KUMBANG HIDE: TREKKING AND HIDING IN TAMAN NEGARA

TREKKING AND HIDING IN TAMAN NEGARA: KUMBANG HIDE.

   

Please follow my family's overnight journey to Kumbang Hide in the year 2006, the most distant hide in Taman Negara Pahang. We were travelling in a boat to Trenggan and later, trek to the hide in a group of four, myself, my husband and our two 5-year old and 6-year-old daughters. If your neve been here, then you have to come and explore yourself. You will surely enjoy your adventure in this wilderness as we did years ago. Allow me to tell our story.

There are two ways to reach this hide. You can  trek for about 12.5km or 5 to 6 hours from Kuala Tahan  to Trenggan and trek for another one hour to the hide. The trail is located along the Tembeling River, so sometimes you will hear sound of boat plying the river. The trek can be hard for some people, especially for me, so my family opted to reach Trenggan by boat. The boat journey to Trenggan will take about 30 minutes through the Tembeling River and another one hour trek or 2km journey to the hide. My family took longer times, as we stopped for drinking and munching, and looking for small animals. My daughters like to watch a big group of ants walking through our  trail.  There are signboards everywhere, so you won't miss the trail. But remember, please stick to the gazetted trail.

We found this chameleon while resting under a big tree on the way to the hide. After taking this picture, it quickly run into the thick forest. Of course it ran away, as my daughters make so much noise. They were very happy spotting the chameleon. Children do have sharp eyes! 

Afer walking for more than one hour with many stops, we finally reached our home for the night. It is not a banglo or apartment, but this is a hide as you can see above. The local Malay called it bumbun. The hide is built from concrete, high up to canopy level beside a salt lick.

The hide is actually a small one big room with a few double-decker beds, built from a combination of concrete and timber. It has one long window overlooking a saltlick area. It offers very rustic facilities with basic accommodation up to 12 people, with no mattress and pillow. The bed is just a plank double decker bed made of timber. You need to bring your own sleeping bag and they are available for hire at Kuala Tahan. My family carried simple overnight backpack with stuff just enough for one night stay.

The staircase to the hide is made from concrete. Previously, the hide was built entirely from wood. Now, with the concrete structure, the hide will last for a longer period. Did you see a white door behind me in the above photo? That is the door to the bathroom for the hide. The bathroom can be a little small for European-sized tourists and for me, too! My family was walking down the staircase for a leisurely walk near the hide. We want to observe the vegetations and any animals or insects spotted nearby.

After eating our simple dinner at the hide, my family decided to go for short walk around the hide. Not too far because it can be scary as we were located deep in the rainforest and away from civilization. We were so lucky when we spotted this deer coming near to the hide. My children were very good as they remained quiet throughout the nightwalk adventure.

My family spotted this bird collared  kingfisher or scientifically called todiramphus chloris during our walkout near the hide. My children were very curious and excited each time they sighted colourful birds flying or resting on the tree branch. They were exposed to birding even before they were still babies. My eldest daughter joined me, my husband and another nature tourist guide of Taman Negara for a birdrace competition in Fraser Hill when she was only six-month-old! We won the first prize for the novice category.

Another bird spotted by our family near the hide. This is Black-Naped Oriole or oriolus chinensis.This is the male bird. It is relatively large, golden-yellow body and wing-coverts, and broad black band from lores to hind-crown and nape.

This is another bird sighted by us. It is

Asian Fairy Bluebird or irena puella. The male puella has shinning deep blue upperpartsand undertail coverts, otherwise mostly blacklish. It has red eyes.However, the female puella has overall dull turquoise-blue with flight feathers and reddish eyes.

My children spotted this Leaf Insect just near our hide. It was clinging on a small tree branch near the ground level. It wings had the shape of leaf, so observation is very important, if not you might miss it. The insect camouflarged itself with the surrounding.

BOOKING FOR THE HIDE

You need to book for the bed at the Park and Wildlife Department's Information Centre in Kuala Tahan in advance before embarking on your adventure to the hide at RM 6 per person per bed. You could also hire the whole hide for the night but you have to pay for all the bed of 12 beds. That is what we did.

There is no electricity at the hide, so you have to bring your torch or candle and other eating utensils. Many tourists go there with simple food such as cookies, plain bottled water and bread. Please please bring  all your rubbish back to the headquarters and throw them in the rubbish bin

 There is a small simple bathroom with toilet, and importantly running water, available also next to the hide. So, no need to run down and sit next to the bushes to do your small and big businesses! So, no bush toilets! Please don't expect a 5-star bathroom facility here.

My husband Hamid was a registered nature tourist guide based at Kuala Tahan, the basecamp for Taman Negara. He had led many tourists many international and local tourists. But now, just like me, he prefers to lead the family on our outing to any nature reserve. We let the younger generations do the guiding jobs.

Overnight at the hide is best done in a group as the night can be very quiet at night with only the sound of the jungle. Travelling in a group can also minimise the carry-load of each person and you can take turn to sight the animals. You could also exchange ideas about the rainforest....at least you have someone to talk to. Travelling in a group is better as it is a long trail from Trenggan to the hide. However, remain quite is important. If not, you will only sight your companion and not animals!

My family inside a four-seater boat on the way back from Trenggan to Kuala Tahan. You can hire a boat back to Kuala Tahan with prior arrangement with boatmen in Kuala Tahan or you catch the boat bus. You have to check with the Information Centre for details as the boat service might change overtime.

You can also trek back to Kuala Tahan but the journey will take another 5 to 6 hours of a lot of up and down.

A beautiful rainforest flower sighted just before reaching the hide.

ANIMAL SIGHTING

KUMBANG HIDE is the best hide compared to other hides in Taman Negara, to see animal, as it is the sited far away from any civilization.

Spending a night at the hide doesn't guarantee sightings of large animals. However, you will be lucky if you can catch a glimpse of small animals. This is definately the best place to see the norturnal activities of animals.

Upon reaching the hide, you will see a few of this signboards asking you to not making any noise, as it decrease the chances to see animals.

Equipped yourself with a good binocular, to catch sighting of animals especially birds high-up the canopy level.



My husband was explaining about the forest to my second daugher. They are looking out from the look-out  windor at the hide. My 5-year old daughter and her eldest sister are exposed to the biodiversity of the rainforest from the day they were born!  





The blogger NORHASIYATI TAHARIN was a journalist with Watan and The Star newspaper attached to the Business Section. She was an award-winning travel writer after winning the Malaysia Tourism Award for 1996/1997 for the Best Tourism Article on Malaysia (Other Language). She left journalism and start family life in Kuala Tahan, the hub of Taman Negara. She remained unidentified for many years under many bylines, but prefer to stick to yatietaharin for her blog.