Royal Belum State Park, Perak

Tim at Royal Belum State Park (1 January 2007)


[an error occurred while processing this directive] The Royal Belum State Park is one of the most pristine protected forests in Malaysia. It covers an area of 1,175 square kilometers in the district of Hulu Perak, on the upper reaches of Perak state. This is the northern tip of the Main Range (Banjaran Titiwangsa). The Royal Belum State Park is within the 3,000-square-kilometer Belum-Temengor Forest Complex that envelopes upper Perak all the way into Southern Thailand. It is the second largest remaining tract of natural forest in Peninsular Malaysia after the greater Taman Negara area.

The forest at Royal Belum is said to be 170 million years old, making it one of the oldest in the world. It is a habitat for a rich variety of wildlife including the wild boar, the seladang, the Asian elephant, as well as smaller creatures such as the pangolin, the pelanduk, and more. In total, over a hundred species of mammals have been recorded here, as well as close to 250 species of birds. As such, the state park is an Environmentally Sensitive Area Rank 1. It is also recognised by Birdlife International as an Important Bird Area, that is to say, a site that is important for the conservation of bird populations. There are also over three thousand species of plant life at Royal Belum State Park. It is in fact the place to visit if you wish to see the Rafflesia, biggest bloom in the world.

In the News

15 Dec 2009: The Star reported that poaching is rampant in the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex. Rangers of the WWF Wildlife Protection Unit (WPU) and the Wildlife and National Parks Department have arrested 10 poachers and removed 102 snares that were put up. Many of the rangers from WPU are Orang Asli youths.

Boat Jetty, Temengor Lake (1 January 2007)


Public Jetty, Temengor Lake (1 January 2007)


Royal Belum State Park is not devoid of humans. The Orang Asli have been living in this forest for centuries, or perhaps millenia. Among the groups living here are the Jahai, a subgroup of the Negritoes and the Temiar, a subgroup of the Senoi.

Getting there

The East-West Highway forms the southern border of the Royal Belum State Park. Hence it is the highway to take to reach it. From Penang, take the Butterworth-Kulim Expressway, BKE, (E15) and continue on Federal Route 67 to Baling, then on Federal Route 76 to Pengkalan Hulu and then on south to Gerik. From Gerik take the East-West Highway (Federal Route 4) until you reach Pulau Banting on Temengor Lake. Look for the turning to park after the second bridge. There will be a sign that says "Taman Negeri Royal Belum / Royal Belum State Park". Take the boat from the jetty here to enter the park.

If you are coming from Kuala Lumpur or Ipoh, exit the North-South Expressway (E1) at the Kuala Kangsar Interchange (Exit 143). From there, take Federal Route 76 northwards till Gerik, and from there continue on the East-West Highway to Pulau Banting.

Royal Belum State Park is on the map of Forest Parks in Perak

Back to Discover Perak mainpage; list of Forest Parks in Perak and Forest Parks in Malaysia

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About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.