Hiking, Travel and Food!: Naning Waterfalls

Date : 1 May 2011

So instead of a holiday we went for a hike instead on Labour's Day into a beautiful fall. Some attempted the Gunung Rajah peak in the same day! (normally done in 2 days one night) Great achievement to the 4 of them (Barry, Yap, Kong and son)
Most of us did the easy one till Naning only.... which was a tall and majestic fall. The water volume was tremendous on that day as it's a rainy season and when we asked some hikers who camped the night before, they confirmed that it rained, hence the large water volume.

How to get there :

Gombak tol RM 5 - travel along the Karak Highway and exit at Bentong (first Bentong exit after the tol, Exit 808)

At the junction turn right, travel along the road until another junction. Turn left

Road signs available - follow the signboard which says "Air Terjun Chamang"

Travel time to Chamang from KL 1 hour 45 mins

At the base :
Chamang waterfalls
Proper shower/washroom facilities available at a fee
Carparks available

Trekking time and terrain :

On moderate speed with some photography - 6.5 hours of trekking + 1.5 hour at the waterfall = 8 hours

Terrain rating 5/10 (terrain fairly flat with some gentle slopes but long trek)

Description of terrain :

Start behind the washroom, steep incline of about 50 degrees for about 8 minutes.

Then you will come to a clearing which is a private road, not accessible by public - this "never ending road" is about an hour walk - 95% flat, some gentle slopes

You will then come to what I call the "Chocolate Hill of Malaysia" (the mini size version)

From here, take a left path into the jungles - the terrain is flat with 2 small + 1 big river (may get wet) (Many places to cross the river - we crossed at the left where it seems to be the most shallow part... some can opt to jump across the river on top of the rocks)

After crossing the big river, just follow the path until you come to a steep incline of about 45 degrees for about 10 minutes.

After this you will be walking on the ridge, will pass by a tall waterfall on the left (for reference sake, I call it the lower Naning) - just continue on about 10 minutes you will come to the top of another waterfall, the upper Naning. (At this point I actually was asking - why are we climbing up? I want to be at the bottom of the fall and not up! This sent the guys checking the route in front and back to make sure we are not the correct path - there was no forks but I just felt funny that we are going up!)

The paths are clearly marked.

At the upper fall :

To view the entire waterfall one will need to go down the rocks from the sides of the fall. Becareful as it may be slippery especially if its been raining. Best to attempt without shoes.

The fall is about 60/70 feet tall