Wednesday 20 November 2013

LATA MANONG FALLS

I'm still confuse either the river name is Sg. Manong or Sg. Bekor since there is no indication that there is an existing of tributary along the river, second of all why the river named as Sg. Manong since Manong town located across the Sg. Perak but according to Ngah, the Semai elders that we met during our first visit told us there is more than ten streams that become a tributary of Sg. Bekor, so skip the river name part, just follow what the Orang Asal call it since they have been long mingled with the waterfall before us. I've mentioned before that there is another high fall within this area according to Ngah, but when we look on the map might be the fall that has been described by Ngah is an upper fall of Sg. Johan that flow to Papan which located parallel with Ulu Bekor, but I'll talk some other Ulu Bekor village folks for more exact information. This is the second time I visited the fall after a friend of mine Anazil told me the quantity of water had been decreased and the major suspect is logging activity that so close to the body of water and threaten the existence of the river. So once again we have endure a light medium journey to Ulu Bekor, across the peaceful village of Semai Community later on entering palm oil plantation owned by some Dato' and climbing a hill using Junaidi EX5, due to wet season we were extra careful especially handing cup modified cross vehicle. 

Tuesday 19 November 2013

SUNGAI ANJING FALLS

Sungai Anjing had become a permanent water resource for Semai's village of Sg. Budak and for Che Moon family, I would like to dedicate this post to Che Moon, the story of him and the small water intake that naturally serve the purpose of giving back to the community that appreciate it. Sungai Anjing is a tributary of Sg. Gapis, can consider as "suak' due it size but upstream near the intake area lies the pristine waterfall, not huge but tall in size and to go to each tier you need to climb the waterfall itself. Abang Rosli, Cikgu Mat and Che Moon really helpful especially bring my tripod to the top tier. Lies within Titiwangsa Range and some moderate trekking required to reach this spot. 

SUNGAI GAPIS FALLS

Some general knowledge shared a bit... There is a secluded village located in some peaceful narrow valley called Kampung Sahom, this where 4 major races live together along side peacefully, Malays, Chinese, Indians and Orang Asal (Indigenous people) shared few common things here especially the lush rainforest of Bujang Melaka and Titiwangsa Mountain Range, I think this a few area in Peninsular Malaysia per square KM that we could found abundant of streams and river which some of it lies pristine waterfall that only knew by the locals. But now some of the area in the brink of being threaten to be wiped out permanently from this earth. This is due to logging and quarry activities where it caused a famous inland mud tsunamis in 1996 Pos Dipang tragedy and just this year area nearby Bertam Valley in Cameron Highland received the same fate. On the recent development, the state forestry office had approved new compartment for logging which part of it is a reservoir for Kampung Sahom located in Sg. Serokai Falls (or Lata Jemuk known by the locals), due to steep slope, the villagers afraid that the next Pos Dipang and Bertam Valley could happen here since the village lies in a very narrow valley and this location located in Northern Malaysia maybe it would received the same fate like Kampung Belum in Gerik, where it become flooded for massive dam construction. I began to mesmerized by this area with some highlight by Meor Razak from Sahabat Alam Malaysia on the campaign to halt the logging activities within the compartment of Sg. Serokai Falls because 80% of the villagers relying on the source of water from this intake and to prevent this area become the next victim like Pos Dipang. Apart from inspiring effort, the most important part is take the villagers formed a joint action committee for this campaign and now serious effort had been done by several NGO to push several agencies and state government in reversing the decision that had been made earlier, from my observation the action still in diplomacy stages and several community effort had been planned which one of it is Lata Jemuk Community Hiking scheduled on December 2013. Same goes for the plight of Penans in Burum, it also goes for all the Sahom population that share the common perspective which is forest is not just the profit of several group but a benefit to the whole community. I would like to thank Cikgu Mat, Abang Rosli, Che Moon who accompanied me during the 1st ever Kampung Sahum's waterfall trip and the "Orang Kampung Sahom" that welcome me warmly, here is the trip report of the waterfall (we visited Sg. Anjing Falls earlier and this waterfall is not expected which Sg. Anjing is a tributary for this river) that lies in Titiwangsa Range and we cancelled the trip to Lata Kura and Lata Kundur due to cloudy whether.

Friday 15 November 2013

TROLAK TIMUR FALLS

On the next day after a visit to Bukit Belacan Falls in Gunung Besout we visit another waterfall which I visited with my friend Adi few months ago. Also a secluded waterfall that only known to the locals, I asked the villagers on the river name but they said don't know the exact name but they name is Sg. Trolak Timur, maybe one of the tributary of Sg. Trolak visibly seen when you pass small town of Trolak using Federal Road. This also the first time ever female joining my waterfall trip and two new kakis Yarn and Saiful. This waterfall is one of the easiest access, park on the road side and just walking 5 minutes there, but during our visit there is a heavy rain the night before so the water a bit murky but the spectacular of the waterfall is still prominent among all.

Thursday 14 November 2013

LATA PAPAN FALLS

Lata Papan is small cascades located just behind Kg. Lata Papan in Kuak, lenggong, not mistaken with so called "Papan Cascades" located in small town of Papan near Pusing. I've been visited this place few times and this place would be regard as safe place to bring your kids for real picnic to waterfall but please avoid wet season as the rock surface become slippery. Rarely visited by the outsiders, this secluded cascades just located behind the traditional Malay village and you doesn't need to trek far away deep in the forest to reach it. This area become known as one of the concentrated place to have countless waterfall either from Bintang Hijau or Titiwangsa and exit to Sg. Perak.

SUNGAI LANEH FALLS

This waterfall is unknown to outsiders, actually along Sg. Chempias there is her twin sister flow along side by separated about 1KM of land. This is the first time, I went with my "Kuala" connection which I could not attend the trip day before, so with help of Zaini, the local guy from Kg. Laneh itself, I managed to reach the secluded waterfall of Sg. Laneh. 3 Level of waterfalls. For the locals there is a name for each level, 1st level known as "Lata Pendek", 2nd level known as "Lata Panjang" and the upper level is known as "Lata Tak Berikan", today we managed to wrapped out 2 level only and need another more day to visit the upper level. During this trip also I managed to meet with two jungle experts (Mat Kelawar and Pak Tan) in Kg. Laneh whom possessed knowledge about the forest behind their village. So here is the report, sorry the photo a bit faulty due due to heavy light received by the lens, but you still can witness the beautiful of secluded Lata Panjang and Lata Pendek.

Thursday 7 November 2013

LATA KASIS FALLS

Another series of waterfall cascading from Kledang Saiong, this one is a bit easy you can reach it up to the based by common four wheel vehicle using tarred road that use by joggers to Kledang Hill, The size is not spectacular as Lata Kijang and can consider as baby fall for waterfall enthusiast, but if you want to give your kids about an experience visiting waterfall that still natural inside the rainforest this would be a perfect choice and maybe you can continue to the top of Kledang hill and witness the spectacular view of Ipoh and Mt. Peninjau from the hill, this waterfall just halfway to the top.