Jerangkang Falls

This year has been busy. I started out thinking, I want this to be a "slow" year, with lotsa rest. Yet here we are, already coming to the end of April, and things have been/ are busy. Still we managed a little break in March, when we took a short getaway to Jerangkang Falls.

We drove to Sri Jaya, where we stopped to have breakfast and met up with rest of the gang.
From there, we hopped into a friend's 4 wheel drive (parked our car outside the police station for safety) and began our journey in.
The journey in took about an hour through palm oil estate. It was mostly dirt road with lots of forks. For the first part of the journey, we mainly kept to the right road everytime it forked. Also the driver of our 4WD said, "When in doubt, head towards the mountain/hill where the falls is." Eventually we came to a tunnel under the highway. From there, red markers (strips) marked the path everytime the road forked. Watch out carefully for them.

I saw these directions on someone else's blog here.    

How to get there. 

1. Exit Sri Jaya

2. At the junction, turn left (If you want to go to the breakfast place, you take a right turn here and the shops are on the right)
3. After driving for about 10 minutes you will see a signboard "Hutan Lipur Jerangkang" - turn left in
4. From this junction basically you follow the main path. Drive for about 5km you will come to a tunnel. Go past the tunnel and turn left
5. At km 6.3 (from the junction) there is a fork, keep left
6. At km 8.7 keep right at the fork
7. At km 10.6 there is a pondok, keep right
8. At km 11 turn right into a bridge
This road will take you right up to the campsite

1)This was the first campsite we came to. It's huge, with lots of huts and public toilets. But we found it too far from the river, so we decided to move on to the next campsite which was a mere 20 min walk away (well, less if we didn't have to carry all our stuff.)

2) When I arrived huffing and puffing with my load of luggage, the kiddoes were already in the falls, and my lil one had found a "home" already, where she would spend lots of time building a bed of straw, kitchen etc.

3) Our campground which was really lovely. The falls is just a slope down from our tent.

4) I read that Jerangkang is actually a series of 40 something falls. Amazing isn't it. If you're fit, there are camping sites on higher ground. Well, we decided to explore some of the falls further up, and so here we were on a trail.

5) On our way we came across these pretty butterflies -Chocolate Grass Yellow puddling on the ground for minerals. There were so many of them, beautiful indeed, especially when they all went fluttering together!

6) Having a light snack while sitting on the edge, listening to the roaring falls and enjoying the coolness and serenity of it all.

7) We came to a large greenish pool. Water here was deep and very cold. My kiddos and the hubby swam here the second morning and said it was the best swim they've ever had! (Lots of fish though that will nibble on your body if you go shirtless.) This water is also deep enough for diving, which provided great fun for some.

8) The night sky at Jerangkang is Amazing!! We got all the kids to the nearest rocky path right by the falls. There we switched off all our torches and looked up at the amazing sky. Imagine, cool wind, soothing sound of cascading falls....shooting stars. Yes, we saw shooting stars (meteor) too. And that was the highlight of the day. In between, two of our kids screamed coz a little frog decided to jump on their faces! heh heh..

9) This is what happens when you let your kiddo try to take a pic of the sky. Art work!

10) The night was cool and lovely and the morning fresh air well..refreshing! Definitely a reason why we'd go back again to get away from city smog.

11) I haven't quite gotten the technique of catching sunrise, but here's an attempt at taking a shot of the sun peeking from between the forest trees.

12) The children didn't have to be dragged out of beds, but were up early and down by the pool to swim and play. BEWARE though, that the greenish water at the far end, IS deep and nearly pulled 2 people down and away. (Although it would bring them to a shallow end, it still it is dangerous for children.) So ALWAYS keep a lookout and children SHOULDN'T be allowed to play there unsupervised. Remember, though beautiful, waterfalls are dangerous.

13) I was making breakfast when magnificent fluttering orange caught my eye. After a time of fluttering courtship, they, Plain Lacewing (Cethosia penthesilea methypsea),  decided to make out on a shrub at the edge of the slope near my tent. So very quietly, I sneaked in as close as possible and caught a picture of these young lovers. Note on the upper left, it's the old skin of a caterpillar. 

14) I couldn't get a better picture of this beautiful butterfly Common Tree Nymph. They usually float/glide by in two's. They remind my children of fairies....fairies frolicking in the sun...in a carefree manner.

So that about summarizes our trip to Jerangkang Falls, a place we'll definitely visit again!

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2014

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