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“Best Way to Stay Inside the Park”

It was definitely worth paying a premium to stay inside the National Park and rest in our air-conditioned chalet during the heat of the day. The public ferry service from the village doesn't start until 8:30am, so if you are a photographer or a nature lover, staying here is the best way to enjoy th… more

It was definitely worth paying a premium to stay inside the National Park and rest in our air-conditioned chalet during the heat of the day. The public ferry service from the village doesn't start until 8:30am, so if you are a photographer or a nature lover, staying here is the best way to enjoy the park in the early morning when the animals are active, the light is beautiful, and the popular paths are peaceful. The cute rustic chalets are set among beautiful flowers with balconies backing onto the jungle. As others have noted, the chalets are a bit older with small gaps between the doorframe and door, worn windows, and somewhat firm mattresses. The walls were decorated with squashed insects, which we would encourage housekeeping to wipe off (perhaps with help from their fun stuffed tigers). We had been uncertain about the resort's ability to accommodate special dietary requirements as attempts to contact them ahead of our stay recieved slow responses through email and What's App. When we arrived resort manager Lex was incredibly kind and super-helpful when it came to providing Celiac-friendly Gluten Free meals. He surprised us with GF products brought in from Kuala Lumpur including breakfast cereal, cookies, pancakes, pistachio milk, and he even gifted us a box of gluten free pasta to take with us on our onward journey in case we had difficulty finding suitable meals! Our favourite dish was a specially prepared beef rendang, which we ordered in advance - twice! The friendly activities desk staff were able to book activities up until an hour before the scheduled start time, and were flexible about rescheduling due to inclement weather. Note that some activities require a minimum of 4 people, but you can choose to pay for the empty seats if no one else signs up. We really enjoyed both the jungle night walk and night boat tour (and would have happily repeated them again if the weather had permitted); however, the Lata Berkoh boat trip experience was disappointing. Although it is a beautiful place, the recent thunderstorms made the ride along the chocolate brown river far more exciting than soothing, and the guides needed to focus on navigation vs wildlife spotting. The activities desk staff said it would be possible to swim despite the surging waters; however, it was clearly far too dangerous to cool off with a dip to escape the large groups of swarming bees attracted to our sweat-drenched bodies after the 1 km hike to the waterfalls. We didn't spot any of the resident tapirs or other big animals, but the groups of macaques and Dusky Langurs were very entertaining to watch as they roamed around the resort. For our early departure on our last morning, the staff kindly prepared breakfast boxes and arranged for our shared van to pick us up from the village jetty, saving us an uphill walk with luggage to the bus station.

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“Good location and well organised”

Arrival interesting. If possible leave stuff in your car (locked out of sight) and bring only what you need. It's only 1RM per suitcase but balancing large suitcases along the plank to get on and off the boat is not for the faint hearted! Big rooms. Water pressure in shower was very low (but wha… more

Arrival interesting. If possible leave stuff in your car (locked out of sight) and bring only what you need. It's only 1RM per suitcase but balancing large suitcases along the plank to get on and off the boat is not for the faint hearted! Big rooms. Water pressure in shower was very low (but what do you expect in the jungle) but got us clean. The water was hot though. We didnt have any problems with noise and slept very well despite it raininv all night (maybe we were just really tired). It's a steep climb by steps from the jetty to the hotel but there is a lift for luggage. There's also a guy with a buggy to take your cases to your chalet. The breakfasts and evening buffet meals were ok. Plenty of choice though quality so-so. Impressed though with the A la carte lunch. Just a sandwich essentially but came with chips. Tasty and nicely presented. We did some of the organised excursions organised by the resort: - evening walking safari - possibly too many people in the group on it for many people to see much. - evening boat safari - we had a longer trip than advertised. Unfortunately didnt see a lot but the boat guys really worked hard trying to find stuff for us. I think we were just unlucky. - boat trip to Lake  - as it had been raining the previous day, the river was too muddy to see the fish at the fish farm (not really a farm, just a corner of the river) and we couldn't land near the tree because of damage to the bank. The area for swimming is off rocks so access can be tricky if your mobility is limited. The boat trip is the best bit. Fun riding the rapids (they are quite tame though). We probably saw more wildlife around the resort itself - monkeys, squirrels, hornbill and other birds, giant millipedes. Watch out for the monkeys if drinking on your veranda - they can get aggressive if they fancy what you're eating/drinking.

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“Pretty jungle setting - just don’t expect the best food”

This is the only hotel in the national park and the cottages are very large and the grounds so pretty with monkeys and tropical plants all around you. This is the only hotel if you don’t want backpacker type room only accommodation. Mores the pity. The food is not great at all yet they want to ch… more

This is the only hotel in the national park and the cottages are very large and the grounds so pretty with monkeys and tropical plants all around you. This is the only hotel if you don’t want backpacker type room only accommodation. Mores the pity. The food is not great at all yet they want to charge Western prices eg £7 equivalent for a small Carlsberg! Not much warmth from most of the staff either. There is a small Mini mart on site and the river trips were good. You can cross the river to try other casual restaurants and boat trip providers

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