Malaysia's wilderness in the hands of tourists<\/p>\n
By Chris McCall<\/p>\n
TAMAN NEGARA, Malaysia (Reuters): Millennia ago aboriginal
\nhunters came here to fish. Decades ago Malay princes and colonial
\nofficers came to shoot game.<\/p>\n
Today tourists come to take photographs of endangered species.<\/p>\n
Taman Negara, peninsular Malaysia's oldest national park, has
\nfinally taken off as a tourist destination. Shorter flying times
\nand a surge of interest in tropical rain forests have helped put
\nit firmly on the Southeast Asian tourist trail.<\/p>\n
In the past 10 years visitor numbers have more than tripled.
\nSome 60,000 visitors stayed at park headquarters in 1997, the
\nParks and Wildlife Department says.<\/p>\n
The figure is not far short of the area's carrying capacity,
\nestimated at 70,000 to 90,000. How many can come without damaging
\nthe very thing they want to see? That question is increasingly
\nbeing asked.<\/p>\n
To get to park headquarters at Kuala Tahan requires a three-
\nhour boat ride. Returning after a few days in the park, one
\nBritish expatriate laments that he could not see more wildlife.<\/p>\n
\"I suppose with all the people, it frightens them away,\" he
\nsaid. \"I was working in Malaysia in 1987 -- not so many people
\ncame up here then.\"<\/p>\n
Taman Negara shelters some of Malaysia's last tigers and
\nrhinoceros as well as thousands of stunning butterflies.<\/p>\n
Although there is plenty to see around park headquarters,
\nvisitors have already had a subtle impact, says an official at
\nthe Parks and Wildlife Department. Animals that once could be
\nseen within two km (one and a half miles) of park headquarters
\nnow keep up to six km (four miles) away.<\/p>\n
To relieve pressure, new entry points have been opened in the
\nthree states the park straddles -- Pahang, Kelantan and
\nTerengganu, the official says.<\/p>\n
Some people wonder if this will only worsen the problem.<\/p>\n
\"It cannot be denied that the increasing numbers will have
\nsome detrimental effects on the park,\" said Sabri Zain, spokesman
\nfor the Malaysian branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).<\/p>\n
\"They are certainly aware that in the long term the carrying
\ncapacity is something that must be monitored.\"<\/p>\n
Accommodation at Kuala Tahan, 180 km (120 miles) northeast of
\nKuala Lumpur, was privatized in 1994. It is now in the hands of
\nTaman Negara Resort, owned by Malaysian hotels group Pernas.<\/p>\n
There are chalets, hostels and a campsite. Visitors can safely
\nwalk a short distance into the forest on well-trodden paths.
\nFurther on they become less well-kept -- true jungle trails,
\nblocked in places by fallen trees.<\/p>\n
For a small fee, guides take small groups on night-time walks
\nin the rain forest to see mushrooms that glow in the dark and
\nhear the night orchestra of thousands of chirping insects.<\/p>\n
A 400-meter (1,300-ft) \"canopy walkway\" takes visitors right
\nup into the treetops on suspension bridges. Or visitors can spend
\na night in a 'hide', from which they may see larger animals
\ndrinking at a salt lick.<\/p>\n
It is educational and includes displays highlighting some of
\nthe plants and animals that Malaysia has already lost.<\/p>\n
But the canopy walkway is often so full of visitors that the
\nanimals they come to see are scared off. People's expectations
\nmay be unrealistic, says Sabri of WWF.<\/p>\n
\"In tropical forests you cannot see the sort of things you see
\nin the savannah,\" he said. \"It is a matter of patience. If you
\nare in the hide and you start chattering away, generally animals
\nare not going to go out to the salt lick.\"<\/p>\n
Taman Negara is said to be the world's oldest rain forest,
\ndating back 130 million years to the time of the dinosaurs. It is
\none of the last major areas of rain forest in peninsular
\nMalaysia.<\/p>\n
The park was created in the 1930s, replacing a game reserve.
\nInvasion by Japan, a communist insurgency and sheer distance kept
\ntourist numbers down, but all that has changed.<\/p>\n
These days Malaysia's stricken economy has plenty of use for
\ntourist dollars.<\/p>\n
The orang asli, aboriginal descendants of the pre-Malay
\ninhabitants of the peninsula, still live in Taman Negara, largely
\navoiding contact with the outside world. They may well be hoping
\nthat the outside world will not force itself on them.<\/p>",
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