of the easiest mountains in the world to climb. No special skills or equipment are needed, and each year thousands of visitors undertake the expedition, which takes two to three days. Accommodation is available all along the climb, the highest lodging being the Sayat Hut at 12,500 feet. Those with high blood pressure or heart problems should not make the climb because of the high altitude involved.

Though the Kinabalu Park is famous largely for the climb, the climb is in turn as famous for the beauty of its route as for the view from the top. Kinabalu's slopes possess a wealth of plant growth and a large variety of birds, and much of the climb's interest and beauty lies in tracing the transitions from one ecosystem to the next as one reaches ever higher altitude. For visitors with more time to spend in Kinabalu, there are graded paths leading through rich lowland forest to mountain rivers, waterfalls, and tumbled bat caves.

The Poring Hot Springs, located nearby, are another prime attraction. The springs were developed first by the Japanese during W.W.II. Today the springs are piped into several open air, Japanese-style baths. The hot springs contain sulfur water, which has curative properties for skin diseases.

For further information, please contact
Sabah Parks
P.O. Box 10626,
88806 Kota Kinabalu
Tel: 088-211585/211652/211881
or
MTPB Sabah
Wing Onn Building
Jalan Sagunting,
88000 Kota Kinabalu
Tel: 088-248698
Fax: 088-241764

Kuala Selangor Nature Park

Kuala Selangor offers visitors the chance to witness life in a mangrove swamp, complete with mosquitoes and scent of muddy peat. Still, the wildlife here is truly fascinating, ranging from majestic monitor lizards to silver-leaf monkeys and milky storks to sun skinks. There are towers located in and around the park to facilitate bird-watching. Watch as eagles soar in the air and dive-bomb the swamp for fish and other creatures! At night, the river that feeds the coastal forest lights up with hundreds of 'kelip-kelip' or fireflies. Pollution has diminished their population when once they would light up the river like street lights but it is still a once-of-a-lifetime experience to cruise down the murky river and touch one of these lighting bugs.

Visitors can access the river to watch fireflies through Kampung Kuantan and Kampung Bukit Belimbing, both a short distance away from Kuala Selangor town. The seafood here is also pretty amazing, and you just may end remembering the food more than anything else from this trip! The park which is open during the day time can be reached within an hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur.

Endau-Rompin

The Endau-Rompin area covers the boundary between Johor and Pahang. Sprawling over an estimated area of almost nine hundred suqare kilometers, it is one of the few remaining lowland forests in Peninsular Malaysia. It encompasses the watershed of the rivers Endau and Rompin, from which it derives its name.

Straddling the Johor - Pahang border, the Endau-Rompin Park is a treasure trove of virgin jungle. This is the place for the hard-core nature-lovers as the park is relatively undeveloped and most of it has not even been explored yet! Like Taman Negara Pahang, many exotic species of fish, birds and animals roam the 870sq. km park including the rare Sumatran Rhinoceros. The trees project a serene atmosphere and as light dims on the early morning, mist rises out of the mossy boulders as fishes dart around the scenic rivers. Recently in 2006, there were claimed sightings of 'Orang Mawas' or Malaysia's version of 'Bigfoot'. Whether it is true or not remains to be discovered but research is underway to determine its presence.

The park can be accessed via a two-hour drive with 4WD vehicles from the entrance near Kahang in Johor. Visitors will reach Kampung Peta, the stating point, where they can obtain special permits to enter the park.

The Park At A Glance
Size: 870 sq. km Flora Fauna: Many unique and endemic carieties of plants have been discovered within the centuries-old forest such as the magnificent fan palm (Endauensis), climbing bamboo (Rhopa loblaste), and the slender-stemmed walking-stick palm (Phychorapis singaporensis). Pitcher plants, toadstools and orchids also grace the forest floor, and moths and butterflies of every shape and hue can be found flitting among the blossoms. Activities: Jungle-trekking, swimming, fishing, adventure camping, bird-watching, botany, nature study.

Getting There
It is advisable to acquire an entry permit before making any arrangement to visit this area. Permits can be obtained from: Perbadanan Taman Negeri Johor JKR 475 Bukit Timbalan 82503 Johor Bahru Tel: 07-2237344, 7345 Fax:07-2235253 Special tours may be arranged to the area to accommodate a variety of interests.

Gunung Mulu National Park

Within the boundaries of Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak is one of the most extensive and spectacular limestone cave systems on earth, as well as the second highest mountain peak in the state. Gunung also enjoys unusually high rainfall. As a result it bursts with life, and many new plant and animal species have been discovered here. Officially constituted in 1974 and opened to the public in 1985, Gunung Mulu National Park encompasses only 544 sq. km in North Sarawak, Borneo.

Gunung Mulu's Caves are extraordinary. Mulu's Sarawak Chamber is the largest natural chamber in the world, and Deer Cave is the largest cave passage known to man. It has two huge entrances at either end of the mountain it penetrates. Most of Deer Cave is illuminated, one can see 600-foot waterfalls pouring from the roof following a rain storm. Perhaps the most popular attraction of this cavern, however, is the daily exodus of its colony of nearly a million bats. Every evening the bats stream from the cave to spend the night dining on Gunung's rich insect population.

Clearwater Cave is the longest cave system in Southeast Asia. Although little of it is open to park visitors without special permission, over a hundred kilometers of passages have been discovered so far.

Not all of Mulu's limestone features are contained in caves. Gunung API, a 1,750 meter high mountain of limestone, lies directly beside Sarawak's second highest mountain peak, Gunung Mulu (2,376 meters). Both mountains are over five million years old. About two-thirds of the way up Gunung API sits a mass of enormous razor-sharp limestone pinnacles, the result of the steadily heavy rainfall experienced in this area over the last, oh, couple of million years or so..

For further information, please contact
National Parks and Wildlife Office
1st Floor, Wisma Sumber Alam
93050 Kuching, Sarawak Tel: 082-442180/201 Fax: 082-441377
or
Section Forest Office
98000 Miri, Sarawak
Tel: 085-436637
Fax: 085-417629

The Park At A Glance
Size: 544 sq. km
Highest Point: Gunung Mulu (2,376 meters)
Flora Fauna: To date, Mulu is known to contain 1500 species of flowering plants including 170 species of orchids and 10 species of pitcher plants, excluding thousands of fungi, mosses and ferns. There are over 67 species of mammals, 262 species of birds, 74 species of frogs, 47 species of fish, 281 species of butterflies and 458 species of ants.
Activities - Jungle-trekking, caving expeditions.

Almost every evening over Deer Cave there rises a wheeling, twisting black clouds of hundreds of thousands of bats exiting from their roosts within the cave. Other common cave dwellers include 3 species of swiftlets, centipedes, earwigs, spiders and giant crickets.

Getting There
Miri is the jumping-off point. From Miri, visitors can take a Malaysia Airlines flight (15 minutes) or take the express boat from Kuala Baram (3 hours) to Marudi. From Marudi, take a commercial express boat to Kuala Apoh or Long Panai on the Tutoh River (a tributary of the Baram River). The express departs Marudi at noon daily and returns to Marudi in the early morning of the next day. The trip takes about 3 hours.

Kenong Rimba Park

Located in the valley of the Sungai Kenong, the Kenong Rimba Park offers cave explorations, rock climbing, jungle trekking, and fishing. This is also the home of an aboriginal race called the Batak.

The Park At A Glance
Size: 128 sq. km
Highest Point: Bukit Batu Kapur
Flora Fauna - The caves are a natural habitat for for a host of flora which include orchids, "pokok Ara" and parasitic plants which thrive among the branches of the gigantic trees. It is also the home of numerous varieties of birds like the merbah, pigeons and merbuk to name a few. Nearby, water-lillies of multi-hued profusion grace the serene water of the padi-fields. Mammalian life includes the mouse-deer, porcupine and possibly elephants, too.

Activities
Cave expeditions, jungle walks, mountain climbing, swimming, picnicking, fishing. An interesting legend surrounds the mango tree which bears luscious fruit of such sweetness. They may be eaten but a curse will befall anyone who tries to bring them home..

Getting There
By Road: a 5 minute walk away from the railway station (9th mile, Kuala Lipis) is the jetty of Sungai Jelai. Take a sampan for a 20 minute ride to Tanjung Kiara. Alternatively, the journey by the river from Kuala Lipis takes between 2-3 hours. There is a tour package organized by a travel agency and Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad.

For further information, please contact
District Forest Officer
Government Office Complex
27200 Kuala Lipis, Pahang
Malaysia (West)
Tel: 09-311273, 3144106
& 2777767 (Toll-free)
or
Tourist Office
KTMB Railway Station
27200 Kuala Lipis. Pahang
Malaysia (West)
Tel: 09-313277 & 213144
Fax: 609-311117

Kuala Gula Bird Sanctuary

A prime nesting site, the Kuala Gula Sanctuary in Perak has over a hundred species of birds, some of them protected. It is situated in the mangrove swamps south of Bagan Serai. The peak months for bird watching are between August and December.

The Park At A Glance
Flora Fuana: Over 100 bird species, smooth otter, dusky leaf monkey, long-tailed macaque, ridge-backed dolphin. Activies: Bird watching, nature walks.

Getting There
By Road: Head south from Bagan Serai, in Perak.

Niah National Park

The Niah National Park, Sarawak is the site of the Niah Caves, one of the largest limestone caves in the world. The Park covers 3,102 hectares (7,756 acres) of forest and limestone. The peak of Gunung Subis, which is 394 meters high (1,294 ft), dominates the landscape. One may explore the vastness of the Great Cave, where archaeologists have discovered evidence of man's existence in Borneo dating as far back as 40,000 years ago. On display are the skull of a young Homo Sapien, some tools made out of stone, bone and iron, and cave drawings. Anthropologists established that the Niahian lived in the Caves from 40000 BC right up to 1400 AD.

As more than half the park is covered with limestone, limestone vegetation is the most common variety of plant life. The families of Balsaminaceae and Begoniaceae are commonly seen at the entrance of the Traders' and West Mouth Caves. Peat swamp and mixed dipterocarp can also be found in the Niah. Animals are not easy to spot, but if you are lucky you may catch a glimpse of the park's inhabitants: long-tailed macaques, bulbuls, trogons, squirrels, flying lizards, Rajah Brooke butterflies, hornills, mouse-deer, and water monitors.

The Park At A Glance
Size: 3,120 hectares Highest Point: Guning Subis (394 meters) Flora Fauna: More than hal the park is covered in limestone resulting in limestone vegetation predominating the common herbs. Animals are not easy to spot buy you may catch sight of the long-tailed macaques, bulbuls, trogons, squirrels, flying lizards, Rajah Brooke butterflies, hornbills, mouse-deer and water monitors. Activities: Caving expeditions, jungle walks, archaeology, Between the months of August and December, and from January to March, visitors can also observe the harvest of swiftlet nests in the Great Cave. The nests are the primary ingredient of bird's nest soup.

Getting There
Niah National Park is accessible by road via Miri or Bintulu, 2 hours from Miri and 3 hours from Bintulu, to the Park Head quarters. If you travel by bus, you will have to take a boat along the Niah river from Batu Niah town to the Park Ranger's office.

Rantau Abang Turtle Park

To halt the decline of the number of the Giant Leatherback Turtle, an endangered species, hatchery work is being carried out at Rantau Abang. Approximately 60 km south of Kuala Terengganu, Visitors would lay in wait quietly from midnight to dawn to watch the memorable sight of these Giant Leatherbacks laying their eggs. These giant turtles, up to 2.5 meters in length and sometimes weighing more than 375 kg is indeed a phenomenal sight to behold. Rantau Abang is one of only six places in the world visited by these turtles, from the months of May to September. The Terengganu Government has made it an offense for anyone to collect or sell turtle's eggs except those authorized or licensed to do so.

The Park At A Glance
Activities: Turtle watching.

Getting There
By Road: Along Malaysia's East Coast Hiway, about 100 miles north of Kuantan and 35 miles south of Kuala Terenganu.

Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuay

A twenty-minute drive from Sandakan, Sabah will bring you to Sepilok Forest Reserve, a enormous area Orang-Utans at Sepilok Parkof virgin equatorial rainforest. The wealth of indigenous and rare plants, animals and birds that have found sanctuary here are to be seen to be believed. There are numerous self-guiding trails to help the visitor explore the reserve.

A most interesting feature of the reserve is the Orang-Utan Sanctuary. Here Orang Utans which have strayed into logging camps or rescued from captivity are cared and sent back to the forest.

The Park At A Glance
Size: 9.880 acres

Getting There
By Road - Driving West, about 20-minutes from the town of Sandakan.

Taman Negara National Park

Taman Negara (National Park) straddles the borders of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang in Peninsular Malaysia. A totally protected area of 4,343 sq km, Taman Negara is one of the world's oldest tropical rain forests. The diversity of its fauna and flora is a result of undisturbed evolution over 130 million years.

Taman Negara is a particularly favorable destination for trekking, as the park's remarkable biodiversity is matched by a good network of jungle trails and the availability of expert guides. The park is also noted for fishing, especially along the upper reaches of the Tahan or Kenyam rivers, and for rafting the rapids of Sungai Tembeling.

Peninsular Malaysia's highest mountain, Gunung Tahan (2,187 meters), is located in Taman Negara, and climbing the mountain is an unforgettable experience. Due to the scarcity of water along the route, the journey must be done in two stages, and an experienced guide is compulsory. At least three days are required for the journey to the summit and back.

On the southern edge is Kuala Tahan, the park's headquarters, linked to the outside world by river. A three-hour river trip is the only overland route; an alternative is to take a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Taman Negara.

For further information, please contact
Wildlife and National Parks Department
Km 10, Jalan Cheras
56100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-9052872
Fax: 03-9052873

The Park At A Glance
Size: 4,343 sq km
Highest Point: Gunung Tahan (2,187 meters)
Flora Fauna: Over 10,000 species of plants, 250 kind of birds. Local mammals include mouse deer, barking deer, wild ox, and numerous monkey species. Tapir, elephant, leopard and tiger also present, though not easy to spot.

Activies - Jungle-trekking, white-water rafting, fishing, guided nature walks

Getting There
By Road - From Kuala Lumpur, the road journey takes about three hours. Travel to Jerantut by way of Mentakab or Raub. From Jerantut, Kuala Tembeling is sixteen kilometers north. Follow signs from Kuala Tembeling to the jetty.

By Rail - Train services are available from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The train passes Kuala Tembeling. From Kuala Tembeling, there is a half-hour walk to the jetty.

By Air - Pelangi Air flies to Taman Negara from Kuala Lumpur.