Visitor Guide To Malaysia: Malaysia Hotels, Malaysian, Travel

With over 60 per cent of the island having been gazetted as a wildlife reserve not surprisingly trekking, hiking and rock climbing are increasingly popular activities on the island. The island’s tropical forest, is home to unique species such as the tiny earthworm-like blind snake, legless lizards and flying lizards. Protected speices on the island include the binturong, long-tailed macaque, slow loris, black giant squirrel, red giant flying squirrel, brush-tailed porcupine, and common palm civet, as well as the Frigatebird. The soft-shelled turtle and the Tioman walking catfish are unique species on the island. More common sights are monkeys, mouse deer, pythons, huge monitor lizards and flying foxes and of course the land and sea turtles.

Most of the resorts have jungle trekking tours with guides. An across the island trek from Tekek Village on the west and Juara Village on the east will cover approximately four-kilometres. There are also some relatively easier hiking routes in Kampung Mukut. One worth trying leads to the Asah Waterfalls at the convergence of seven different rivers that run through the interior of the island. During the hike to the falls you see twin peaks you see reaching up into the clouds which are the granite outcrops known as Nenek Semukut (Semukut Granny) — so-called because of its eerie resemblance to the profile of an old lady’s face — and a 690-metre freestanding granite spire, the highest in Peninsular Malaysia.