Situated at kota tinggi, it's only 1hr away from JB. Thus, a popular & accessible waterfall with the singaporeans. This waterfall will involve you to climb up & down or sideway on the boulders, as part of the route. A good place to practise your basic rockclimbing techniques, finding handholds & footrests. Nonetheless, alot of begineers went for this waterfall as their 1st trek. You just need confidence, guidance & taking ur time slowly. I do find it as a nice alternative to the usual "walk-only" kind of trek.
Transport Details
As said b4, this waterfall is located at Kota Tinggi (KT), Johor. There's quite afew buses to go to KT & ticket sales are only available on the day itself. For the particular bus that i took the last time, it start from larkin terminal, pass through a particular busstop b4 heading towards KT. The busstop is bwt city square & the train station, on the road nearer to the train station. To save time, you could board frm that bustop. If you wana board at larkin terminal, the platoform is at the center of the larkin terminal. Paiseh for the lack of names & numbers as we were rushing the previous time.
Once reach KT, arrange a cab to bring you to either Pelepah Waterfall or Kota Tinggi Waterfall entrance at the taxi terminal beside the bus drop off point. KT waterfall is another waterfall situated nearby but it's commercialised with resort facilities & paved routes.
For the loaded, you could arrange a transport back to JB straight from the entrance with the taxi providers.
| Activity | Provider | Duration | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bwt JB & KT | Local Buses | 1hr | |
| Bwt KT & waterfall entrace | Taxi | 30mins | |
| Bwt waterfall entrace & JB | Taxi | 1hr |
Trek Details
B4 being able to trek up, you need to pass through a planation to get to the start. Pls note that the planation is private property & there were cases that the guards disallowed adventure seekers in the past. Therefore, pp had to pass through an opening in the fence. But in recent times, i had walked past the guards through the main gate with no trouble. FYI, the opening is located further down at the bridge (nearer to KT waterfall) after the main gate & near the river. There's a sign infront.
| Time | Description | Instruction | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00 | Enter thru gate or stream under the bridge | If start from stream, turn left to return to the main trail Walk parallel to the stream | |
| 20 | River | Cross River & turn right at T-junction | There is a small clearing before the river |
| 01 | Y-junction | Turn left into the vegetation & at the end cross river. | |
| 05 | River with a small waterfall on the right | Cross river | There is a campsite after the river |
| 01 | Path leads to the bank of the river | Keep to the right side of the river | |
| 10 | Small waterfall in front | Cross river | |
| 01 | Cross river to the right bank | ||
| 01 | Steep slope about 2 storeys high | Climb up using fixed ropes. | |
| 01 | Small waterfall | Cross river followed by steep climb by the left side of the waterfall. Walk through the narrow valley. | |
| There is a very small cave behind the small waterfall. | |||
| 06 | Go through the gorge? | Climb up left bank of the river | |
| 05 | River with 1st main waterfall on the left side | Cross river, route is directly opposite. | |
| 10 | River. 2nd main waterfall can be seen on the right. | Cross river followed by a very steep climb | |
| 05 | T-junction | Turn Right | |
| 05 | Y-Junction | Turn right, descend to the top of 2nd main waterfall. Keep by the left bank of river | |
| 05 | Cross river | ||
| 01 | Last main waterfall | Cross river and climb up from the right side of the waterfall | Trail is on the right side of the waterfall |
| 20 | Top of waterfall | A mixture of land and water rout along the stream | |
| 30 | Fallen tree right across stream | Turn right onto the bank with another campsite. Turn left and cross the stream with the route directly opposite | |
| 02 | Main campsite beside a large stagnant pond. | There are sandflies at the main campsite |
Campsites/Accomodations
As mentioned before, there is a campsite at the top of the waterfall. However, i dont have the chance to camp there before.
For those feeling rich, there's the Kota Tinggi Resort near the start of the trek. They have full-fledged facilities with chalets and toilets for those feeling rich.
For those feeling poor, there's a campsite few kilometre down the road (opposite direction of the resort). It's a very big campsite that can easily house 50 people, ideal for orientation camps. However, from my recent sources (Sep 2009), there are mining operations nearby which polluted the water source.
Budget Breakdown
No camp fee is required.
(Prices for transport include to & fro unless otherwise stated)
| Activity | Provider | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| bus bwt JB & Kota Tinggi | Any bus company | ??? |
| taxi bwt Kota Tinggi & Start of Trek | taxi terminal | RM40(1-way) / RM60 (2-way) |
| taxi frm Kota Tinggi to JB | taxi terminal | ??? |
Urban Trekking
There isnt much in KT town except for well food and firefly cruise.
In the morning/afternoon, you could choose to dine at the coffeeshop beside the taxi terminal. It's famous for their big char siew buns. The prawn noodles & roast meat stall are quite nice too.
At night, you could go to a 30min firefly cruise tour which brings you down a river to see fireflies in the swamps. The tour can be done throughout the year but there is firefly season (more or less fireflies). Packaged with the tour is a seafood dinner. I would say it's a average seafood meal at a malaysian chinese "restaurant".
To book the package, you can call xxx at xxxx. The cost used to be xxx but has increased henceforth.
For those staying overnight, xxx is a good option with rates at xxx. There's a bak kut teh stall beside the hotel which is quite nice.
Full Schedule
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