Taman Negara, Malaysia's oldest and largest national park is an enchanting 130 million year-old rainforest that made me felt like being in a land of pre-historic era.

The park is the best-preserved and oldest rainforest in the world encompassing 4343 sq km with the highest peak in Peninsular Malaysia, Gunung Tahan at 2187m.

It is home to an Orang Asli community from the Batek tribe and is also a place where innumerable species of plants, animals, insects, reptiles, birds, and fish live. All these gifts from nature combine to provide visitors with a rare and unforgettable experience.

There are many activities to indulge in at the park, such as exploring caves, night-walks, bird watching, camping, canopy walking, rafting, and mountain climbing.

The canopy walk is something not to be missed. It is located 40m above ground and stretches 530m. The view from that height was stunning as we got to stand close and mid-way up the tallest trees, obtain close views of unique parasite flora including orchids in bloom, lovely songbirds, and sweeping vistas of the surroundings. If you are lucky, you may see small animals from above.

For those with the passionate desire to watch animals in the wild, there is an observation hide and with patience and silence, wild animals such as wild boars, elephants, and maybe tigers may decide to show up. It may take hours just for one sighting and the rarer species may not show up at all but there are good chances of seeing at least some forest denizens as many animals that live in the Malaysian jungles are nocturnal.

If you seek some cooling and refreshing moments, gushing freshwater streams such as Lata Berkuh can be reached after an upstream boat ride and walking a further 500m. This rapid is not far from a Kelah fish sanctuary called Lubuk Tenor. Tourists can see the preservation effort of this endangered species of Malaysian Mahseer and watch the fish swarming in the hundreds during feeding time.

There are at least 50 camping spots in Taman Negara including one near Gunung Tahan. During my sole visit to the park recently with other media members, courtesy of Mutiara Resort Taman Negara, we camped at a nearby riverbank. A bonfire was made to scare off wild animals and smoke from the fire was a natural insect repellent. It was a cold night in the midst of the jungle as it rained all through the noon till evening.

Despite the rain, we braved through one of the activities organised for the tour and that was to release some rare Temoleh fish. About 10000 fishes were released to revive the population of this species.

Night activities went ahead although I was hoping for a cancellation due to the wet and miserable condition. There were several games, lots of food, and everyone started to enjoy the session, which was also filled with dances and songs.

The next day, we visited a Batek community. Apparently, these people still rely on firewood for cooking and lighting their homes at night and it is said that in the wild,they get fire by rubbing two dry sticks like was done by pre-historic men. We were shown how they did this and they also demonstrated some hunting skills using poison-darted blowpipes.

After the brief visit, our next task was jungle trekking and after 40 minutes of walking, we did learn about many useful plants that are medicinal or edible. One unique species in the forest is the peacock ferns that changes colour according to the temperature and another is the tallest tropical tree - the Tualang that grows to 84m high. The Mengkundur has huge buttress roots that fan out like 10ft walls.

Taman Negara is said to host 10000 plants species, 150 000 types of insects, 25000 types of invertebrates, 675 bird, 270 reptile, 250 freshwater fish, and 200 mammal species. There are many new species often discovered here and it gives great pleasure for visitors to venture into this whole world of nature.

Taman Negara is accessible by boat as well as road. It is a 250km or approximately three hours journey from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Tembeling using the Karak Highway and the East Coast Expressway exiting at Temerloh.

Getting to Kuala Tahan - the staging point to the park via boat from Kuala Tembeling takes two and half hours.