Tioman Island

Tioman Island is the largest in an archipelago of approximately 60 volcanic islands. Several of the islands are inhabited. They are located near the southern shores of the east coast of Malaysia. The island itself is 20 x 12 km in size and is interesting for its fabulous tropical beaches and mountains.

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General Information

The island of Tioman was first mentioned in the diaries of Arabian merchants in the 10th century. Traders from India, Persia and China also came here, as they bought betel, sandalwood and camphor from Tioman, where they could take shelter during monsoon storms. Ships reaching the island knew that it was now safe to turn northeast toward Cambodia.

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In 1830, pirates landed on the island and captured 70 people and enslaved them – the islanders then left their homes for 15 years. In the 1920s, the island was abandoned again after the population died from a malaria outbreak. After World War II, when the Japanese Army used the island as a military base, it was again forgotten, and it was not until the late 1950s that the island was chosen as the setting for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.

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Tioman Island is surrounded by many coral reefs, and there are several top-notch dive sites. It takes a couple hours to get around the island, exploring the forest along the way, which is home to many species of flora and fauna.

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The combination of first-class accommodation and magnificent nature makes Pulau Tioman one of the most beautiful places in Asia. Here they refrain from logging, and so the rainforest has been left as untouched as possible. In the middle of the island at an altitude of 500 meters runs a hilly mountain range, rising at the southern end of two granite peaks – “Donkey Ears”. The higher of the two, Gunung Kajang, is 1,038 meters high.

You can reach Tioman Island by plane from Kuala Lumpur (Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport) or by boat from the fishing village of Mersing. The journey by fast boat takes approximately two hours.

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The west coast of the island has a wide range of accommodation, from luxury apartments to modest but comfortable guesthouses, chalets and simple huts on Salang Beach closer to the north. Restaurants, dive stores and duty-free stores for alcohol and cigarettes abound around the island’s main port, Tekek.

Travel on the island is mostly by boat, and fishermen charge quite reasonable fees. From Tekek, you can hike through the forest to the top of a hill on the east coast. Or you can take a dip in the waters of the waterfall coming down from the top of the hill, after which you can make a return trip to Juara beach in the village, where you will be served excellent seafood dishes. Here you can swim in the sea and, and if you no longer have the energy for another hike, return to Tekek by boat.

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Bird lovers can observe colorful emperor pigeons, nightingales, frigates, nectarbirds and flower-suckers. There are no large mammals in the island’s forests; only recently have some reptiles been discovered.