Taman Negara Off The Beaten Path Tips by bpacker Top 5 Page for this destination

Earth above, Water below

Here's my pathectic attempt to ape a National Geographic shot I saw. Trees above and a wary eye of a fish below in Kelah Fish Sanctuary,Taman Negara. I shot this miserable photo using my Sony Camera in a Sony dive casing. Read on to see what I actually saw..

Where
Kelah Fish Sanctuary, Sungai Tahan

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Wildlife in Taman Negara:Pheasant

Other than Hornbills, you can also see plainer looking birds in Taman Negara (Pahang). This pheasant is a good example.

Name: Crestless Fireback (Female)
Scientific Name : Lophura erythrophthalma erythrophthalma

Composed on my DSCP70 camera

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Wildlife in Taman Negara : Scarab

Though this emerald-green bug looks and sound pretty, it feeds on dung.

Taken by CK on the Panasonic Lumix. Night Shot, 12x optical zoom function.

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Caving at Gua Telinga

Other than the fruit bats, there were a staggering number of animals in Gua Telinga ( a cave in Taman Negara)...centipedes, swiftlets, toads, spiders, etc. Haha, now you're wondering what I was doing down there, right?? I'm still wondering, by the way. Just to let you know, I went out of the cave covered with bat droppings..

Shot of me taken by CK on a Panasonic Lumix.

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Wildlife in Taman Negara : HornBill Nestling

Somehow, lots of folks have told me that I was extremely lucky to see these beautiful but unusual birds in Taman Negara. Was I ? I spotted this bird on more than one occasion and to my knowledge there are 11 species of hornbills in Taman Negara alone so I didn't think it was all that unusual to see one. This picture of a juvenile hornbill was taken at the Kelah Fish Sanctuary.

Composed on my Sony DSCP70

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Wildlife in Taman Negara : Hornbill

Taman Negara (Pahang) is as wild as it gets. On a trip, do expect do see these beautiful creatures flying overhead and sitting on tree branches near you. My friend took a picture of this baby after a swim at Lata Berkoh.

Taken by CK on a Panasonic Lumix

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Wildlife in Taman Negara : Caterpillar

There's wildlife everywhere in Taman Negara ( Pahang, M'sia) even on an ordinary bench. Luckily, I spotted this little fella before I sat on him.

Composed on my Sony DSCP70

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Protected Marine Life

Just below the calm brown waters of Kelah Fish Santuary in Taman Negara lies hundreds of fish. To the casual observer like me, they look like fish burgers swimming by but to an angler, these buggers are the prized "Kelah" , a much sought-after fish for its fighting prowess! Kelahs are also sought after by food connoisseurs for its delicate taste. If that still doesn't impress you, let me just say casually that these fishies can be sold for about RM100 per kilo in M'sia and about RM250 in Sarawak! But hold on your horses and don't bring along a fishing net, the fish is protected here. Catch them and you'll be sent to jail.

Where
Kelah Fish Sanctuary , Sg Tahan

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Caving in Gua Telinga

Gua Telinga cave is touted as one of the 'must-dos' in Taman Negara but I've refused to put it in my must-see list as not many people would be able to crawl throught the narrow claustrophobic passage filled with squishy bat dropping ( eeks! ). Yes, there are bats in there as well as 6-7 other types of animals. If you do enter, you'll see the :

1)Roundleaf bat - You can see thousands of these insect-eating bats honeycombed in dark sections of the cave.

2)Dusky fruit bat -You can see these icky things when you enter the cave.

3)Giant toad - We saw one of these, sitting motionless on a rock. It was bigger than our fists.

4)Black-striped frog - Listen for the distinctive call and look for these deeper into the cave.

5)Whip-spider - Now, these are not really spiders as they have large claspers on the head for grasping prey, and a pair of very long feelers.

6)Cave cricket - Small wingless insect, pale creamy-brown with a hump back and very long antennae.

Photo Note: This shot was taken by Adrian, on his Nikon Coolpix 3200, a small but extremely competent camera.

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Another protected marine species?

No, these are 2 homo sapien who held their breath for a underwater shot. I'm just sorry I couldn't frame them properly, arrgh.

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Photo Note: That's 'Uncle' and Alice..