Malaysia · MY

Kuala Tahan

Kuala Tahan is a small riverside village perched where the Tahan River joins the Tembiling, in Pahang's Jerantut District. It has no grand monuments or shopping arcades, and that is exactly its appeal: this is the working gateway to Taman Negara, one of the world's oldest rainforests, the place where a vast, roadless jungle becomes manageable. Boats, guides, permits, budget chalets and floating restaurants crowd together on a single muddy bank, and from there the forest opens in every direction. For most visitors Kuala Tahan is less a destination to linger in than a lively, humid staging post for what lies beyond it: longhouse-style resorts, a celebrated canopy walkway suspended high above the understorey, whitewater boat runs through rapids, night jungle walks lit only by torches, limestone caves, waterfalls and the trailhead for the gruelling seven-day ascent of Gunung Tahan, Peninsular Malaysia's highest peak. Stay at least two nights, let the river set your pace, and the village will deliver a front-row seat to ancient rainforest.