| Hulu Bernam adventure February 2009 |
A few months ago I got in contact with Tee, about waterfalls in the Tg Malim region. This resulted in his invitation to join a trip to Sg Perah and Sg Lubuk Kawah, tributaries of the Bernam river, which forms the border between the states of Selangor and Perak.
We met in Tg Malim on Saturday February 7. After breakfast and a visit of the colorful market in this small town, we drove to the Orang Asli kampung of Chinggung, where our two Semai guides were already waiting for us. Tee has made many trips with the people from this kampung, so we started our trip in an atmosphere of friendship.
First we drove back to Tg Malim and from there took a small road inland, more or less following the Bernam river until the Teratak resort, where we parked our cars.
The first part of the two-hour hike was easy with one river crossing. The second part was steeper, following an old logging road.
We came across a group of hard-core 4WD people. They were opening up the logging road, winching, chopping, sawing, showing how macho they were. What a disaster for nature those people are! For a while we were worried that they might be aiming at the campsite we were heading for, but luckily that was not the case.
The campsite was located next to the Lubuk Kawah waterfall. The fall is not very tall but has a big pool with crystal clear water. The flat boulders beside the river were a perfect place to relax, to fish and to meditate about the meaning of life.
And to have our food of course..:-) As soon as the camp was set up, our guides started fishing and Uncle and Auntie Leong were busy preparing the paku. With Tee I went downstream to where the Lubuk Kawah joins the Perah river. Slippery rocks, we had to be very careful. The Sg Perah has another nice waterfall. Actually there must be many more in this region.
We were very lucky with the weather and had our dinner al fresco. Alif and Alex prepared to go frog hunting, but found nothing. They told us that in earlier days there were many more big fish and huge frogs. Even Mr Stripes was mentioned. So this might also become a lost paradise soon.
But now it was still a perfect place. The next morning after breakfast we went upstream to look for more waterfalls. Tee had found a nice one last year, but trails get overgrown so fast in this tropical jungle that we could not find it back.
After lunch we packed our stuff, checked carefully that we would leave only footprints, and started our hike back. We passed a large 4WD camp, saw some more destruction, and came back to the main trail. After a refreshing bath in the Bernam river, where I built my traditional "Steinmannerl" :-), we came back to our car and that was the end of a very rewarding and adventurous trip.
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 Petai on theTg Malim market
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 Ginger for the Laksa
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 Kg Chinggung, where our guides live
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 Dog paradise..:-)
3 comments |
 Preparing for the trek
1 comment |
 Ready to go
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 Start of the hike
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 In the Bamboo forest
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 River crossing
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 The Leong's in action
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 4WD's in action :-(
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 Destroying the nature!
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 Chopping needed
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 Flowers, or roots?
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 The Lubuk Kawah Fall
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 The fall has a beautiful pool
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 Our campsite next to the fall
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 Praying mantis
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 One of the Sg Perah falls
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 Unspoiled Sg Perah
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 Jungle berries
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 Preparing the paku
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 Alif catching fish
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 The first catch
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 Small but tasty
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 Tee doing his laundry
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 Leong cleaning the fish
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 Taking care of the rice
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 Frying the fish
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 Dinner is ready!
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 What a perfect dining room!
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 Washing the dishes
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 Night is falling
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 Preparing a carbide lamp
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 Ready for frog hunting
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 Our camp, early morning
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 Breakfast beside the river
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 Beautiful flowers
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 Tough hike to find another waterfall
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 Tongkat Ali
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 The jungle is thorny..:-)
1 comment |
 Upstream the Lubuk Kawah river
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 A small waterfall
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 There I go..:-)
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 Preparing to leave
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 One for the album
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 More destruction
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 4WD camp
1 comment |
 No comment...:-(
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 Sg Bernam with my "signature"
1 comment |
 GPS-track of the trip
2 comments |
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wrote on Feb 13, 2009:
Really enjoy the photos. A very readable write-up too. Congrats. BC |
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Liz wrote on Feb 13, 2009:
Ahhhhhhhhh ! What a lazy life. |
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wrote on Feb 13, 2009:
When a single 4WD can cause so much damage to the terrain, it's horrifying to think what a convoy like this can do. |
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wrote on Feb 13, 2009:
Very informative too, but could not see all the pixs in details as downloading is very slow this evening |
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wrote on Feb 14, 2009:
This casts a different hue on the expression, "It's a dog's life." |
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wrote on Feb 14, 2009:
what is the name of this place ? |
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wrote on Feb 14, 2009:
yikes! thats not a friendly tree! |
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wrote on Feb 14, 2009:
Did the 4WD vehicle survive those awkward positions??! I wouldn't want to be riding in it! |
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wrote on Feb 15, 2009:
i think these are somebody's hunting dogs, which are sent in to flush out the wild boars. in this dog eat dog world k9s have to earn their keep, too. /stephen |
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wrote on Feb 15, 2009:
yeah, only hard core guys will want to go though a mud patch. and only with special mud tyres! and you've got to really clean the undercarriage after that. and to think that if i hadn't be hounded back to the workforce after my first retirement, i would be into it. i already had hooked up with some 4wd outfit then. what could have been? /stephen |
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Kwai Loh wrote on Feb 15, 2009:
Well, one thing, in that case we would probably have never met..:-) |
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wrote on Feb 15, 2009:
looks like a duckling (top three rocks only) /stephen |
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wrote on May 12, 2009:
It's flower buds |
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