More information about Gunung Tahan

Gunung Tahan stands at 2187m, and the is the highest point on Peninsular Malaysia! It is located within the Taman Negara national forest, in the state of Pahang. Gunung Tahan has also been regarded the toughest mountain to climb in Malaysia, followed by Gunung Korbu in the Titiwangsa range stretching along state borders of Kelantan, Pahang and Perak.

There are typically three ways a trekkers plan their trips to Gunung Tahan.

The first way starts and ends at Kuala Tahan. Kuala Tahan is a little town opposite where the Mutiara Taman Negara Resort is located. The nearest KTM train station to Kuala Tahan is Jerantut (about 2 hours bus ride).

The second way starts and ends at Sungai Relau. Trekkers will register at Sungai Relau and then normally take a 4 wheel drive up to Kuala Juram, where they start their trek. Sungai Relau is 7km from Merapoh train station, and 33km from Gua Musang train station. This trek takes approximately 4 days to conquer.

The third way is what is normally called the traverse trek. This time, trekkers start at Sungai Relau, and make all the way across a 90km trek up and down Gunung Tahan, and end up at Kuala Tahan, on the 6th or 7th day.

We were deciding which trek to attempt, and we thought it would be really wasteful to go up and down the same trail, so our decision is to do the traverse trek!

90km sounds really scary to me, considering the type of load that we will be carrying - all the mess tins, cooking equipment, food and clothing. But well, that’s what trekking is about isn’t it? I heard the scenery along the way is spectacular! “Good enough to make inspirational posters out of them”, as HQ has said! I’m looking forward to it!

Tags: gua musang, kuala jaram, kuala tahan, national park, sungai relau