| Tasik Kenyir, June 2012 |
For years already I have been thinking about making a trip to Lake Kenyir and visit a few of the waterfalls there.
You can only reach these falls by boat,most people take a package tour in a houseboat, where only one or maybe two waterfalls are included.
A few months ago I met Henry Chan, on a trip to Kedah and Penang. He is an angler and a regular visitor of Tasik Kenyir, has his own 15HP engine and knows where to rent a boat.
He invited me to join him on a waterfall exploration trip to Kenyir. Free and easy, camping overnight, bringing our own food.
We met in Simpang Pulai where I parked my car at a patrol station and put my barang in Henry's car.
It is a long way to the jetty at Pengkalan Gawi, first climbing up to the Cameron Highlands, then down to Gua Musang, from where a potholed road leads to the lake.
We had lunch in Gua Musang, visited an elephant sanctuary and our first waterfall, Sg Buweh, just before reaching Pengkalan Gawi, where we could have camped. But there were many people and we prefered the privacy of a nearby campsite, Lawit.
As we expected rain, we pitched our tents under the roof of a community pondok. That was a good move, because there was a heavy downpour that night, with lightning and thunder.
The next morning we noticed that a tree had fallen down a few meters from our pondok!
After a hearty breakfast we went to the jetty, where the boat owner was waiting for us.
To bring our stuff in the boat, we had to carry everything down a slippery slope.
Unfortunately Henry slipped there, and almost tore his knee ligament.
Although walking was difficult, he could still manage the boat. Pity for him, that he could not explore the waterfalls.
Our first stop was the Saok fall and after that the Herbal Island. From there we continued to the Lasir fall, the most popular spot in the lake. There was supposed to be a campsite there, but it was too far away, and the plankway was broken. So we decided to "camp" in two small pondoks beside the trail.
The next morning, after breakfast, we continued our trip to the Petang ranger office. There are two waterfalls near to this post, but the main attraction is the Kelah sanctuary, where you can take a bath surrounded by numerous fish, who nibble your body. Fortunately they have no teeth..!
Exhilarating experience.
We went on to a remote part of the lake, Pos Mentong. This is actually an entrance of Taman Negara, so you need a permit to come this far.
We visited here a limestone cave, Gua Bewah. There is another cave nearby, Gua Taat, which was submerged now, and only accessible when the water level is lower.
As we had some time left, we explored a few more places and found a small waterfall.
Here we slept just on the main jetty, as there were no other visitors.
The next day we went back to the jetty, and then the long way back to Simpang Pulai.
Altogether we "drove" about 150 km on the lake itself!
The total cost was RM 240 pp. Unbelievable.
A perfect trip, thanks to Henry! |
 Fuel for the car
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 Fuel for the boat
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 Food for ourselves
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 Chinese shop: You name it, we have it
1 comment |
 Sg Ketiar Elephant Sanctuary
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 One of the two elephants
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 I dared to touch them
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 First view of Lake Kenyir
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 Several major landslides
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 Sg Buweh Fall
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 Upper part of the fall
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 Even here logging..:-(
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 Enjoying my drink
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 This tree almost hit our pondok
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 Our campsite pondok
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 Henry preparing breakfast
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 A superb breakfast!
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 This is our barang
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 And this our boat
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 It fits! No problem
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 Ready to go
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 Boatman Henry..:-)
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 Our first stop
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 The Saok fall
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 Henry looking for some shade
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 Saok fall
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 Upper tier
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 On our way to the next stop
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 The Herbal Island
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 Nicely maintained garden
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 Beautiful flower
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 Free herbal tea
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 View from the island
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 Lake Kenyir in all its glory
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 One of the many houseboats
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 Small waterfall near Lasir
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 All houseboats visit Lasir
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 Lasir fall, quite impressive
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 Me on the suspension bridge
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 Upper tier of Lasir
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 View from the top of the fall
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 A nice millipede
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 Broken plankway to campsite
2 comments |
 Foreign visitors
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 And local ones
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 A quiet corner of the lake
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 Traditional fishingnet
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 Perfect jacuzzi
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 Lata Baju
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 Threatening clouds
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 A downpour, far away
1 comment |
 Henry's private campsite
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 And mine
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 With a perfect waterfalll view
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 Approaching the Petang fall
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 Sg Petang fall
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 The Petang Ranger post
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 Pos Kawalan Fall
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 Along the Petang river
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 Well maintained trail
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 The Kelah sanctuary
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 The Kelah are so tame!
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 Lots of Kelah!
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 Taking a kelah dip
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 You can go deeper
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 Big fun
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 On my way back
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 Arrived at remote Pos Mentong
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 Limestone rocks
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 Limestone means caves
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 The Bewah cave
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 View from the cave entrance
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 Officially closed, Malaysian style
1 comment |
 Rules and regulations
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 A small museum
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 Recent excavations
5 comments |
 The actual cave entrance
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 Inside the cave
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 Interesting flowstone formations
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 A cave cricket
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 The Taat cave
1 comment |
 Jeram Ketapang
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 Serene atmosphere
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 Spectacular cloudscape
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 Sunset
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 Camping on the jetty itself
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 Henry as a perfect cook
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 On our way back
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 Pos Mentong, hardly any visitors
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 Back on the mainland
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 The falls we visited
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 The route we have followed
3 comments |
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wrote on Jun 9, 2012:
click like |
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wrote on Jun 9, 2012:
Scay, like jacuzzi ... |
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wrote on Jun 9, 2012:
Interesting |
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Dan wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
Looks like a junkyard.. lol |
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Dan wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
Pity |
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Dan wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
Pretty |
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Dan wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
do u need permission to camp there? |
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Dan wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
Lucky u, u have a personal chef |
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Dan wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
it fell the night u were there? |
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Dan wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
common in Malaysia... :P
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Dan wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
I like seeing rain falling from the sky far away like this.... |
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Dan wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
Wow ... interesting. . |
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Dan wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
wow !!!!! |
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Dan wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
lol |
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Dan wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
What's the story? |
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geetee wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
Jan, a real dream trip for you. So many waterfalls..and also interesting places. Lucky for you that Henry was your guide. He looks a really well-organised outdoorsman. Cheers |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Jun 10, 2012:
Yes, it was a dream come true...:-) Maybe we could rent a houseboat with our gang and make a trip together one of these days. |
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Liz wrote on Jun 11, 2012:
So they chain them here as well. |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Jun 11, 2012:
No. It is maintained by the Terengganu state, free access and free of charge! |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Jun 11, 2012:
Yes. A thundering noise when it hit the roof of the pondok next to ours (visible in the background) |
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Dan wrote on Jun 11, 2012:
Thank goodness you guys are ok .... very lucky. |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Jun 11, 2012:
This is the walkway to the Lasir campsite, upstream of the waterfall. We did not even try. |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Jun 11, 2012:
Archaeological excavations have taken place in 2009. Skeletal remains and artifacts from the Neolithic period have been found. Here is a report. |
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Dan wrote on Jun 11, 2012:
Interesting ....4000-6000 years ago. The DNA result should be interesting, I'll try to google for it later.. |
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Liz wrote on Jun 11, 2012:
The archaeological digs first started in 1959. The main excavations by UKM was late 1980s. The Star report you linked to is much more recent. Your photo shows the 1980s holes (I took the same photo in 1999!). |
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Liz wrote on Jun 11, 2012:
Wowwwwwww, the water level is incredibly high. Looking at my photos I would guess it is almost 2m higher than normal. |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Jun 12, 2012:
These are recent pits. There are two more, surrounded by ornamental fencing, those may be from the 1980 excavations. |
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