www.motobiking.com    Lake Kenyir - Taman Negara Nature Ride

page 7

5 - 7 July  2007

  We decided to use the Maran-Jerantut road to get to Taman Negara. Jerantut is the gateway town to Taman Negara Pahang. Taman Negara, established in 1938/1939, comprises three states, Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu, each with its own legislation. Taman Negara Pahang is the largest at 2,477 km², followed by Taman Negara Kelantan at 1,043 km² and Taman Negara Terengganu at 853 km². The park has been developed into a famous ecotourism destination and is the home of some rare mammals, such as the Indochinese Tiger, Sumatran Rhinoceros, Malayan Gaur (seladang) and Asian Elephant. There are several geological and biological attractions in the park.

Our main goal was to experience the world’s longest canopy walk and maybe get a glimpse of some real wild animals.

The Maran to Jerantut kampung road was hugely challenging fast in certain places and slow in others. Though the road is only some 80 odd km, I soon feel very tired due to the many curves I have to tackle. Ben’s passionate riding was severely restricted to his Vulcan’s ground clearance and was constantly scraping the bike’ foot-pegs while Fadzil, Phang and Ivan were having jolly times weaving their bikes around the snaking road.

We made a quick stop at the local petrol station to refill and to hydrate. It was our last stop before we continued our final lap to Kuala Tahan, the gateway village to Taman Negara. The 64 km of road from Jerantut to Kuala Tahan is probably the most interesting road we encountered so far. The road, recently resurfaced, is very vertically challenged as it is probably built to hug the original terrain. Riding on the road is very akin to a ride in a roller coaster. As a bonus, lush surrounding palm oil trees created a shadowly background and seem to make the ambient temperature a little cooler.

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