Though a small island in the Straits of Malacca, Penang holds a sizable portion of the rainforest too. It hold the smallest national park in the world… a nature lovers paradise…
We attempted this woods walk on our way to the monkey beach.. with the destination set. ..we arrived at Teluk Bahang registration center
While the boys were busy figuring out the maps…I decided to stroll around and spoke to an interesting fisherman who spoke to me about the fishing boats, the tsunami, and the docks….
It was interesting to note that the wooden old bridge was quite strong still…and people trusted it still.
Now we being out adventure….
The trail initially starts off as a wide road…the to a concrete path…. and the pure jungle path.
It was total fun to climb over the rocks, slide down the muddy deep pockets and also pretend we are cave hunters all the way …armed with feeble sticks…
On our way we met a Flying Fox who scurried in a hurry…refusing to pose for a pic.A giant monitor lizard who to us seemed like one of the guardians of a huge castle… peeked out to see…who was passing by….which was answered by my daughter with a shriek that send it scampering. We did make friends with butterflies,and ants(a huge variety of them) and a few birds which entertained us with their chirps n songs.
The rain forest is known for a collection of plants too…we had a fun trail trying to identify different plants. We waited to see if the pitcher plant would graciously show his skills to us…alas he just kept is waiting….we had to move on.
The path in some places is very narrow with huge bordering rocks and sometimes interlaced with the coastlines…
An hour into the trail towards monkey beach you will reach the USM beach used for research …a calm and quite stretch with a huge swing. We used this as a rest spot. The path till here is fairly easy.
From here to Monkey beach the path is not so well laid…but directions and foot trails are easily visible. Here is where you encounter bigger boulders and rope slides.
It is truly enjoyable……the cool breeze from the sea and the walk shade of the trees…brings you close to nature..
Being in Penang this should be considered as one of the best outdoor workout routines… for the adventurous.. the national park.offers more trails and steeper climbs with cool dips in the sea as rewards…
A few tips-
Start early.
Keep yourself hydrated
Carry insect repellent.
Vegetarians carry a quick bite.
Wash rooms are available only at the registration counter and are clean.
Please help your kids as.some of these areas are really difficult for smaller legs.
A sad fact is to see plastics and polythene litter…so.please try not to litter.
