September-October , 2021 | @ Forest
COVER STORY
27 can get a lot of data regarding wildlife .
“ Our primary purpose is for the tiger , but through the installation of these camera traps in our jungle , we can get data for other species as well , such as elephants etc .
“ Through these camera traps , we can also study the behaviour of these animals , even the distribution of the animals in our jungle . My staff would usually go inside the jungle on foot and spend about 20 days there .
They ’ ll be installing these camera traps and doing all the other stuff there ,” added Dzumie , pointing out camera traps also work to capture the images of poachers and tourists who get inside the jungle .
He shared that the Wildlife Conservation Unit is also involved in managing wildlife conflicts in the areas near the national park . These conflicts usually occur due to the movement of the animals into the nearby plantations and villages .
“ What we ’ re going to do is we ’ re going to survey the area and work out the solution . If the problem continuously happens , we will try to translocate the animal to the area that will minimise the conflict between wildlife and human beings .”
As for the Habitat Management & Enrichment Unit , Dzumie stated that the unit is responsible for animal surveys in some places identified as the grazing grounds inside the national park .
He explained : “ What we do is we maintain the grazing grounds , and sometimes we put artificial salt lick to increase the nutrients for these ungulates .”
Gunung Tahan as the main attraction for hikers
According to Dzumie , the Habitat Management & Enrichment Unit also manages the Mahseer Fish Sanctuary located at Lubok Tenor and monitors all activities within the sanctuary .
“ We study the behaviour of fish , the breeding cycle etc . We also encourage the local community to be involved with the tourism activities in this area .
He shared the national park also had
a Maintenance Unit that carried out maintenance works on the facilities in the area . The maintenance is to ensure facilities are in a satisfactory condition for the comfort of the tourists .
He revealed that these tourists come from 70 countries , with a consistently high number of international tourists coming from the Netherlands , followed by France , Germany , Spain , and the United Kingdom .
The national park maintained its tourist arrivals of around 80,000 visitors per year , but the number had dropped significantly due to the pandemic .
Regarding the tourism products , the national park offers its visitors various attractions and activities such as the Mahseer Fish Sanctuary , canopy walkway , wildlife observation , rapid shoot activity , jungle walk , hiking , camping , and visiting Orang Asli Batek settlement .
“ One of the attractions for the hikers is climbing Mount Tahan , the highest peak in Peninsular Malaysia . The journey takes seven days from Kuala Tahan to Sungai Relau . We limit it to 48 hikers per day to minimise the impact on our nature trails . It is compulsory to hire a mountain guide for safety reasons because this is a virgin jungle , and the danger could be everywhere .
“ Each mountain guide is only allowed to bring 10 hikers ,” shared Dzumie . — @ Forest
Fish sanctuary in Lubok Tenor .