Waterfall in Jelebu found not safe

SEREMBAN: The Lata Kijang recreational forest in Jelebu near here has been temporarily closed after the soil structure in the area was found to have been destabilised following heavy rains in recent days.

Several landslips have also been reported in the area recently following incessant rain.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said all activities in the area had to be stopped until authorities gave the green light.

“No one will be allowed to use the facilities in the recreational area for whatever reason,” he said.

He said that the authorities have been monitoring the situation over the past few days.

Standing at 100m, Lata Kijang is among the highest waterfalls in the country.

Mohamad said Forestry De­­partment officers have been patrolling the 380ha forest area to ensure no one violated the directive.

“The stairs built to take visitors right to the top of the waterfall is also unsafe.

We have discovered that the soil structure in the area has weakened,” he told reporters on Wednesday after the weekly state executive committee meeting.

Mohamad said a bailey bridge, toilets, resting area and the camping site were also sitting on unstable ground.

“There has been massive soil erosion in the area as large volumes of water have been brought down from upstream to the seven-storey high waterfall,” he added.

He said Sungai Kenaboi, which runs through the reserve, had also become shallow due to erosion and large amounts of sand being deposited in the river.

“The roof of a building being built at Taman Alam Liar caved in after a tree fell on it,” he said.

Prior to this, several scientific expeditions have been launched to the Lata Kijang forest area and Gunung Besar Hantu, which was a repository of flora and fauna.

Gunung Besar Hantu is among the cluster of mountains located at the tail end of the Titiwangsa Range. Standing at 1,462m above sea level, it is among the highest peaks in Peninsular Malaysia.

The state government recently gave a RM5mil grant to upgrade facilities at Lata Kijang and Gunung Besar Hantu.

Mohamad said the authorities, had since Aug 20, cordoned off the area and warning signs would be put up.

GUNUNG BESAR HANTU

بِسْــــــــــــــــــــــمِ اﷲِارَّحْمَنِ ارَّحِي

Personally, I don't think this mountain is very popular amongst hikers due to access problem and furthermore it's not as challenging as those mountains in G7 list. When it comes to access problem, we had to take a ride from a friend who's driving a 4WD to get to the camp site. The 4WD journey itself took almost 1.5 hours. It's not advisable to drive a sedan car to the campsite as the road is very rough.

Otherwise the mountain could easily be one of my favourites as Lata Kijang, a five storey high waterfalls is also located here. What a beautiful sight! And the climb is also simple, unlike other mountains of the same range of height that I have been; namely Nuang and Ledang.

Located near Kampung Chennai, Kuala Kelawang, Negeri Sembilan, Gunung Besar Hantu (GBH) is 1462 meters above sea level. For a mountain of this height, the hiking can be done in just a day.

How To Get There?

We left at 2.00pm from Subang Jaya by taking LDP until Semenyih. From there, we took LEKAS highway to Ampangan, Negeri Sembilan. When we came out from the highway, we took the left turn to Kuala Kelawang. And finally we drove all the way to Kampung Chenna by following the signboard. All in all, the driving from Subang Jaya to Kampung Chenna junction took around 1.5hours.

The Camping Night!

We stopped over at Kg. Chenna for ABC (very nice and very cheap too, RM1.00 per bowl) while waiting for others to arrive. All of us were having Maxis number and unfortunately there was no Maxis line here, the only service that worked was 013. That means we were already out of contact with our loved ones by the time we reached Kg. Chenna. While having ABC, we were kind of worried as the villager was saying that the road to the base camp is not accessible by car. And I didn't really get the confirmation from one of the fellow hikers that we could get a ride from him. Soon after, my worries were gone as Lucas and his girlfriend arrived in their brand new 4WD.

The 4WD drive to the base camp took about 1.5hours and we arrived there at 7.40pm, it was already drizzling and very dark.

While the chef and his assistant were busy preparing dinner, I and hiking buddy put up our tent . It's a new tent and it's the first time for us to erect our own tent. Much to my delight, it was pretty easy. Our chef prepared Ayam Masak Kicap, Scrambled Eggs and Stir fried Mixed Veges. Big compliments to our chefs as the foods turned out to be very tasty.

We were informed that we'll start hiking at 8am the next day. I woke up early as usual and in fact I could hardly sleep as the noise from waterfalls was very loud. We had to dismantle our tents and to leave them in the cars very early in the morning while the Chef was busy in his kitchen preparing fried rice to 'tapau' to the summit.

The Hiking

We left at around 7.50am by crossing the stream to the other side of the camping site. Upon crossing we had to go up 340 metal steps of steep gradient to the logging trail. Some of the metal steps were no longer in good conditions, so we had to be extra careful. It took around 30 minutes to get out from the area into logging trail.

It took us another 45 minutes to complete the logging trail where we reached an abandoned orang asli settlement area (Check Point 1). There is another stream at the end of the logging trail. We didn't cross it, instead we turned inside the forest on the right side to go to the next Check Point - Camp Orhid.

We took around 2 hours from the last first Check Point to Camp Orchid (Check Point 2), about 1,000 meters above sea level. However, the trails were rather simple and it felt more like jungle trekking. It's the gradual change in elevation that made it less challenging. In a way, it's good too as we were less tiring! As the name suggests, in Camp Orchid, we saw a lot lot of wild beautiful orchids. Camp Orchid can easily accommodate 40 tents. However, water can be a problem and we'd have to carry a lot of water if were to camp here.

With the elevation of 1,000 meters, we already covered 2/3 of the mountain. The last one third was very challenging as the trails were steep and slippery too. The air was cooler even though we were tired and stopped almost every 10 minutes, we felt fresh!

Finally, we reached the summit at 11.45, that means 4 hours to reach the summit. At the summit, we could see 360 degrees of the surrounding. Unfortunately, it was misty that day! And we only had the opportunity to look around when the sky was clear every now and then, we could see some other mountains nearby and the valley down below. It was beautiful and breathtaking view! Then we knew that the rewards were all worth it!

Going down was a lot faster and some of us fell as the trails were slippery and due to the gravity pull. And we reached back the base camp slightly after 8 hours! And we rested a long time at Lata Kijang while waiting for others. We enjoyed the view of Lata Kijang, I didn't dip into the water as it was very cold and the wind really chilled me!

It was a very good experience climbing Gunung Besar Hantu. We don't know when we'll ever go there again. For some of us, they had been wanting to come here for more than 3 years but never had the opportunity to do so due to the access problem!

GUNUNG BESAR HANTU

بِسْــــــــــــــــــــــمِ اﷲِارَّحْمَنِ ارَّحِي

I am excited as I am going for a camping plus hiking on Saturday to Gunung Hantu Besar, Kuala Kelawang, Negeri Sembilan.

Thank you to a group of friends (I only met them once at the peak of Gunung Angsi last month) who invited us to join them.

There will be four of us going and we'll be leaving from Subang Jaya around 2pm. The plan is to camp at the foothill for one night on Saturday. We will climb the mountain the next day, so it's going to be a day hiking trip.

Not much preparation that is required as we are not planning to cook at all. We'll have our early dinner at 5pm before we go in to the jungle. For supper, we're planning to have sandwich. We'll just need to boil water the next morning for coffee/hot milo. And sandwich again for breakfast!

So, I am going there with new hiking backpack (used once only so far) and new tent (never used at all!).

I pray that the weather will be good so that we can drive further inside to the camping base. Or else, may have to get help form the other friends who are driving 4WD.

Will post the update on the trip soon!