Pulau Tengah is part of a group of 3 islands: Pulau Babi Besar, Pulau Babi Tengah and Pulau Babi Hujung. Mersing, about sixteen kilometers away, is the nearest mainland town. Three types of turtles live and breed on the islands, most notably on Pulau Tengah’s southern shore.
Pulau Tengah is a small beach island located 16 km off the coast of Mersing off the eastern coast of Johor in Malaysia ; and is a 90-minute boat ride from Mersing. It was a famous Vietnamese refugee camp, which today has become a gazetted marine park of the country.

Over the late 1970s and early 1980s, Pulau Tengah was a UN Refugee Counsel camp for Vietnamese “boat people” as they waited to start their new lives in Europe, Australia and North America. The island became famous as a Vietnamese refugee transit camp which was subsequently closed in the early 80’s.

After refugee camp close. The government has declared it a marine park because of its reef and the fact that giant leatherback turtles lay their eggs there between June and August.

From 1998 to 2010, Pulau Tengah was used to film Expedition Robinson, a highly popular Swedish reality TV show which was the predecessor to the island castaway series Survivor.

Source: Wikipedia