Waterfalls  for the adventurous

Bertangga-A small but decorative Fall

This is a well-known waterfall hidden in the hills of the same name -somewhere in Central Pahang. This is in an area of Forest Reserve at the fringe of the Kumai Felda Land Scheme. If you are holidaying in the Tasek Bera complex, topping the itinery will be a day trip tour to this waterfall.

From the settlement township, a 4-kilometer track will lead visitor to the foot of the hill. This is an area with tall timber trees and low scrubs.

For years the local had reached the waterfall with motorcycle through a maze of trails in the palm oil estates. Here in this photograph, you can see the bunch of us emerging through the tall grasses.

For us then, unfamiliar with the locality, we parked our car at the village sundry shop. Then followed an old abandoned but broad track path over a hill and through wooded territory.

The waterfall is part of a small river. Something like a big waterfall from a small river. It drops vertically for 30 meters. Yes, it is an extraordinary waterfall and extremely beautiful too.

A word or two about this place here.

The cliff wall has uniform and neat cracks among the granite surfaces projecting an appearance of thick layers of granite slabs being stacked up. These slabs or blocks are symmetrically arranged and finishing off with a flat cliff wall. At the point where the water drops, the platform guiding the river before it drops overhangs the cliff wall the rest of the lower side. Some of the less stable slabs beneath had dislodged and fallen off with the passing of time..

The meagre falling water hits a fallen boulder prior to continuing its journey to a tiny pool below.

Another observations, while the wall overall appears flat, it is not entirely flushed. At a point in the mid section, a layer slips out of phase leaving a ledge broad enough to walk along the entire breadth of the waterfall.

At the level river basin over the top of the fall, the same rock formations persisted. This time the slabs are not stacked up but at an angle, side by side. It looks like a stack of rocks had fallen on it side.

This scene confirms that earth movement had toppled these detached layers of rock.

From rocks to surrounding, a reminder to this place is the presence of many bracket fungi. The constant humid air from the water spray are are conducive to the presence in abundance. Very well formed and the colors vary according to the type of "host" wood.

On this trip the 3 of them were impressed with the size of this tree trunk.

Coming back to the subject of waterfall, beneath the waterfall, the stream enters into a long series of rapids. The scene is one of the waterfall tripling over layers of flat rocks. The names Bertangga, in local language meaning "ladder", describe the action aptly of water flowing over many steps.

It would not be difficult to find this place since the vicinity, river, hills and waterfalls all shared this one common name.

In this trip, Khoo excused himself to a corner to make a short call. In the midst of it, he then discovered a moderate size Monitor Lizard has lie frozen at his feet. Both stood frozen for a while when this shot was taken.

Good news to many and bad news for nature lovers. At last for the less adventurous, the place is now officially opened as a park. Cars can be driven right up to its "doorstep"

We were glad that this exotic waterfall is so reachable for a weekend trip. On the other hand, with more and more of these remote waterfalls are opening up, the opportunity of seeking harmless thrills using waterfall as objective are diminishing. Those trips associated with "safe" adventure are harder to come by. Thanks that we had a couple of years of head start.