Tioman Island
Tioman Island
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Tioman Island

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Tioman Island

Tioman Island (Malay: Pulau Tioman) is 32 kilometres (20 miles), off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, more specifically off the east coast of Rompin District, Pahang, Malaysia. It is 39 kilometres (24 miles) long and 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) wide and has seven villages, the largest and most populous being Kampung Tekek on the central western coast. The densely forested island is sparsely inhabited, and is surrounded by numerous coral reefs, making it a popular scuba diving, snorkelling, and surfing spot. There are many resorts and chalets for tourists around the island, which has duty-free status.

The island is accessed via ferry service from the coastal town of Mersing and Teluk Gading, as well as by air, run by a regular private service from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (formerly Subang International Airport) in Selangor.

Tioman has been used for thousands of years by Austronesian fishermen as an essential navigation point and a source of fresh water and wood. During the past thousand years, it has played host to Chinese, Arab, and European trading ships en route to Champa, and often Chinese porcelain shards can be found on beaches around the island.

In more recent history, Tioman played host to both the British and the Japanese navies during the Second World War. As a result, the waters around the island are littered with war remains, including HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales.

Buildings with more than three stories are not allowed on Tioman Island. Tioman Island is to be granted municipality status soon.[citation needed].

The marine area around Tioman Island and eight other nearby islands have been declared as marine parks and marine reserves.

Apart from its diverse marine life, the inland rainforest area was protected in 1972 as the Pulau Tioman Wildlife Reserve. However, a large part of the original reserve was sacrificed for agricultural and touristic development in 1984; the remaining area is approximately 8,296 ha (20,500 acres). There are several protected species of mammals on the island, including the binturong, long-tailed macaque, slow loris, black giant squirrel, red giant flying squirrel, mouse deer, brush-tailed porcupine, and common palm civet, from a total of 45 species of mammals and 138 species of birds, including the majestic frigatebird. Moreover, Tioman has species that are endemic to its shores. The Tioman walking catfish Clarias batu can be seen on rainforest walks. Kajang slender litter frog is only known from Mount Kajang.

Tioman Island Marine Park hosts three marine ecosystems: coral reef, seagrass bed, and mangrove forest. The coral reefs accommodate 350 species of scleractinian corals from 67 genera including three endangered species (Alveopora minuta, Isopora togianensis and Pectinia maxima), 86 vulnerable species and 85 near threatened species, 326 species of coral reef fish from 55 families including the endangered humphead wrasse, vulnerable blacktip reef shark, slender bambooshark, tawny nurse shark, brown-marbled grouper, squaretail coral grouper, finless sleeper ray, Jenkin's whipray and the near threatened blackspot tuskfish and Bower's parrotfish, and 76 taxa of benthic macroalgae. The seagrass beds support 3 species of seagrass and can be found near Kampung Air Batang, Kampung Genting, Teluk Nipah, Teluk Mukut and between Japamala Resort and Pasir Cina. The mangrove forests, a total of 59.90 hectares, support 23 mangrove species including a new hybrid species, one endangered species (Heritiera globose) which can be found near Kampung Genting and Kampung Juara and two near threatened species (Ceriops decandra and Sonneratia ovata) which can be found near Kampung Juara.[citation needed]

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