At first, we planned to visit Sungai Chilling but when we arrived at the Sungai Chilling entrance, it was closed due to the pandemic. So, we searched for a nearby site that we could camp at, and here is it -- Sungai Pertak.
We arrived at Sungai Pertak between 5-6pm. You will have to go into a Kampung Orang Asli Pertak (village) to get to the Sungai Pertak. An entrance fee of RM1 is collected for each head. There were quite a number of people. We parked at the designated car park but soon we saw cars driving down the slope road, we decided to follow suit. We went up the slope and parked at the side (limited space).
Looking for a site to build tent
First, we walked through a bridge made from metal. Then, walk along the path and saw the first campsite. It was maintained by someone, a fee of RM5 per person will be collected if you were to build your tent here. But we decided to continue walking to see if we will find a better place to camp, as we prefer a more private and less crowded space. By the first campsite, we crossed the river with a broken bridge.
First bridge
As we continue our journey, we saw local, and asked for direction. He told us that there were two waterfalls -- Lata Makau and Lata Medang. So, he suggested Lata Medang as it was about 400-500m from where we were. And so we continued. But, a local who can't speak was instructing us to go by a shortcut, which we explored cautiously. About 10-20mins walk (if I'm not mistaken by they way), we arrived at the second campsite. It was a small waterfall of Sungai Pertak. We decided to camp here as the sky is starting to turn dark. There were a group of young people camping there too. So we built our tent beside them. Suppose that we have to pay RM20 for building a tent there but there's no one there to collect the money from us and we didn't know who to pay too, and one of the guy from the group said that it was lucky for us if no one collect the money from us. He also warned us that at the right side of the campsite, there's a "mini beach" (riverside with sand), which is not suitable to build tent there as during the rainfall, the water level rise up and flooded the whole land. They had experienced it the day before as this were their second night here, he said that the water level increase in about 4 minutes, so it's quite dangerous.
Anyway, the site we built our tent is clean, there's no litter on sight. We camped by the river. You will be hearing water splashing the whole time. It is really dark during the night, be sure that you have a torch in hand when you're roaming around at night.
Camping site by the river
"Mini beach"
We brought our own ingredient and equipment to cook. We started a fire but it couldn't sustain as the wood is quite damp. Luckily we brought a portable gas stove. We had a steamboat and barbeque chicken wing. Such a rare experience that we used the fish toaster cage to to grill the chicken wing over the portable gas stove. I highly suggest that you bring along an outdoor foldable table to place your stuff. And most importantly, do bring along sufficient water for hydration and cooking.
"barbeque chicken wing"
The next morning, we packed our stuff and cleaned up the site. We decided to hike up to visit the beauty of the waterfall as my friend heard from a hiker that there's a beautiful waterfall about 45 minutes hike from our place. So we head out. We were told to take the right path as when we meet the junction. After two junction, we took the path that are not blocked. We were really lost because we walked for more than an hour and we still can't see the end, we couldn't even hear the sound of the water splashing.
When we were about to give up, we saw hikers coming up, so we asked whether they know about the route to the waterfall. They weren't sure either but they said it should take about 2 hours to reach the waterfall. And so, we went on. For about 30 minutes, we were hopeful again when we heard the sound of water waves. And yes, we arrived at the waterfall.
The scenery along the way is mesmerizing with tall trees forming a canopy and there were a lots of bamboos too. They were some fallen bamboos and trees. However, the path is muddy and there were steep slope, hence it is slippery, be careful where you step on. There were also a few "mini rivers" along the path.
We enjoy a swim in the waterfall. The water was freezing, but it was clean. You may spot fishes swimming in the waterfall. A group of people built their tent at the higher ground by the waterfall. There were people continued the hike up, but we weren't ready for it as we were exhausted. After a break and snack time, we head back following the path we came up. We took almost two hours to arrived at where we parked our car.
Ps. Only after we did some research after the trip, we found out that the waterfall we visited is the Lubuk Mercu Waterfall. About 200 metres up from Lubuk Mercu, you will reach Lata Medang Waterfall, if the information I locate is correct.
- Headlamp / Torchlight (MUST!!)
- Bring sufficient water (bring more if you want to cook) [using the water from river is not recommended, unless you are at the upstream, just to be safe]
- Food/snacks
- Medicine for leech bite
- Cooking equipment/utensils (if you intended to cook and not starting a fire)
- Rubbish bag (to clean your mess when you leave)
- Tent & sleeping bags
- Wear suitable shoes for to hike
- Slippers / sandals are suitable if you do not intend to hike
- Hiking poles (recommended to ease your journey)
Overall, it was a wonderful experience even though it was an impromptu camping at Sungai Pertak, since our plan was disrupted due to the closure of Sungai Chilling. Not my first camping experience but my first entry of such experience, cheers to more!
