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 We drove off for the high waterfall at Hutan Lipur Ulu Kanching near Rawang. Hutan Lipur Kanching, is a forest reserve which is located 21 km north of Kuala Lumpur in between Selayang and Rawang and next to the famous Templers Park.
Scenery beside the Rawang highway was spectacular, and before reach Kanching fall you will see a beautiful stretch of prestine mountain scenery. Eventually you will see roadsign indicating the “Hutan Lipur Kanching” on the right and you'ld have to make a U-turn further up to reverse back in order reach the entrance of the Park.
The Kanching Recreational Forest is part of the 478ha of Kanching Forest Reserve. It offers a cool and relaxing environment besides being a sanctuary for birds and monkeys. When we arrived, it became apparent that it is quite a popular tourist spot amongst Middle East visitors and the Japanese visitors.
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The entrance to the park is well maintained and attractive.
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According to the information there was seven level of waterfalls at this Kanching Recreational Forest, covering a total height difference of about 200 meters. You have two choice of trail to follow that will lead you the waterfalls, either by the easy acess through the cemented steps or through the natural jungle trail which is much more fun for trekking but of cause a little bit more dangerous.
After the entrance gateway, it will be a steep concrete stairways climb uphill passing through 4 different waterfalls. You will meet the 1st falls quite near the entrance. The first fall is a romantic and secluded one, but not very suitable for bathing. Nice place to have a picnic if you have small children. Near the 2nd Level fall, an attempt has been made to construct a kind of swimming pool.
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The path up to the waterfall is well laiden with concrete steps
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The 3rd level, picnic and bathing area of the waterfall is packed with weekend visitors
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This tourist attraction is an excellent place for picnicking and camping especially near its cascading waterfalls.The more popular spots among picnickers are the second and third levels, where the waterfalls end in spacious pools and bouldered streams. There are facilities available for dressing rooms, toilets and shelters.
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Being a typical hardcore trekker, we climbed further up for a more advantureous location.
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Pijoy taking a breather as the trails gets higher and higher, inclined at almost 45 degree angle
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Looking downhill from the top of the 3rd level waterfall.
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Spiders waiting patiently for prey.
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The beautiful Black Lily flowering.
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A perfect hideout
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After the Level 3 waterfall, this point onwards, it turns into a jungle path and the climb uphill gets quite steep and more diffficult. We met a few foreign visitors attempting to reach the next spot, all sweating and puffing for breadth.
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The trail turning into natural forest tracks
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And in some location really rough and tumble
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Not much of a bathing space at this level, but the water current provides a strong massaging shower.
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After the Level 4 waterfall, here the concrete steps ends, the waterfall there gushed into a therapeutic massage on the tiring muscles. But believe me, there is more to see, although it will require more harder effort to climb and in certain parts some tough scrambling uphill.
One and half hours climb later, at level 5 the next fall has no swimming pool, but a perfect shower!
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Compare the size of Dr. Baha crossing the fallen log to the height of the Level 6th waterfall high up on the hill top
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Pijoy taking closeup shots of some forest insects
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A zoomed view of the begining of Level 6th Fall.
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The torrent cascading over the rocky mountain surface
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Aiming for a close-up shot of an insect resting amongst the leaves.
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The slope, inclined at almost 70 degrees, gets more steep and slippery
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Trying to get a firm foot grip amongst the exposed tree roots and rocks is very tricky
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The trail is almost hidden and fragile
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We have to pause many time for a breather.
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And slowly we began to feel that our camera gears getting heavier and heavier.
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Our uphill trail stood precariously near the steep edge of the waterfall
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At the top of Level 6 waterfall , the landscape changes suddenly. After the strenuous and arduous steep climbing out of the valley, for the first time in between the clearings of the trees, you have a clear view of the opposite main range, far away from the top of the hill. Up here is where we took a long rest, to really relax and enjoy the unique forest sound and scenic beauty high up in the sky.
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Our greatest relief and accomplishment when we finally reached the top, looking down into the 6th Level Fall below.
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What a relief to be able to unload our camera bag off our shouders
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After a short rest, everyone was busy taking pictures again
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Two visitors were already there ahead of us, having a good bath in the cool, chilly clear water.
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Since we were not prepared with our bathing gears, we killed the time taking photographs instead
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Dr.Baha zooming on to a beautiful looking butterfly.
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The small pond looks very tempting for a bath, but we restrain.
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From high up the hill, the sight of the bluish mountain range in the far yonder is very beautiful sight to behold
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There is the final 7th Level waterfall up there to be conquered.
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Looking up into the last, 7th Level Waterfall, the montain forest vegetation surrounding it looked different
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There is one last waterfall after this, a real jewel when you watch the colours of crystal clear water flowing on the rocks here! Hiking up to the top of its seven tiers you will be rewarded with a superb view of the surroundings.
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From the top most pool, the stream water torrent down forming the 7th level waterfall
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The source of the water came from the jungle behind through the small stream
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The water ripples sparkles is a mesmerising sight to observe.
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If you keep going on top of the hill (no trail, just follow the river bed) you will find no more falls, but a quiet pristine jungle. One just cannot believe that this small stream is the main source of waterfall below.
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Since we were already at the top most, me and Dr.Baha could not resist the curiousity to explore where the water came from.
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The water surface is like clear glass, and you can clearly see the river bed.
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Further and deeper into the prestine jungle we went, looking for the main water source.
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The clear stream continues on and on, meandering slowly through the tree roots
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The light vegetation on the other end of the jungle indicates that we are looking at the other opposite slope of the mountain
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The beautiful interplay of light and shadow as reflected on the water surface
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The river bank height, and extent of exposed roots indicates how the current has eroded the ground
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Exposed tree roots as the stream water fiercely erodes the ground sand away.
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The deeper and deeper we went, we noticed that the volume of water still remains the same, never decreasing.
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After almost an hour of wading through the stream, we gave up looking for the water source which eludes us.
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A tiny forest frog taking refuge amongst the cervices in the rocks
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The lone Long Tail Marcaque monkey watching and stalking on lonely visitors to the Park for free food.
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It is clear that the Kanching Forest Reserve area is a haven for various species of birds and monkeys. The Kanching Waterfalls present a dramatic backdrop to the jungle setting, an invigorating getaway amidst nature. It was almost 3.00pm by the time reached back to the base, and since it was already way passed lunchtime and the tummy already grumbling, we headed straight for home.
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