At first the forest guard do not allow for us to spend the night there without permit (apply the permit via Forestry Malaysia official email) but the guard was kind enough to let us through and said that he will not be responsible of us if anything ever happened. Its been a couple of months since I executed this crazy trip with a friend of mine, Din. We were so eager to have a camping trip since both of us were having so many commitments.
Din: "Bob, lets go camping next weekend".
Me : "Why not this weekend?". "I'll get everything ready by tomorrow".
Din: "Err".
Me : "I'm not available for next weekend".
Din: "So, where to?".
Me : "Let's go camping at Lata Tembakah".
Din: "Sounds great but at the top or at the campground at the foothill?". "Is it just the two of us?".
Me : "We'll discuss about that later, I'll buy the food and anything necessary, don't you worry, just pack up your gears and meet you this weekend".
It was Thursday and Din came with a Kancil chartered from a guy. The sacks full of foods and camping utilities loaded at the back of the car and we're off to Lata Tembakah. A 45 minutes journey from Kota Bharu. It is a recommended place to visit if you're coming from Besut after Perhentian Island trip.
Later in the evening we arrived at the entrance of the Lata Tembakah. I parked the car at the parking space provided and carried our sacks to the rangers booth. We registered our name and paid some money for the entrance ticket. It was MYR2 for entrance fee and MYR5 for camping fee per person as I remember. Little bit of info, for visitors who plan to stayed in Malaysia National Park and Forest Reserve, applying for a permit is a must through email or local forestry department two weeks prior to the event. They can be reached at www.forestry.gov.my . The rates of the permit are different according to states.
Me : "Ok, lets go".
Din: "Wait, why don't we capture some picture using my awesome Samsung Galaxy S4?".
Me : "Nah, save the battery, we'll going to need it later for more awesome view up there".
Din: "Ok, let the journey begin".
A few minutes walk from the entrance, we arrived at the intersection where the routes diverted into two. One leads to the main fall of the park, level 1, 2, 3 and 4. Most visitors will go up to this level only. The other one leads to the little bit extreme part of the waterfall, level 5, 6, 7. Only a few know of the existence of the 8th level of the waterfall, the most majestic view of the waterfall. Both of us only reached level 6 before this.
Me : "So Din, which level?".
Din: "I don't know, I leave it to you to decide".
Me : "I don't mind going for the top, but as you know, my physical ability will slow you down. I hope you don't mind".
Din: "But if we aim for the top, we won't make it in time. We'll arrive at dusk. No time for setting up the tent and bonfire. Look at the time, its 1630H".
Me : "Since we've came this far, let's go to the top".
Din: "Err".
Then the two of us hiked up the steep damaged staircase with the hopes held high that we'll make it in time. The trail difficulty is moderate but for a person like me who have extra weight, its a difficult one. After 50 minutes of sweaty hike we arrived at the 6th level of the waterfall, where a concrete gazebo placed next to the waterfall. I decided to set up the tent next to the gazebo. A bit far from the risk of being swept away of the sudden rapids if heavy rains occur at the upper part of the river.
We set up the tent and bonfire as fast as we can before the night falls. Around 1900H, as I cook the meal for dinner, it starts to drizzle. Imagine at night in the rainforest, it was raining and there we were, two crazy enough person enjoying the hot rice and canned tuna for dinner as the night started to get a little colder. Eating next to the waterfall, accompanied by the sounds of nature, oh what a heaven. We chatted in front of the bonfire until we we ran out of idea what to discuss. The eyes cannot stand the sleepiness anymore and I told Din to go to sleep. Tomorrow plan is to hike up a little bit more.
Din laid comfortably in his sleeping bag while me in my down jacket and using the sack as pillow. I turned off the lamp and then it was total darkness. I placed my knife next to me in case of anything. Then as I lay down myself to sleep, around 0030H, I felt something from outside the tent pushing my right arm. Not once but a several times. I took my knife out from the sheath and wait motionlessly to hear if there is any noise. I thought it was an animal but there were no sound except the waterfall. I tried to wake Din up but he slept like the dead. Couple minutes later, the sleepiness took over control of my body.
Day 2, as early as 0630H, I woke Din up and I started to prepare for breakfast. Instant noodles, sausages and freshly caught fish made it up. A quick bath and off we go in search of other level of the waterfall. The trail this time was a bit steep than the last one. One misplaced step will cause us to fall down 40 feet or so right on to the rock below. We took steps carefully because if anything goes wrong, no one will be able to help us up here.
After an hour trekking the trail we end up at the pretty flat section of the river and no more sounds of water rushing down the stream. The water was calm and the sun is bright, we decided to have a quick dip because assuming there were no more waterfalls to be discovered but it turned out wrong when a week later Din and his mates went for the very top and he showed me the picture. The pictures were awesome.
After taking some pictures and videos, we went down and packed everything up and heading down to civilisation once again. After all this waterfall is not to be missed by you out there if you're visiting Terengganu but please go outdoor with attitude because there were a lot of thrash up there. Me and Din only managed to brought down thrash and garbage from level 6 only. That's it for this entry, thank you for reading guys. Stay tuned for more!
After an hour trekking the trail we end up at the pretty flat section of the river and no more sounds of water rushing down the stream. The water was calm and the sun is bright, we decided to have a quick dip because assuming there were no more waterfalls to be discovered but it turned out wrong when a week later Din and his mates went for the very top and he showed me the picture. The pictures were awesome.
After taking some pictures and videos, we went down and packed everything up and heading down to civilisation once again. After all this waterfall is not to be missed by you out there if you're visiting Terengganu but please go outdoor with attitude because there were a lot of thrash up there. Me and Din only managed to brought down thrash and garbage from level 6 only. That's it for this entry, thank you for reading guys. Stay tuned for more!
