Teresek Hill

Trail -Kuala Tahan to Bukit Teresek (Trail Guide No. 3)

Length	Duration	Attitude Range	Terrain	Special
4.5KM	2 hours	67-344M	Flat,then steep	Hill-top views

1) First View Point	2) Second View Point

Hill-top views and an introduction to rain-forest
This popular trail runs along the flat river terrace for about 400M, then climbs steeply up onto the Bukit Teresek ridge. There are two look-out points, one at each end of the ridge. It is about an hour’s walk to the second look-out.

The flat part of the trail passes through patches of tall forest, secondary forest, and belukar ( scrub), and is never far from the river. Birds representative of all these habitats can be found here, and this is phenomenally one of the best bird-watching areas in the Park. The long melodious song of the white-rumped shama is here, there are the fluid, bubbling calls of straw-headed bulbuls along the river; the greater coucal’s deep, mellow hoots can be heard- ngoot ! ngoot ! ngoot ! And there are babblers, drongoes, malkohas, hornbills, woodpeckers, … It is a good place to see squirrels too.

The steep part of the trail is hard, sweaty work, but passes through impressive tall forest. Giant squirrels might be seen up here, and if you are very lucky, white-handed gibbons.

From the first look-out a section of Sungai Tembeling can be seen below, and beyond are forested hills outside the Park boundary. The sandstone rock exposed at this look-out is representative of the bedrock over most of Taman Negara, in contrast to the igneous rock ( granite ) forming in Peninsular’s main range.

The second look-out, ten minutes further on, commands a superb view to the north lowlands and hills to the high mountains in the centre of the Park. The river below is Sungai Tahan, and beside it is the old Park airstrip, last used in the mid-1970’s but now left to naturally revegetate. ( This is the site of Cegar Anjing hide ).

On the line of the sight beyond the airstrip is a block of high mountains. Gunung Tahan (2186M) is the highest in Peninsular Malaysia, but is visible from here only on clear days. It is table-topped in profile, and is behind and apparently below other nearer peaks.

Straight ahead from the look-out is the upper Tahan valley, and on the horizon is the conical peak of Gunung Perlis (1280M). At the extreme right of the view there are grey-leafed seraya trees ( Shorea curtisii ) in the fore-ground, and in the distance the limestone hills of Gua Besar in the Keniam valley ( or Kenyam ). The broad “valley” running across the view is in fact low-lying country between the Tahan, Trenggan and Keniam rivers.

You may return to Kuala Tahan by the same route ( recommended ) or via the path leading down to the left from the second look-out, to Sungai Tahan. This path is very steep indeed, and especially difficult if the ground is wet. Down the side of the hill is tall forest with a great variety of palms, including several kinds of rattans. You can descend in less than half an hour, then turn left and it is 45 minutes or so back to Kuala Tahan, running parallel with the river.

Adapted from "An Illustrated Guide In The Kuala Tahan Region Of Taman Negara" published by Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia, 1989.