Royal Belum State Park

1,175 km² of primary rainforest, one of the oldest on earth, with tigers and Rafflesia

The Royal Belum State Park is a vast tract of primary lowland rainforest in the north of Perak, on the Thai border, covering 1,175 square kilometres. Together with the adjoining Temengor Forest Reserve it forms one of the largest undisturbed rainforest ecosystems left in peninsular Malaysia.

The park is accessed from the lakeside town of Pulau Banding on the East-West Highway, about three hours' drive north of Ipoh. From there, all movement is by boat across the long fingers of the Temengor reservoir, with a permit and a registered guide. Two- and three-day trips typically include searches for the giant Rafflesia flower (the world's largest, up to a metre across), salt-licks frequented by elephants, the Orang Asli aboriginal communities living in the forest, and a chance — slim but real — of glimpsing a tiger. Several lodges offer overnight stays on floating platforms.

things to do sight park
A story
The forest is estimated to be more than **130 million years old** — significantly older than the Amazon, and one of the oldest continuously forested ecosystems on the planet. It is one of the few places in peninsular Malaysia where wild tigers and Asian elephants still roam in numbers, and where all three species of Asia's flying squirrel and ten of the world's hornbills can be seen in a single park.