Taman Negara Trekking: Sleeping in a cave deep in the jungle

Taman Negara, the world’s oldest tropical forest, is located in the heart of Malaysia’s main peninsula. The trek is a multi-day experience and the crossing requires a certain level of physical and mental preparedness and appropriate clothing.

“You have no idea you can sweat (and smell 🙂) so much until you trek through the jungle”

This was the motto of my group at the end of this incredible adventure!

I did the jungle trek in Taman Negara National Park in March 2023. I walked for hours in the middle of the jungle, showered in the river, ate dinner all together by candlelight, and slept in a huge cave in the wilderness. It was a challenging hike because of the conditions (the humidity level is very high in the jungle!), but it was definitely the best activity I did during my stay in Malaysia. This experience connects you with your ‘primitive self’, and with the wilderness. In this article I will detail everything I did to organise this adventure, what it involved and how much you can expect to pay.

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Taman Negara National Park

Taman Negara is an incredible tropical rainforest located in the heart of the Malaysian peninsular. It is estimated to be over 130 thousand years old. You can enjoy a variety of activities in it, such as the canopy walkway, treetop walks with small wooden jetties, exploring local caves, venturing into the ‘Lata Berkoh‘ rapids on the river, and especially many jungle treks, some even lasting several days. The national park offers the opportunity to enjoy the view of the Tahan River with many resorts, hotels and restaurants located nearby.

It is possible to venture into the jungle on one’s own by taking short, marked loop trails. However, we highly recommend you to be accompanied by experienced local guides should you wish to undertake longer treks or make a multi-day trek. There is no telephone signal in the jungle, therefore it can be very dangerous. The lush flora makes it extremely difficult to orient oneself and follow the correct path. Not to mention the wildlife you may encounter, such as wild elephants, bears or, although rare, tigers. Do things conscientiously to fully enjoy this wonderful experience!

How to get to Taman Negara National Park

To reach the National Park there are convenient buses that will take you to Jerantut station in the Pahang region, whether you are coming from the north from the Cameron Highlands, or from the south from the capital Kuala Lumpur. I left from Kuala Lumpur and the ticket cost was about €4-5 for a total of 3 hours travel time. You can purchase tickets here on 12go Asia.

Once you arrive at the Jerantut bus station, you will find a cluster of minivan drivers who will offer to take you directly to the village of Kuala Negara in the National Park. A few years ago there were several options to reach the park from the Jerantut station, including a boat ride up the river, but after Covid, due to declining tourism, all these options were cancelled. For this reason, these minibuses may be a little overpriced. ALWAYS try to haggle, you can usually lower the price by a few euros!

Once you and the other travellers have found your driver, you will be dropped off in the town centre. Here you will find a tourist office where you can organise the activities to do in Taman Negara over the next few days. Once we arrived at the National Park, we were fortunate to stay at the Taman Negara River View Lodge for about 10 euros per night, taking advantage of my Genius 3 discount on Booking. The regular prices typically range around 20 euros per night. The room was very nice, and the morning river view was truly amazing.

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Jungle trek and night in the cave

Programme in brief: this is a two-day loop trek in the jungle. You start in the morning with a small boat and travel up the beautiful Tahan River, which runs through the heart of the rainforest, to the entrance of the famous canopy walkway. You will then spend an hour here, walking along the towering forest trees via these rickety wooden jetties. Once this activity is over, you continue our walk through the jungle, lasting about six hours, to arrive at the huge cave where you will all prepare dinner together and camp for the night. The next morning, after breakfast, the second part of the trek lasting 4 hours will begin. This part takes you back along the river from where you will take the boat back to the starting point of the village, arriving at about 4 pm.

Note: by taking this route, wildlife sightings are less likely, although some groups have been lucky enough to spot elephants. On some occasions some groups even found elephants inside the cave! If you are less interested in the cave experience but more in spotting animals, the guides will be able to offer you other routes when you book.

At the expense of spotting fewer animals, my friends and I didn’t hesitate for a second and immediately chose to venture out on the multi-day trek. We did not want to miss the experience of sleeping in the wildest place ever!

Check out our awesome guide @rippi_outdoor on instagram if you want to get an idea of what you’ll encounter on the jungle trek!

Day 1

The first day of the trek will start at 9am and the meeting point will be in front of the village tourist office. Breakfast is not included in the tour package, so make sure you have a nice energizing breakfast before arriving. The ‘Anne‘ restaurant will be open at that time so order a nice breakfast of omelets or pancakes before you leave! Be sure to arrive on time though, when we arrived there was already a very long queue of people waiting for their breakfast.

Preparations for the trek

Once in front of the tourist office, you will be divided into groups and start packing your backpack for the excursion. If you do not have a backpack, you can rent one directly on site for the price of 15 euros. You will be given a mat to sleep on during the night (please note that there will be no mattresses available) and a sleeping bag to sleep on. Water, food for dinner, two lunches and breakfast with the corresponding dishes will be equally distributed among all participants of the trek, so that everyone brings something. Your 30-40 litre rucksack will be almost completely full and will already weigh a lot, leaving little room for personal belongings. Later on I will recommend which essentials to take with you to avoid under or over packing.

Once you have packed your backpack, you will be ready to leave with your group. First, you will cross the river to get to the entrance of the national park, where you will buy your park entrance permit. From here, you will make a list of the things in your backpack, which you will hand over to a ranger. This practice is used to ensure that tourists do not leave dirt behind during the trek. Try to keep clean and take home with you all the rubbish you accumulate.

By this time it will be about 10 o’clock, and you will be ready to leave for your 6-hour trek into the Taman Negara jungle!

Here are the stops and experiences you will have during this jungle adventure:

Boat ride up the river

Your start and end of the jungle trek will be accompanied by sailing up the Tahan River. You’ll be taken to the starting point of the trek, and brought back to the village the next day. I love navigating the rivers with local boats, surrounded by pure nature, it really gives me a great sense of adventure and freedom. Enjoy this relaxing time to contemplate the oldest forest in the world! If you are lucky, you will spot some animals approaching the river to drink!

Canopy walk

For any organised trekking to Taman Negara, this is the first stop. The canopy walk is a walk in the treetops with small wooden pontoons suspended very high. It is a nice activity within the reach of anyone who wants to visit the nature park.

Jungle trekking

To sum up the six-hour jungle trek: YOU SWEAT. And when I say you sweat, I mean that the whole time you will feel like you just got out of the shower!

The trek is not technically difficult. The path is almost all flat, except for a few points where you will have to cross rivers or climb some logs to find the right path. However, the humidity makes it really challenging and complicated, especially considering how many hours you will have ahead of you. You will have three long stops in between, in which you can eat some snacks, drink water and catch your breath. Needless to say, we were always exhausted at these moments while our guides comfortably stopped to smoke cigarettes as if they had just woken up 😁

River shower

At the end of the 6 long hours, having almost reached the cave, it is time for a nice cool shower to get rid of all the sweat accumulated during the day. If you wish, you can try the river shower experience! There is no better way to connect with nature than this!

Note: Using the toilet during these two days will be amongst nature, so please do not throw your used toilet paper around. Keep it with you or burn it in the campfire in the evening.

Setting up camp for the night inside the cave

Once ‘showered’, it is time to enter the cave and start preparing the camp for the night. The first step, as our ancestors would have done: light a fire! Here you all go into the jungle to look for wood to use for the fire pit. Once you have lit the fire, you will have to look for your place for the night. When everyone is settled, the guides, together with anyone who would like to volunteer, will start preparing food for dinner. I must admit that our dinner was delicious! Rice with vegetables, and plenty for everyone.

Going to sleep

Once dinner was over, it was time to end the first tiring day by going to sleep. The feeling of going to sleep in the cave, with the candles giving a dim light that was gradually fading away, is something indescribable until you try it! You feel like reconnecting with your ancestors from the past, you feel vulnerable and strong at the same time. A unique experience!

Day 2

The second day starts with a wake-up call at around 7.30am. I woke up before the alarm clock with the singing of the jungle birds, which had a really wonderful and distinctive song, and the jumping of the monkeys from branch to tree, visible from the upper opening of the cave. It was a beautiful and peaceful moment of connection with nature. After a while, my friend Giulia also woke up and we went for a little walk around the cave, listening to nature calmly waking up.

Breakfast for everyone, again prepared by our legendary guides, was around 8 a.m. We had as much coffee and tea as we could drink, and ate toast with jam or peanut butter, cakes and fresh oranges. Exactly what we needed to fuel the last 4 hours of trekking to the boat back to the village.

After breakfast, we all got ready in a hurry, clean up the cave making sure not to leave anything behind, and then set off again for the trek. For me, the final walk was exhausting! In the morning I woke up with a bit of a cold, probably from the humidity, and I didn’t feel in full strength to face the return journey. Eventually, we all made it to the end, where a well-deserved hot plate of instant noodles and a last swim in the river awaited us before returning to the village.

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Where to stay in Taman Negara / Kuala Tahan

There are no shortage of great places to stay in the Taman Negara area, with prices to suit all budgets. All of the recommendations below are properties rated 8+/10.

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What to bring and prepare

As you may have realised from reading this article, there is a high level of humidity in the jungle. There may be high or low rivers to cross (depending on Malaysia’s rainy season), mud, and the possibility of rain.

For these reasons just listed, it is essential to arrive with proper equipment.

Packing List

Here is a list of things that are best to have with you during these two days:

• Rain jacket. During our walk on the first day, it was going to rain. Having a rain jacket with you can really make a difference in these cases and prevent the flu.
• Technical material shirts. It is best to prefer technical, breathable and preferably merino shirts. These materials tend to dry quickly and you will be sure to have dry things on for the next day.
• Long socks up to above the ankle for leeches. There were no problems with leeches in our group, although some people found them on their shoes or ankles. For this reason, it is better to have high shoes to protect your skin. Before going to bed, you can ask someone to take a look at your legs just in case!
• Suitable water-repellent hiking shoes. You will have to cross rivers and mud in several places, so if you don’t want to say goodbye to your shoes and not get your feet wet, bring high, water-repellent shoes.
• Small hiking backpack. If you do not have a medium or small backpack with you, the guides will rent you one. For your comfort and the well-being of your back, it is still better to have your own backpack.
• Some snacks or energy drinks. To replenish the salts lost through sweating, it can be a good idea to add mineral salts to your water or buy some energy drinks.
• Mosquito repellent. Mosquitoes are present in the jungle, although in smaller numbers than I expected. Take the repellent with you and spray it every 2 hours.
• Medicines to decongest the nose. If, like me, you are prone to colds, consider bringing some medicines or tissues that can help you against the dampness.
• Ear plugs. This is a tip for those who are light sleepers. With the rumbling of sounds in the cave, you don’t want to find yourself staying up all night if there is someone in your group who snores! 🙂

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Safety, Concerns and Useful Information

• The best time to do the jungle trek is during the dry season, which runs from around October to April. Keep in mind that Malaysia has an equatorial climate, so there is rainfall all year round, albeit less in some months.
• There is no telephone reception in the jungle. You will not have phone reception for the entire two days, so it is essential to stay with the group at all times and not to venture out alone on unmarked trails, otherwise you risk to get lost and not be able to call for help. Always rely on your guide for anything you need.
• Travel insurance is a must for any extreme activity abroad, especially in South-East Asia. Even if problems rarely occur, it is better to be covered in case they do. We use SafteyWing and recommend it to anyone travelling anywhere in the world.
• When spending money abroad we use the WISE international debit card. You can withdraw up to 200 euros in cash per month free of charge. After that, you only pay a very low withdrawal fee.
• Accommodation in Taman Negara is limited. If you haven’t yet booked where to stay, do so to ensure you are comfortable after your trek. Find out more about hotels in Taman Negara here!

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Final comment

The jungle trek in Taman Negara was not one of the most scenic treks I have ever done. The scenery remains more or less the same most of the time, and the weather conditions are not favourable. As an experience though, it was one of the best I have ever had! It was challenging and stimulating. We had a lot of laughs with the whole group, especially about how sweaty and tired we were, and sleeping in the cave was a great feeling that I will never forget. I had never slept in such a wild and primordial situation before, I will always remember it!

Interested in other articles on hiking or trekking? Check them out on the blog here.