Tioman Island


Overview

Tioman Island is a mukim and an island in Rompin District, Pahang, Malaysia. It is located 32 kilometres (20 miles) off the east coast of the state, and is some 20 kilometres (12 miles) long and 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) wide. It has eight main villages, the largest and most populous being Kampung Tekek in the north. The densely forested island is sparsely inhabited, and is surrounded by numerous coral reefs, making it a popular scuba diving spot. There are also a lot of resorts and chalets around the island which has duty-free status. Its beaches have been claimed to be depicted in the 1958 movie, South Pacific as Bali Hai but available evidence suggests this is a false claim. In the 1970s, TIME Magazine selected Tioman as one of the world's most beautiful islands. The island is served by ferries from the Malaysian mainland, Up to 2013, Berjaya Air serviced the island with a propeller plane service from the Changi Airport in Singapore and nowadays, there is only one company operating the route from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, Selangor to Tioman Island. The company are called Systematic Aviation Services, and with a fleet of small single prop Cessna aircraft, the trip takes around 1 hr 15 minutes. The island is part of Pahang territory, although it is geographically closer to mainland Johor than to mainland Pahang, and is accessed via ferry service from the Johorean coastal town of Mersing. Within Tioman Island there are four kampungs: Salang, Tekek, Juara and Air Batang.