Peninsular Malaysia Wildlife Trail: Taman Negara, Kuala Gandah & Langkawi Mangroves | 7 Nights and 8 Days Malaysia Package

Arrive at KLIA and transfer to your hotel in the Bukit Bintang or KLCC area. After freshening up, head to the Lake Gardens for KL Bird Park, a large covered free-flight aviary with hornbills, flamingos, milky storks and Malaysia's native brahminy kites. Walk across to the Butterfly Park or the Orchid Garden if time allows. In the evening see the Petronas Twin Towers light up from KLCC Park and watch the Lake Symphony fountain show. Indian vegetarian food is widely available in Brickfields.

Morning at Zoo Negara, home to the Giant Panda Conservation Centre as well as Malayan tapirs, sun bears, Malayan tigers and a walk-through aviary. Return for lunch and rest. In the late afternoon drive around 90 minutes to Kuala Selangor. Visit the Bukit Melawati hill for silvered leaf monkeys with their orange infants, then take a wooden boat at Kampung Kuantan after dark to see synchronous fireflies flashing along the berembang trees on the Selangor River. Return to Kuala Lumpur by night.

Depart Kuala Lumpur after breakfast for Kuala Tembeling, then transfer by longboat down the Tembeling River to Kuala Tahan, roughly three hours on water past kampungs and forested banks. Check in at the riverside resort and cross to the park headquarters. Walk the Canopy Walkway, a suspended bridge strung 40 metres above the forest floor between tualang trees, and continue on to the Bukit Teresek viewpoint for views towards Gunung Tahan. Dinner at a floating restaurant on the river.

Board a longboat upriver on the Sungai Tahan for rapids shooting at Lata Berkoh, passing through narrow forested gorges. On the way visit a Batek Orang Asli settlement, where the community demonstrates fire-making and blowpipe hunting. Afternoon free to swim or rest. After dark join a guided night walk on the forest floor to spot scorpions, stick insects, tarantulas, civets and sleeping birds, or sit in the Bumbun Tahan hide, which overlooks a salt lick used by deer, tapir and wild boar.

Leave Taman Negara by boat and road for Kuala Gandah in Pahang, around four hours away. The National Elephant Conservation Centre, set up in 1989, relocates and cares for wild Asian elephants displaced by habitat loss. Attend the afternoon programme with a talk on translocation work, elephant feeding and the visitor viewing sessions run by the centre. Check in at a resort near Bentong and spend the evening amid rubber and durian country, with a quiet dinner at the resort.

Drive back to Kuala Lumpur and take the short flight to Langkawi, about one hour. Transfer to your hotel at Pantai Cenang or Pantai Tengah. Spend the afternoon on the beach and see the sunset over the Andaman Sea, one of the best on the island. Optional visit to Langkawi Wildlife Park at Kampung Belanga Pecah, where you can feed lories and see hornbills, wallabies and raccoons in walk-through enclosures.

Full-day boat safari through the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park on Langkawi's northeast coast. The route runs through mangrove channels between 400-million-year-old limestone outcrops, with stops at the Bat Cave, a fish farm and the Hole in the Wall inlet. Watch brahminy kites and white-bellied sea eagles, plus long-tailed macaques feeding on crabs at low tide, mudskippers, monitor lizards and tree-climbing crabs. Return in the afternoon for the Langkawi SkyCab and Sky Bridge at Gunung Machinchang, subject to weather and queues.

Free morning for a last swim or duty-free shopping at Cenang, where chocolate, cookware and perfumes are the popular buys. Check out and transfer to Langkawi International Airport for your flight to Kuala Lumpur and onward home. Travellers with a longer layover in KL can add a stop at Batu Caves, 13 km from the city centre, where macaques crowd the 272 coloured steps below the Murugan statue.