Taman Negara National Park is widely known as the most remote and wild of the national parks in Malaysia that are found on the peninsular section of the country. The states of Sarawak and Sabah on the island of Borneo have national parks that are more remote, but in the main part of the country, Taman Negara is king.
One of the boardwalk trails in Taman Negara National Park.
Getting to Taman Negara National Park
The best deal that I found for getting to Taman Negara National Park was on 12Go. You can book a minivan for $23 one way from Chinatown Travel Lodge in Kuala Lumpur all the way to the parking lot across from the national park. There are also bus options for cheaper, but they do not take you all the way to park, so you would need to secure another ride from the bus drop off area to the park. I am sure this would be easily done, but I feel the minivan option was more convenient as you did not have to worry about further connections.
Stop over for lunch on the way to Taman Negara in Jerantut, Malaysia.
Related: Getting to Bako National Park
Where to stay in Taman Negara National Park
You can either stay at the many guesthouses on the other side of the river. They all range from $20-$40 or you can stay inside the park at Mutiara Taman Negara for $150 and up. I stayed at Tekoma Resort for two nights in a hostel room with four beds. I was traveling in the area for five weeks, so I was looking to find affordable lodging. Tekoma was a good option, and I would recommend, but there were a couple of problems with it.
Tekoma Resort did have a nice pool.
Tekoma Resort was one of the furthest away from the river crossing. Visitors had to go up a decent hill, so you would already be sweating and hot by the time you arrived at the river crossing. Furthermore, my hostel was not in the main part of the resort. I was down a hill about a quarter of a mile from the road, so it was even further and included another hill to your walk to the actual national park.
Here is a glimpse of the little town on the other side of the river from the National Park. At the bottom of the hill are many restaurants and the landing for the ferry to get across.
If I had to do it over again, I would pony up and purchase a place inside the park at Mutiara. It would have been quite nice to start each day already in the park. Taman Negara was incredibly hot and muggy, so any effort that you can save yourself, makes it possible to see more inside the park.
Black-and-red broadbill seen not too far from the river.
First day hike in Taman Negara National Park
The first day, I hiked along the river. This was a nice trail, but it was not very long. It prematurely ended and then had a sign that you could go no further without a guide. This was only about a mile from the resort and entrance. Along the way, I saw some red-and-black broadbills, and this was the highlight of the day. I saw a few other birds, but the birding was a little slow. I also saw Asian fairy bluebirds, orange-backed woodpeckers, and dark-throated orioles.
Dark-throated oriole according to Merlin, which was a lifer.
Taman Negara National Park night safari
I booked a night safari through the lodge. This was ridiculously busy. I think I was there during a Malaysian holiday as there were hundreds of European and Malaysian tourists. I thought this national park was remote and hard to get to, but many other people were there and this culminated during this night safari. You could hardly walk without bumping into people and groups kept getting intermingled. I do not mind sharing tourist locations with others, but I was surprised and a little disappointed how busy this park tended to be.
Beautiful lit up scorpion on a Taman Negara National Park night safari.
Despite the hordes of people, this was a great night safari. We saw a couple of snakes, and two types of scorpions. One of the scorpions beautiful lit up in blue when our guide shined his light on it. Another place, our guide shined on a down tree and there were probably ten scorpions on this log. Remind me not to sit on a log in a Malaysian National Park.
If my memory serves me correctly, this is an Oriental whip snake.
Day two hiking and birding in Taman Negara
The next day, I followed another trail and visited a bird hide. At the bird hide, there were some Asian fairy bluebirds and little green-pigeons on a distant tree. A couple of really loud German tourists then showed up. I could hear them loudly talking a half mile away. All the birds flew away before they climbed the stairs. They asked if I had seen any birds, and I told them that they scared them away and told them if they wanted to see something they should consider talking a little more quietly.
Asian fairy bluebird at the bird hide.
Little green-pigeon before the ruckus.
Little green-pigeon fleeing from loud mouthed Germans.
I left the hide and followed a trail into the jungle. Again, the birding was really slow. I saw a water monitor foraging in the leaves. I found a quiet spot and just kind of hunkered down to see if I could see anything. The strategy worked as a banded broadbill was on the tree right above me the whole time. It moved causing a leaf to fall directly on me. I looked up and found the source of the disruption and it was a beautiful broadbill. You really have to be quiet and patient in the jungle to see birds, especially during the heat of the day.
Beautiful banded broadbill found after considerable patience.
Three great sightings make the day
Besides the banded broadbill, I was not seeing much and getting a little frustrated. This all changed when I hiked the section of the loop that was farthest from people. This one stretch of trail, I saw no one. At the highest point of the trail, I looked up on this tree to see what looked like a bat. It turned out to be a Malaysian flying lemur. These are nocturnal animals and rarely seen, so this was extremely lucky.
Malaysian flying lemur in Taman Negara National Park.
Unfortunately, I could not get a picture of his eyes, this was the best angle I could get.
Gold-whiskered barbet not far from the lemur.
I turned around to look up in the other direction and there was a bird out in the open on a branch high above me. I zoomed in and discovered it was some sort of barbet that I had yet to see. It turned out to be a gold whiskered barbet. I absolutely love barbets and had seen several different kinds in Thailand, but this was my first of this species, so another lifer.
Gold-whiskered barbet.
I hiked down the trail and started to see movement to my right. The ruckus was a flock of Malaysian crested firebacks rummaging through the forest floor. I tracked them through the understory, and they were not easy to photograph due to the low light. A couple of times though, they hoped up on dead trees and this was more in the open, so I was able to get some good photographs and video.
Malaysian crested fireback emerges from the understory on top of a deadfall for a nice pose.
So much harder to get a good photograph when they are on the jungle floor, but I managed one good shot.
Back to civilization and no more sightings
Soon after seeing the firebacks, the trail met back up with the main trail at the entrance. I soon started to see many people again and not that many birds. At least I had a little highlight of bird and mammal activity. I went back to the bird hide at dusk hoping to see something. A barking deer came out into the open, so at least something graced our presence. I soon walked back to the river and crossed back over to my guesthouse.
Barking deer at the bird hide near dusk.
Thoughts about Taman Negara National Park
Taman Negara National Park was a beautiful national park and worth the visit if you are in Malaysia or Kuala Lumpur; however, I was a little disappointed with certain aspects of my visit. First of all, it was incredibly crowded. I visited Kaeng Krachan and Khao Yai National Parks in Thailand and they were nowhere near as busy and the birding is much better in both locations.
Taman Negara National Park selfie.
I was also a little disappointed that Taman Negara National Park is not that birder friendly. They offered no birding guides at the park or anywhere near the village. This kind of blew my mind as I would have thought that Malaysia would be even more birder friendly than Thailand. At Kaeng Krachan, it is easy to secure a guide through Baan Makan Nature Lodge or somewhere in Hua Hin. Perhaps there are options to book a guide in Kuala Lumpur, but I am sure that would be really expensive.
The beginning of the too long walk from Tekoma Resort to the national park.
The trails were also not so birder friendly. There are not that many of them and you cannot go too far away from the entrance without a guide, and I do not know where you were to find a guide. The fact that I saw three great sightings at the most remote spot on the trails, shows what this park could be if they had more options to hike farther from the entrance. I doubt that I would return to this national park with so many better options in Thailand or on Sabah or Sarawak.
Tembeling River inside Taman Negara National Park.
Taman Negara boating options
If I did go back to Taman Negara National Park, I would have done one of the boating option tours. You can book at the main ferry. There is also an option to take a ferry from the park to Jerantut, which is one of the stops on the way for the buses and the minivans. You can take a ferry/buss or ferry/minivan combo either going to Taman Negara or going back. This might be a good way to see hornbills. I was also disappointed not to see any hornbills, but since none of the trails took birders that far from the main entrance, I was not that surprised.
Adventure on!
