SUNGAI GAPIS FALLS

Some general knowledge shared a bit... There is a secluded village located in some peaceful narrow valley called Kampung Sahom, this where 4 major races live together along side peacefully, Malays, Chinese, Indians and Orang Asal (Indigenous people) shared few common things here especially the lush rainforest of Bujang Melaka and Titiwangsa Mountain Range, I think this a few area in Peninsular Malaysia per square KM that we could found abundant of streams and river which some of it lies pristine waterfall that only knew by the locals. But now some of the area in the brink of being threaten to be wiped out permanently from this earth. This is due to logging and quarry activities where it caused a famous inland mud tsunamis in 1996 Pos Dipang tragedy and just this year area nearby Bertam Valley in Cameron Highland received the same fate. On the recent development, the state forestry office had approved new compartment for logging which part of it is a reservoir for Kampung Sahom located in Sg. Serokai Falls (or Lata Jemuk known by the locals), due to steep slope, the villagers afraid that the next Pos Dipang and Bertam Valley could happen here since the village lies in a very narrow valley and this location located in Northern Malaysia maybe it would received the same fate like Kampung Belum in Gerik, where it become flooded for massive dam construction. I began to mesmerized by this area with some highlight by Meor Razak from Sahabat Alam Malaysia on the campaign to halt the logging activities within the compartment of Sg. Serokai Falls because 80% of the villagers relying on the source of water from this intake and to prevent this area become the next victim like Pos Dipang. Apart from inspiring effort, the most important part is take the villagers formed a joint action committee for this campaign and now serious effort had been done by several NGO to push several agencies and state government in reversing the decision that had been made earlier, from my observation the action still in diplomacy stages and several community effort had been planned which one of it is Lata Jemuk Community Hiking scheduled on December 2013. Same goes for the plight of Penans in Burum, it also goes for all the Sahom population that share the common perspective which is forest is not just the profit of several group but a benefit to the whole community. I would like to thank Cikgu Mat, Abang Rosli, Che Moon who accompanied me during the 1st ever Kampung Sahum's waterfall trip and the "Orang Kampung Sahom" that welcome me warmly, here is the trip report of the waterfall (we visited Sg. Anjing Falls earlier and this waterfall is not expected which Sg. Anjing is a tributary for this river) that lies in Titiwangsa Range and we cancelled the trip to Lata Kura and Lata Kundur due to cloudy whether.

TROLAK TIMUR FALLS

On the next day after a visit to Bukit Belacan Falls in Gunung Besout we visit another waterfall which I visited with my friend Adi few months ago. Also a secluded waterfall that only known to the locals, I asked the villagers on the river name but they said don't know the exact name but they name is Sg. Trolak Timur, maybe one of the tributary of Sg. Trolak visibly seen when you pass small town of Trolak using Federal Road. This also the first time ever female joining my waterfall trip and two new kakis Yarn and Saiful. This waterfall is one of the easiest access, park on the road side and just walking 5 minutes there, but during our visit there is a heavy rain the night before so the water a bit murky but the spectacular of the waterfall is still prominent among all.

LATA PAPAN FALLS

Lata Papan is small cascades located just behind Kg. Lata Papan in Kuak, lenggong, not mistaken with so called "Papan Cascades" located in small town of Papan near Pusing. I've been visited this place few times and this place would be regard as safe place to bring your kids for real picnic to waterfall but please avoid wet season as the rock surface become slippery. Rarely visited by the outsiders, this secluded cascades just located behind the traditional Malay village and you doesn't need to trek far away deep in the forest to reach it. This area become known as one of the concentrated place to have countless waterfall either from Bintang Hijau or Titiwangsa and exit to Sg. Perak.

SUNGAI LANEH FALLS

This waterfall is unknown to outsiders, actually along Sg. Chempias there is her twin sister flow along side by separated about 1KM of land. This is the first time, I went with my "Kuala" connection which I could not attend the trip day before, so with help of Zaini, the local guy from Kg. Laneh itself, I managed to reach the secluded waterfall of Sg. Laneh. 3 Level of waterfalls. For the locals there is a name for each level, 1st level known as "Lata Pendek", 2nd level known as "Lata Panjang" and the upper level is known as "Lata Tak Berikan", today we managed to wrapped out 2 level only and need another more day to visit the upper level. During this trip also I managed to meet with two jungle experts (Mat Kelawar and Pak Tan) in Kg. Laneh whom possessed knowledge about the forest behind their village. So here is the report, sorry the photo a bit faulty due due to heavy light received by the lens, but you still can witness the beautiful of secluded Lata Panjang and Lata Pendek.

LATA KASIS FALLS

Another series of waterfall cascading from Kledang Saiong, this one is a bit easy you can reach it up to the based by common four wheel vehicle using tarred road that use by joggers to Kledang Hill, The size is not spectacular as Lata Kijang and can consider as baby fall for waterfall enthusiast, but if you want to give your kids about an experience visiting waterfall that still natural inside the rainforest this would be a perfect choice and maybe you can continue to the top of Kledang hill and witness the spectacular view of Ipoh and Mt. Peninjau from the hill, this waterfall just halfway to the top.

SUNGAI TAPAH FALLS

Another jewel of Ipoh located in the mountain range of Kledang Saiong, rediscovered on assistance of two determined jungle enthusiast who keen to endure any obstacles using their experience. I began to heard the story of this hidden waterfall from Rizal, a friend of mine whom lived in Manjoi, Perak on their childhood memories cycling through tin mines area of Jelapang to rocky streams nearby the hill, secondly I was enlighten by Shahbuddin, my LAP connection that during their maintenance work on one of water catchment area in Jelapang, there is a rocky streams that popular among the locals for their fresh dip and finally I met Halim whom also from this area confirming that there is a small cascades nearby the catchment area. I, Halim and Junaidi determined to unveil this hidden waterfall few days ago and we started early morning to avoid monsoon rain in the hilly area which we afraid could jeopardize our safety especially the forest around the catchment area would not be approved for the logging activities, hence when the canopy is thick it would preserve a high volume of water and we afraid that sudden flash flood would endanger us. During this trip I would say it quite tricky because we need to wait for the rain to subside in order to get clear photo but there is a time when we are not even able to cover the camera from raindrops and there is a lot of stamping clone used to eliminate the unwanted white marks and sorry if the photo looks funny because I'm still in the entry level of photoshop and during this trip, I'm fully utilized the lesson gained on HDR during the Teluk Mengkudu Falls' HDR Legion photo expedition. This waterfall is just a few minutes drive from Ipoh and the profile is near vertical with the most fascinating part it's a Y type of waterfall where the river is fed by two waterfalls in Y position, one is roaring and another one is a bit calm.

KOLAM AIR KATAK FALLS

In this trip report, it would be different with other waterfalls that has been highlighted here. This time we managed to track down baby fall that popular among the Pantai Remis picnic-goers few years back. On the first recce trip I was accompanied by Asmidi and few helpful Pantai Remis kids that had visited this waterfall 2 years back but no photos has been shot since it almost reached 7 pm and the area is covered with lush canopy. I never expect that there is a waterfall just close by to Segari - Pantai Remis Road and the different from those we discovered so far in Segari Melintang Forest Reserve, all waterfall facing towards the sea which is on the west side, but this time we found waterfall that flows to the east. I think by this findings it's proven that long time ago before the Manjung District still covered by the lush green area, the series of small streams that flows from the hill range surrounding Sungai Dinding indeed the major contributor to the tributary such as Sungai Derhaka, Sungai Segari, Sungai Harding, Sungai Nyior Sebatang and many more, but nowadays this series of small streams had been converted to plantation drainage system which covered by all kinds of residue, similar to Kolam Air Katak Falls where the water flows to the roadside drainage systems that flows into polluted Sungai Batu. Maybe for those fan of high volume of water would not be entertained by this report since in the waterfall photography, high volume of water could lead to the dynamic and dramatic results, this waterfall could be regarded as "urinal discharge" as my friend called it, not much water found here but according the kids two years ago there is plenty of water and for the locals this area become a popular spot for fresh dip activities. I dedicated this report (my second trip here) to all the Pantai Remis folks for all your nostalgic and memorable moment on this waterfall.