We don’t need to build a time machine or a spaceship to travel back in time or to visit another world. All we need is just a torchlight and we can travel to 120 million years away from city lights and urbanisation into a buzzing nocturnal world.

As soon as the sun sets, Taman Negara, Pahang transformed itself into a strange but magnificent world, far removed from man’s dominance over the earth.

Having the opportunity to join the Jungle Night Walk Tour organized by Han Travel/Han Rainforest Resort, my family and I were introduced to weird and wonderful cast of characters who live together to create a grand ecosystem that would no doubt mesmerized every explorers who dares to explore Taman Negara in the still of the night.

Taman Negara Night Walk tours depart nightly at 8.30pm with an assigned guide. Raincoats and flashlights are not provided so do bring your own. Comfortable enclosed footwear and moderate fitness are required. It is not overly challenging as there’s wooden path all the way through but at some point during the night walk, you will need to be able to cope with slippery and uneven ground.

Briefing before the jungle night walk

Our journey starts at the jetty where the traditional boat awaits us to bring us across.

All geared up for our jungle night walk.

Many of the most fascinating residents in Taman Negara are nocturnal, so as the sun sets over the trees, the forest comes to life. During our night walk, we regularly encounter forest mammals, strange insects and many species of spiders and tree snakes.

If you’re lucky enough like us you’d stumble upon the wandering Tapir and can get up close and personal with it. Apparently the wandering tapir are rather tame and quite used to humans. We managed to pet one and snap some photos with the tapir. Photography tips: try to get the shot as fast as possible as sometimes overly excited tourists tends to hog the tapir and overwhelms them til they run away.

Some of the creature that we chance upon that night was poisonous, like scorpions and snakes.

Look closely. Do you see a spider? Pretty good at camouflaging, the spiders of this species is commonly known as The Huntsmen. As per the namesake, this spiders does not weave webs in order to trap it’s victim, but hunt them instead.

Another huntsmen spider.

Spot anything? There’s a stick insect here in the picture. Can’t see it?

How about now? The stick insect is hanging on the leaf.

Moving further into Taman Negara, just before we reach the Tahan Hide, we managed to find an army of termites, working very hard to bring food to their Queen.

A video of the termites gathering food and bringing it back to their Queen.

We reached Tahan Hide after almost one hour in the jungle. But it was too dark and my camera is not equipped with nighy lense and therefore there is no pictures at Tahan Hide, where we managed to see deers and some nocturnal creatures licking salt from afar.

The night walk was certainly educational and both my husband and son enjoyed it as much as I do.

While I brought my son for the nightwalk, I personally would recommend only children age 8 years old and above to join the tour.This night walk is not recommended for children under the age of eight years old as the quieter you are, the more you will see.

The Taman Negara Jungle Night Walk is about 1.2km and you will take about one to two hour to complete the tour, depending on your pace.

For those families that would like their children to do a private jungle walk and you have little ones then a shorter journey may be arranged by appointment with Han Travel.

Our trip was sponsored by Han Travel/Han Rainforest Resort and MITA. Han Travel provides one of the best transportation and accommodation arrangement to Taman Negara, so look them up for fuss free experience in Taman Negara at an affordable price.

You can also visit www.rainforestresort.net for more information.

Apart from reading this blog, the updates on our trip can be looked up on social media like Facebook and Instagram by using the official hashtag #GoDomestic #dekatje #mitatourismfair and my personal hashtag #ellietravels #kembaradekatje and #kembarabayau.