Sunday, October 25, 2009

AYER HITAM FOREST RESERVE - PUCHONG


Not many people know the existence of this Forest Reserve located in Taman Wawasan Puchong. It's the last piece of green lung available in that area under the purview of Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya and it's also a research area for Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia.
This area is not void of controversy either, the community has been protesting the plan by a developer to develop the area adjacent to the Forest Reserve with 137 bungalows, 324 semi-detached houses, one commercial plot and an office site.In the meantime, while the area is still open to public, let's go there!

How To Get There?
The entrance is located at Jalan Wawasan 5/1, Taman Wawasan Puchong. We passed Giant Hypermarket Bandar Puteri, Puchong before taking a left turn at the first traffic light after Columbia Asia Hospital. After that, take the first left at Laman Puteri 1 before taking the first right at Persiaran Bukit. The entrance is located right at the end of Persiaran Bukit.


My Story
Getting there
It's very easy to get there. From KL, after getting into LDP towards Shah Alam, we can exit at Pusat Bandar Puchong, aftr IOI, and follow the signboard to Speedmart 99.

First Check Point
I started hiking at almost 8am. It's an easy hiking, that's why it's a popular spot for families to go for weekend hiking. Along the way, I met several families, mostly Chinese and they were friendly enough to greet me. They must be Puchong locals.

I read in the sketch there were 3 different Check Points but I noticed there were only two. I didn't get to take pictures at the Check Point as it's full of people.
Second Check Point and The Pond




At the second Check Point, I met some groups of hikers there and they gave me direction to go to the waterfalls, which is on the right side. Here it's quite tough but simple, very good training ground for someone who are interested to take up hiking as hobby. I took almost 30 minutes to reach the waterfalls. I had a long stop at the pond taking my time to rest and to munch on breakfast bars. There were fishes in the pond and I shared my breakfast bars with them. It was very relaxing and the water was cold.

After relaxing at the pond and finished off the breakfast bars, I wanted to explore further and headed straight following the trail instead of turning back. I bumped into a group of hikers and asked them where did the trail lead to and was told it'd end at Bukit Jalil. Ooops! My car was in Puchong and I had no intention of flagging a taxi from Bukit Jalil, so I turned back instead.


When I finally reached the second Check Point, I really needed another rest. I took a rest for about 15 minutes and continued again after that following the exit signs. As usual, it's always advisable to follow clear and established trails instead of venturing out and making our own trail. The exit trails are clearly marked and I don't think hikers will get lost there.

Other than enjoying fresh air, just like any Forest Reserve, this place is laden with flora and fauna. However, to those who have been to a lot of other mountains, they must have already seen the same flaura and fauna before. Nevertheless, it's so enjoyable to be in a hiking place that is very close to home. So now, if I don't have any mountain to climb, I'd just do my weekeend hiking either at Bukit Tabur, Bukit Gasing and this place.


Finish Line
I completed the hiking slightly after 12 noon and at that time, it was already scorching hot. I took 4 hours to complete it. I must sya that I had fun time and it's always a good thing to share our experience in hiking a new place.

I'll be going for a Treasure Hunt, Damai Laut next week. So there will be no hiking activity for Small Hiker this week.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bro, ur hiking buddy is here.
A very good entry. btw, next time lets go further and find the other waterfall! btw, i was complaining tired becouse i didnt get enuf sleep the night before. i slept less than 3 hours! lesson learn! ;)

DrSam said...

A heavenly sanctuary in the middle of the township. Nice and clean pond as well. A very interesting place to spend a weekend. Good job mate.

Anonymous said...

hey nice trip there! wanted to ask, u say it's open to public, but when i called up encik paiman (the guy who oversee the forest), he said not open to public, only for educational and research purpose. so u did u go in??

Small Hiker said...

we trespassed... not that they are going to shoot you... it's busy over the weekend... just go... or let me know when you're planning to go there... who knows may be i can join you...

Anonymous said...

u mentioned there are few families going there.. i thought it was for public..

how u trespassed? i mean got some gates opened or what? would love to go there maybe next month probably.. if managed to trespass in la haha :)

Small Hiker said...

The Trekkers... I am planning to go there on Nov 22, Sunday. Let's contact each other closer to the date....

The trekker, agnes said...

hi en Radzi, looks like will give it a miss coz consequtive 2 weeks, attending family's wedding function, will contact you again. thanks enjoy yr trekking.

Anonymous said...

Bro, im staying near wawasan puchong, im interested to join you to trek in air hitam forest. May i know when u will trek again ?

Small Hiker said...

Trekking at Ayer Hitam? Must check first whether it's open already or not. I am not sure about that. Perhaps, I'll google for the news....

Unknown said...

the map by me
interester call at www.puchongtrails.com
kelvin

Anonymous said...

abg adam, 13 Nov ada kosong lagi kan? nnt berkumpul kat mana? jam berapa? -man-

Anonymous said...

can we swim in the pond?

Small Hiker said...

Anonymous - there's a notice board nearby that says you can't swim in the pond. Yet, I know that people have done it. And they said the water didn't smell good! Smell of rotten trees and mud.

trekker said...

been there yesterday and it is fun, the water is cold the jungle trekking trail is wet n slippery.All of this if fun n challenging!!Good experience even my 7 year old son can do it.

Small Hiker said...

Hi Trekker, this was the last place that I went for trekking. And I did it with my 6 year old son. It was slippery and he enjoyed it!

Anonymous said...

hey guys, i read the reserve forest has been open to the public as of a couple of weeks ago. anyone know if its true?

Edward Tan said...

Hi... been to the waterfall recently and sad to say, UPM has been increasing enforcement of the 'ban'. Not even 5 minutes on reaching the pool, we were 'ambushed' by two security personnel who took photographs of us and asked for us to state our names and IC (supposedly to absolve them of any fault should we 'drown' or something). After we did so and left, 3 students came and lectured us about being 'trepassers', they are doing research on the pool and calling polis... needless to say, we were not welcomed. Therefore, unless you want to give your name and IC to (at worse) be potentially kena saman RM10,000 for trespassing or (at the least) suffering mental anguished at all the berating and being photographed, I'd give the waterfall a miss... :p