Sg Siput Waterfall recce

The Waterfalls of Malaysia website has brought me in contact with quite a few people who share the same waterfall addiction..:-). One of them is Ibrahim Ngah Ahmad. He writes a very informative blog: Malaysian Waterfall Travel Log . After exchanging emails, I met him for the first time in person during my recent visit of Taiping. We had an interesting chat, which resulted in a plan to do a waterfall recce together.

Ibrahim suggested a few waterfalls north of Sg Siput, which he had not yet visited himself. As this would be about a 3 hour drive from KL, we decided to make it a 2D1N trip with a stay overnight in Sg Siput town. On the first day we could visit two waterfalls, where he had already been. The second day we would explore new territory, a guide would join us. Here is the poster Ibrahim prepared for our recce:

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Top row, from left to right: Sereiyang, Jalong Tinggi and Sg Kuncha. Bottom row, from left to right Sg Buloh and Sg Serai. The links refer to the falls he had visited already

Five waterfalls in two days! Hm, at my age?  I suggested we could skip Sg Kuncha, as it seemed a tough hike.

No problem, Ibrahim said, we could replace it with an easier fall near Kuala Kangsar.

Don’t get the impression from the contact numbers in the poster that we were targeting a big group. On the contrary, we both prefer small groups. Ibrahim would bring a friend, Hafiz, and I would come with Paul, Fahmi and Rani. A group of six, perfect size. Rani picked us up at 7am and after our traditional mamak breakfast we drove to Sg Siput where we met Ibrahim and Hafiz. Six people in Rani’s X-Trail needed some improvisation..:-) Our first destination was the Sg Buloh fall, just outside Sg Siput.

It was an easy walk, but you must know the way, there are many forks and splits. Fortunately earlier visitors had left a paper trail. From where we parked the car it was less than half an hour to the main fall. Not a lot of water this time, but an attractive fall. About 100 meter upstream there is a second fall in a gorge. Nice for swimming, but the view is spoiled a bit by water pipes.

After this waterfall it was time for lunch. Ibrahim suggested a laksa shop, near Kuala Kangsar: Laksa Pokok Limau. I love the Penang Assam Laksa, but have not really experience with the Malay version. It was delicious! An interesting feature was the deep-fried egg/omelet on top of it. Worth to remember.

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After lunch we continued to the Sg Dal waterfall. The fall is called by locals Lata Bubu, because it is located on the slopes of the Bubu range. From where we parked the car it was only a short walk to the fall. Not a lot of water, but nice to play around and take pictures. Upstream of the fall there is a slide where the local youth was enjoying itself.

Here is a video of the slide with the kids having fun

We had booked accommodation in the Fila Homestay in Sg Siput. Probably recently renovated, very spic and span..:-)  RM 180 for the three-bedroom apartment, value for money. Only the owner should put air-con’s in each room.

The next morning we drove to Lasah where we met our guides Anazil and Ayhenda. We had breakfast, bought food for our lunch, and drove to Bawong. To reach the Serai falls, first you have to cross a plantation. We had been told that even a Kembara could do it, but the road was worse than expected and Rani did not want to take risks, so halfway we parked the car and walked about 2 km until we reached the jungle.

Where we left the plantation and entered the jungle, we had to pass electric wiring, meant to keep the elephants away. Never before seen this. We did not check if the wires were actually “live” ..:-)

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After a hike of about 45 minutes we reached the first fall, Lata Kaku. It had rained the night before, the current was strong and the water a bit murky. To have a good view of the fall, we had to cross the river carefully. Very powerful fall, quite intimidating.

After crossing back we had to river trek to the next waterfall. Actually not too complicated, just be careful with slippery boulders. I don’t know why, but I felt uneasy, stumbling often, maybe the years are counting….  It was not far, about half an hour of river trekking took us to the Lata Curek, with an impressive pool. Time to relax and take pictures. Then the same way back, it was hot and sunny in the plantation, we were very thirsty when we came back to the car.

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The Serai river has actaully three waterfalls, we skipped the first one, Lata Bawong, which can be reached easily from Kampung Bawong. The left picture has been taken four years ago, on my way back from Taiping.

At that time I had no idea that there were more waterfalls upstream

We continued our recce to the Sereiyang waterfall. If you know the way, you can almost drive to the base of the waterfall. Also here we did not take risk and parked the car where the road got rough and walked the rest. The waterfall is visible from a distance and very tall. I used  my clinometer and found that it was 40 meter high. No pool. Very impressive.

Here is a video of the Sereiyang fall

We had our (late) lunch here, it was already 3 pm and we still had to go back to KL. So we decided to keep the Jalong Tinggi fall for a next visit.
mapHere is a GE screenshot of our recce. Click to enlarge. The “new” waterfalls we visited are not far from Bawong.

From Bawong 4WD roads lead to remote Pos Piah and Kg Kuala Mu

There must be dozens  if not hundreds of waterfalls along these roads, waiting for intrepid explorers!

 

It was a rewarding weekend