The rainforest of Penang, a northern Malaysian state known for its street food culture more than its theme parks, recently opened an attraction for the ages. The ESCAPE theme park has just debuted a 3,645-foot waterslide that sends riders cruising through the jungle and into the heart of the park on an inflatable tube. The slide starts 230 feet above the park on a hillside, its blue and yellow track twisting and turning revelers down the hill and into a pool awaiting at the bottom. Riders access the slide via chairlift. The park provides the tubes — all riders must have is a willingness to let their wits go for a full four minutes on the way down.
Photo: Escape Theme Park, Penang/Facebook
The New World’s Longest Waterslide Takes You 3,645 Feet Through the Rainforest
Photo: Escape Theme Park, Penang/Facebook
Building a waterslide in the rainforest appears, at first thought, as a keen way to disrupt local flora and fauna and stand as just one more step in humankind’s encroachment on the natural world. However, the developer of the slide — Sim Leisure Group — maintains that environmental precautions were taken during planning and construction. The ride was built manually in order to avoid bringing heavy machinery into the wildlife-rich rainforest.
While this slide will be the world’s longest mountain waterslide, China is home to the longest traditional waterslide — the city of Lishui boasts an 8,900-foot-long water-powered ride. Still, it gives visitors and locals alike one more reason to consider heading down to Penang on their next Southeast Asian trip. 