Let’s travel to the jungles of Johor (From New Straits Times website 21st January 2015)

JOHOR BARU: Trekking into the jungles is neither meant for the novice nor the faint hearted as one could easily lose the way or come face to face with dangerous wild animals.

However, the route to the jungle is made much easier with the 3P travel programme (Student Tourism Programme) rolled out by Tourism Malaysia Johor in conjunction with Johor National Park Corporation and Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB).

This writer recently sampled the 3P programme that took a group of student visitors to the lush rainforest of Taman Negara Endau Rompin.

It was certainly an unforgettable experience even for any novice. It was also a learning trip where visitors were exposed to the many hidden heritage of the jungle.

The main objective of the programme is to encourage students to visit places while studying and get exposed to valuable information, recreational activities and see for themselves the flora and fauna conservation at the national park.

This writer joined the group under the 3P travel programme themed “Learn, Discover and Explore Johor 2015/2016”. The journey to the Selai entrance of the national park that cuts across two states - Johor and Pahang - started with a train ride from Johor Baru Sentral terminal to Bekok.
From Bekok, the group continued the journey on a 4x4 vehicle to the Selai entrance of Taman Negara Endau Rompin.

LEARING ABOUT THE LIVING FOREST

Among the interesting itineraries of the programme were a night walk, light trap, jungle trekking to Takah Pandan, mini explorace, sketch and water based activities with the group members divided into teams.

Apart from that, numerous group activities like jungle survival lessons that required participants to build a shelter, boil water in a leaf, cook rice in bamboos and start a fire.

LEARNING ABOUT THE JUNGLE

Edzuar Zar Ayob Azari, Tourism Malaysia’s director for Johor, noted that the 3P programme is not something new as it has been ongoing since year 2000 but the activities then were more towards elocution, quizzes and so on.

Now it is more oriented towards learning of Johor’s natural heritage.
“Anchored on three core aspects of learning, discovering and exploring, we hope that the participants will be able to dwell deeper and learn of the unique places and the packages offered during the programme,” he said.

IDENTIFYING THE RIGHT PRODUCT FOR EACH TOURISTS

Edzuar noted that the 3P travel programme would also take students and undergraduates to islands as well or other places according to their requirements.
“We are looking into ways to promote the places associated with legends in Johor, like Gunung Ledang, as places of interest for tourists where those keen on extreme sports could scale the mountain and those who love nature could enjoy the sight and feel of the verdant landscape,” he said.
Edzuar pointed out by this way the public would understand better and learn more on the tourism packages available in Johor that include programmes like Homestay, Agro Tourism, Back to Nature and others.

THE REMARKABLE FIRST EXPERIENCE

One of the participants Habibah Bachok said Taman Negara Endau Rompin boasts its own uniqueness where many of the rare flora and fauna could be found.
“Though it is my first experience, I’m excited and thankful for the opportunity to enter a jungle and get a feel of the jungle.

“Here, I not only learned of the animals that live here but also learned how to use the blowpipe, jungle survival that include making traps and shelters, learning of the names of the jungle trees and flowers,” said Habibah adding that the most challenging part was trekking upwards to Takah Pandan Waterfalls due to the difficult terrain.

The 3P programme provides an opportunity for students and undergraduates to learn to travel to new places and expand their horizon. – Bernama