Sg. Tengkil is located on the western side of Gunung Muntahak, which is part of the Gunung Panti Forest Reserve. It is approachable through the Petri Jaya, part of the Tradewinds Oil Palm Plantations. The hike to the waterfalls has become a popular weekend activity for a few of the climbing and hiking "kaki" of MNS Johor, namely En Hamid Abdul Rahman, Moses Wong, Zalinah & Rahman and Wee Soon Chit and family. On this trip we have 25 people - other than the ones named above, we have TK Lim and wife plus a group from the Breast Cancer Support Group, Johor Bahru.
Our day started early as we are supposed to meet around 745 am at the rest area on the Kota Tinggi-Bandar Tenggara-Kluang road. Such a good timing! As I saw TK Lim's double-cab turned right towards Kg. Semanggar just I was approaching the turn-off. We have some breakfast before going into Petri Jaya and met with the Assistant Manager of Tradewinds, DJ Zammani, who lead us to the road towards the Sg. Tengkil waterfalls. The veterans of the hike indicated that the route is a lot shorter that we would save between 1 - 1.5 hours of hiking.
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| Briefing by En Hamid |
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| Approaching the sand mining area |
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| The first Sg. Tengkil crossing |
After a short briefing by En Hamid, we set out for the waterfalls, which is about a 3 hour hike away. On the way, we were greeted by a huge swath of land gouged out of the upper layer, probably sand. We would inquire with the Department of Minerals and Geoscience (JMG) about the status of the sand-mining activity in the area.
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| Sand mining area |
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| Ponds left after the sand mining |
After hiking on the open road to the sand-mining area, we have to transverse a part of the mining area and later we have to wet our hiking shoes crossing a stream, which we later learned is the downstream part of Sg. Tengkil. We even have to walk along the stream as the trail was non-existent in some area.
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| Walking in Sg. Tengkil |
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| Wild boars' dinner table |
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| Walking among the Johannesteijsmannia altifrons |
We later entered the forested area and mostly hiked besides Sg. Tengkil but we have to cross the stream from time to time as the terrain changed. The terrain after Waterfall 1 is relatively steep, probably about 60 percent gradient or more but after the first waterfall, the path is less steep and we reached Waterfall 3 around 1130 am.
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Admiring a Johannesteijsmannia altifrons palm
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| Soo Chit at Waterfall 1 |
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| Steep climb after Waterfall 1 |
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| Another Sg. Tengkil Crossing |
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| Another one! |
We stayed for about 2 hours, having lunch and also a refreshing shower. The hike back is not so bad although later we have to face a sudden showers, which later became a heavy downpour after we reached the rest area we had breakfast in the morning. After a late lunch of nasi goreng kampung and mee goreng, we departed for home.
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| Waterfall 3 |
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| Lunch time |
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| Zalinah really enjoyed her showers! |
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| Me too! |
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| The girls having fun |
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| Going down - have to be careful as the slope is steep |
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| A mini waterfall |
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| On the way home |
2 comments:
Looks like all of you who went had a grand time! I'm glad the weather was fine during your climb and descent. Hopefully that wasn't the last time you'll make that trip. Perhaps more MNSJ members can go next time! Great photos! Thanks for sharing with us!
You should join us too :-)
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