The Habitat Penang Hill Review-The Kancil Walk

Visit The Habitat at Penang Hill which is a must-visit when you are in Penang. You will love the canopy walk and the Curtis Crest Treetop Walk too.

If you are planning to visit Penang (again) and you are not sure where you want to go, do pay The Habitat a visit. Just like Entopia Penang, it is yet another gem that all visitors to the island should make a trip to. Nestled on top of Penang Hill, The Habitat gives you the opportunity to be amongst pristine rainforest which is a staggering 130-million-year old. It doesn't matter if you are a nature lover or someone who just wants to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city; You will definitely have an unforgettable time on the peak of Penang.

How To Get To The Habitat Penang Hill?

Welcome to The Habitat Penang

Before you can get to The Habitat, you actually need to take the Penang Hill funicular ride first. Knowing that there would be lots of visitors, we embarked on our journey pretty early on that day. After purchasing our tickets, we started lining up to get into our funicular. Being early had its perks as we did not have to wait long and in no time we were on our way up to Penang Hill. The funicular ride lasted around 3 to 4 minutes but it was quite amazing especially if you get to be in the very last coach.

The Kancil Walk at The Habitat

This was actually our second visit to The Habitat Penang Hill. We had been to this marvelous attraction 2 years ago when both of children were younger. Now that they are a bit older, I could enjoy fully enjoy this breathtaking sanctuary and took a lot of photos. Unlike our previous trip, this time around our family decided to book the Kancil Walk guided tour which made our whole trip more knowledgeable and fun. When we were here 2 years ago, we opted for the normal self-guided tour which I must say now was not a wise choice.

Our Kancil Walk tour guide

If this is your first time to The Habitat, I really recommend that you book this Kancil Walk so that you could get all the "insider knowledge" available to you. Yep! A very experienced tour guide will be joining you and explain everything that you could see, feel and listen to in this virgin forest! Our Kancil Walk tour guide really made our trip very interesting as he explained in depth whatever that he knew passionately. The best part was, he could converse fluently in all 3 languages-English, Malay and Mandarin.

The Langur Way Canopy Walk

One of the attractions in The Habitat has got to be the Langur Way Canopy Walk which is an eco-friendly bridge that is 15-metre high and spans a length of 230-metre. What makes this bridge so fascinating is the fact that only cables were used to hold it in its place. No nails and drilling were involved. The bridge is actually named after the Dusky Leaf Langurs or monkeys which were there to witness the construction of the bridge. Our tour guide said the the Langurs were enjoying their leaves while "supervising" the building of "their" bridge. LOL 😁

Welcome to The Langur Way Canopy Walk

Can you see what's crawling on the tree?

Black termite!

Hmm...what are they looking for?

Posing with their discovery

Beautiful Bloom

Do you know that the Langur Way Canopy Walk is the world's longest two-span stressed ribbon bridge? There is no doubt about the architecture and engineering behind this bridge; More importantly it is about the flora and fauna which surrounds this canopy walkway. As we were strolling along the bridge, our guide pointed to us a lot of discoveries that we would otherwise have overlooked. We were taken aback to stumble upon "black" termite as we thought that they were supposed to be in white colour. Guess there were so much more to mother nature than meets the eye right?

The Trail & Garden Within The Habitat

I must admit that I was flabbergasted to learn so much from our Kancil Walk guided tour. From historical facts to botanical knowledge, we had acquired so much priceless information on that day in just a matter of hours. It doesn't matter if you are a naturalist or someone who just wants to be close to lush greenery, you will appreciate 1.6KM nature trail which span across the Habitat. Certainly, you will feel like nature is strutting its stuff in its full glory with tall, majestic trees, beautiful blooms of flowers and of course the all-encompassing foliage that is everywhere!

Posing with the map of The Habitat

Our Kancil Walk tour guide explained to us about the plants

Adults and kids will definitely had a great time at The Habitat

Getting to know mother nature

If only we could spend more time here

Rest assured that you will be mesmerized by a variety of plants and trees that you might have never seen before in your life. That's true for my children and I. At The Habitat, we somehow felt like we were alien visitors from another planet. Every single turn was another surprise awaiting us; Everywhere we went, there would always be something new to be discovered. We even spotted a venomous green snake and a super hairy caterpillar just to name a few. Honestly these discoveries of ours were truly an eye-opening experience to say the least.

There will be plenty of information board about the flora and fauna in The Habitat

Nocturnal animals that you could spot here

The icon of The Habitat-Colugo

Other animals that you can see roaming in the forest

Look at and you might see some of these creatures

I am so in love with this photo

It is a symbiotic connection

The wonder of nature

Buah Salak aka Snake Fruit

Monkey will drink from these (orange) flowers

Visitors to The Habitat need to make sure your smartphone(s) are fully charged or at least you have an extra power bank. Why? Because you will be taking lots of photos of exotic and exquisite flora and fauna. Our lively Kancil Walk tour guide pointed out to us so many plants that we could not distinguish on our own. At times we really wanted to touch every single plant and take a whiff of lovely flowers that we had stumbled upon. We just needed to be more careful when we tried to get up close and personal with mother nature, ok? We almost didn't notice the green venomous snake thanks to its brilliant camouflage. Respect nature.

Our guide explained everything passionately

Welcome to the Discovery Station

What can you see?

Yikes! Super hairy caterpillar! 😬

Can you spot a green snake blending amongst the leaves?

It is the Wagler Pit Viper which is venomous 😱

Curtis Crest Treetop Walk

After walking for more than an hour, we had finally reached one of the highlights at The Habitat. Enter the majestic Curtis Crest Treetop Walk, which is arguably one of the most iconic landmarks for Penang at the moment. In fact many visitors made their way to The Habitat thanks to this latest gem. You will be thrilled to walk on the 13 meters raised walkway which will give you a phenomenal 360 degree view of Penang. Standing at 800 meters above sea level, the Curtis Crest Treetop Walk is the highest viewing point in Penang. If it is not cloudy, you can even see all the way to the Langkawi Island which is around 120km away.

En route to Curtis Crest Treetop Walk

For the uninitiated, Curtis Crest Treetop Walk got its name from the famous botanist Charles Curtis. While you are slowly strolling along the elevated walk, you will notice the beautiful conifer trees underneath you which were planted by Charles Curtis himself. The layers of the fascinating conifer trees give you the impression that you are actually walking on top of the trees. Perhaps those who are afraid of height, might find this a bit challenging but then again it is perfectly safe. Both my children had no problem at all while they were enjoying the spectacular sight on top of the walk.

Behold the majestic Curtis Crest Treetop Walk 

Magnificent view

It is arguably one of the most iconic attractions in Penang right now

If you are still worried, do note that the Curtis Crest Treetop Walk can hold up to 120 people at a single time. Hence we can say that the construction of the treetop walk is not only beautiful but also sturdy at the same time. You will definitely enjoy the cold gentle breeze caressing your face as the fresh air invigorates your lungs after your climb to the top. We spent quite some time there taking lots of photos and of soaking up the soothing ambiance and of course the splendid scenery. Soon we bid farewell to our tour guide and then headed to the next highlight of The Habitat.

So Should You Visit The Habitat Penang?

We really want to thank our Kancil Walk tour guide who had really expounded everything he knows about The Habitat with lots of flair and in-depth knowledge. Even though this was actually our second visit to The Habitat, we had learnt so much more compared to our first visit a year ago. This shows that having an expert tour guide will definitely elevate your experience and exposure at The Habitat. It is certainly different than just having The Habitat Penang Hill map in your hands.

It was an adventure no less

Our next stop at The Habitat was...

The activity that you must experience while at The Habitat...

[lock]

The Flight of The Colugo-Ziplining adventure! [/lock]

So if you are asking me if you should visit The Habitat Penang? Of course the answer is YES. So if you are asking me if you should buy tickets for Kancil Walk package guided tour at The Habitat, the answer is certainly another resounding YES. It makes a lot of difference, trust me. I hope after reading the Habitat Penang Hill review of mine, you will decide to visit this amazing hidden gem on the island. It is definitely one of the must-visit attractions in Penang! Standard ticket price for entrance to The Habitat is RM55 for adult and RM35 for children, senior citizen and students. Do check the company's official website for discount and promotional rates.

The Habitat Penang Hill

Address: Jalan Stesen, Bukit Bendera Air Itam, 11500 Penang.

Phone: 04-8272677

Opening Hours: 9a.m. - 7p.m. daily

Website: www.thehabitat.my

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thehabitatpenanghill

Instagram: www.instagram.com/thehabitatph

[Book Your Tickets to The Habitat]