Hiking the Pulau Penang NP- Malaysia – Discover Penang’s Taman Negara

Hiking the Pulau Penang NP? Highly recommended if you ask me. Just through the jungle, along the beaches and enjoy the tranquillity while visiting the busy but oh-so-cute Georgetown.

While in Georgetown, on the island of Penang, I still had a day to spare. I hadn’t really decided what to do, and in talking to two police officers, they indicated that a nice day trip would be to go to Pulau Penang’s Taman Negara. So to go hiking in the Pulau Penang NP.

There are several walks on which I also enjoyed passing a few beaches.

Hiking the Pulau Penang NP – Malaysia
Discover Penang’s Taman Negara

They showed me on the map that if I went the KOMTAR building I could catch the number 101 bus there and get to the park.

It took me an hour to get to Pulau Penang NP by bus but the scenery was lovely to look at and I was comfortable. The bus ride went along the coast and when we got there I was warned by the driver that I could get off here and walk the last bit for a while.

Facts about the Pulau Penang NP

Located on the Peninsula of Penang, Pulau Penang NP is Malaysia’s smallest national park. Previously, this park was called the Pantai Acheh Forest Reserve. A lot of scientific research is conducted in this park.

Is there an entrance fee for Pulau Penang NP

Yes there is an entrance fee. The cost for an adult is for 50 RM and for a child aged 3 to 12 10RM. There are different prices for Malaysians.

Make sure you have cash with you. You have to pay cash at Pulau Penang NP.

Are there restaurants in Pulau Penang NP

At Monkey Beach, the second beach I visited during this walk, there are several options for buying and eating something. Assume you can only pay with cash here too. I only found this out when I was at Turtle Beach but as you can read this was resolved well. It’s a good tip to bring enough water and some food, though. It does take a while to get to Monkey Beach after all.

What wildlife can you spot in Pulau Penang NP?

Dusky leaf monkeys and long-tailed macaques can be encountered in the park. Other wildlife includes boars, wild cats, mouse deer, monitor lizards, squirrels and several species of bats. Green turtles visit the park during April to August.

Discover the Pulau Penang NP

From the bus stop, it was only a short walk and I also soon saw the entrance to the park. There were some people standing there and one of them told me to buy a ticket for the boat. This could then take me from one beach to another. I went inside and was given a map of the park and some more explanation.

There were several hikes and I chose the one that would lead me to Turtle Beach. This is also the most popular walk in Pulau Penang NP. I could take a boat there to Monkey Beach and then walk again. In total, it would then be about 3 hours of walking.

I was really looking forward to walking and exploring the park

Before you actually enter Pulau Penang NP, you have to register yourself with the time you are going into the park. She did ask me if I had had a good breakfast and had enough drinks with me to do the hike.

When I said yes to both, I was allowed to move on!

Discover Penang’s Taman Negara

My walk started with a beautiful path and after the bridge, I really entered the park. Here the beautiful path also became a real forest path and I was really in the jungle! There were all kinds of signs with information about the area, about the trees, the insects and the wildlife. I always find that super and read quite a lot of what is told on the signs. There was also some explanation about the background of this park.

It was already getting quite warm and after about 1.5 hours of walking I reached the first beach, Turtle Beach. Just before you get there, you pass a meromictic lake. This means that there are several layers of water in the lake which do not mix with each other. This gives a separate view. In another season, it’s really great to see I found out later…now it was just a small lake.

The temperature had already risen quite a bit and walking meant I could use some cooling down when I arrived at the beach. I had unfortunately forgotten to bring a bikini but taking some clothes off and half in the water was lovely! It was only 10.30am and I still had plenty of time before the boat would arrive at 1pm for me.

When I had cooled down a bit, I walked further up the beach. Looking for the turtle sanctuary. I saw some people on the beach and on the jetty I saw a man fishing with a child. Other than that, turtle beach was deserted.

What a wonderfully relaxed morning in paradise!

The biggest grains of sand I’ve ever seen!

I walked around the beach but could not find the sanctuary. A couple who were camping here could tell me, and when I walked in the direction they pointed, I soon found a path that took me further.

Walking tip in Melaka Malaysia: Walking at Bukit China – The largest Chinese cemetery outside China and a fine walk just outside downtown Melaka.

Visith the Turtle Hatchery

It seemed deserted and so I walked into the museum and started looking around. A little later, a man came in and started explaining things to me. The turtles I saw were a week old and the big one that was there for 2 years. Every turtle that has been here, raised, is released with a GPS transmitter. When they were gone for a week, he would often go to see where the transmitter was. Many of them were in Borneo, Indonesia by then.

This guy was really super enthusiastic and told me a lot. He had been working here for a few years and they have shifts here of one week here and one week at home. He had a colleague he did the shifts with, they got along really well. They also spent a week with each other here on the stretch of beach in the national park…. Pretty nice, of course! No television, no other people at night….

The hatchery

The week old turtles

After this, I went back to the jetty where I saw the man fishing. It was a local man with an eastern European man and his little son. The local man was teaching them how to fish and they had just caught a blowfish when I got there. The local man talked about the different fish and birds that was here on the island.

It is always interesting!

At one point, I did get hungry…but I hadn’t actually seen anything where I could buy some. When I asked the local man, he looked at me with a look of Seriously? You thought you could buy some food here in the national park?

No restaurant, no shop, nothing!

Of course I completely agreed with that. That was of course better, but no, I hadn’t thought about it.

He looked at me again and thought he had a banana left for me. Super sweet, right?

And the banana was really the tastiest banana I had eaten in a long time!

At 1 p.m. my boat arrived and I said goodbye to the couple. I went to Monkey Beach and enjoyed the short boat ride. When I arrived at the beach I immediately saw a number of BBQ shops and a number of places where I could eat and drink.

Did the man on the jetty really not know that?

I took the time to have a satay and a can of cola

& an extra bottle of water for the way back!

Hiking the Pulau Penang NP

After lunch I continued walking. I still had about 1.5 hours ahead of me and I looked for the path again, which would start somewhere at the end of the beach. But from the beach I first saw some monkeys in the trees.

And i saw the monkeys relaxing in the hammock 🙂

The path soon took me back into the jungle and after walking for a while I was already hot again! The path is really great, but in some places it is also very steep and difficult to walk on.

I loved it for that very reason!

Sometimes you can hardly see where to walk 🙂

See that rope along the tree trunk, I was able to pull myself up on that so I didn’t slip!

At one point I heard some rustling, they always give themselves away, right? He tried to get away and stood there watching for a while. Just enough time for me to take this photo!

This was a good day spend in the Taman Negara of Pulau Penang of Malaysia.

Are you still looking for a place to stay in Penang? Take a look at my other blog about Penang

Want to share this walking tip?

Would you love to explore more of Malaysia?

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