The Royal Belum forest is located in the Gerik, Perak, area (Hulu Perak).  It is believe that the forest reserve coverage is about 290,000 hectares and with more than 146,000 hectares of virgin forest.  The forest is divided into two sections: the upper Belum area, which stretches to the Thai-Malaysian border covering 117,500 hectares of impenetrable jungle and the lower Belum mostly covered by Temenggor Lake.  The State of Perak has decided to preserve the Belum and Temenggor forests as a permanent nature reserve for research.  

The entire forest of Belum and Temenggor was considered a ‘black area’ and was placed under a State of Emergency from 1948 until 1989.  The communist party of Malaya was extremely active in that area and according to sources; the East-West Highway proposed by an army General believed cutting a road through the area would hamper the communists’ movements.  However, this road was constantly under threat of being bombed and sabotaged by renegades.  Peace has since reigned over the area after the signing of the Haadyai Accord in 1989.