Camping at Tiger Waterfall

I returned to Air Terjun Harmau Berjermu – or Tiger Waterfall. This time, I didn’t ride alone. 6 of us had planned to travel the 50km of unpaved road to camp inside the jungles of Peninsular Malaysia. And our reward? The beautiful Tiger Waterfall.

Gathering at GP Petronas before we commenced our ride.
Taking that obligatory group shot after our first fill-up in Segamat.

We started our journey at 6am. But as we took a leisurely pace, which included a stop at McDonald’s for breakfast and another stop at a nearby local supermarket to purchase some last minute supplies, we managed to arrive at the entrance of the trail only at around 1115h – almost midday.

Still feeling fresh, we aired down our tires a little and started munching the first stretch of the 50km of dirt trail.

Soon Haur testing out his new set of soft luggage on his R1200GS.
Sawn and his trusty R1150GSA!
Siu Hon airing down his Yamaha XJ6 Diversion.
Chi Meng’s looking forward to camp cooking tonight!
Looi and his Multistrada.
And that’s my lil GS looking super clean…. for now.

After about an hour or so of dirt riding, we started feeling the mid-day heat and exhaustion building up in us. We had to take frequent rests and constantly hydrate ourselves.

Taking an en-route break.
Siu Hon’s very loaded Diversion. I think he even brought his kitchen sink!
Chi Meng seem to be perpetually in good spirits!
Meanwhile, I wasn’t doing too well in the mid-day heat.
Soon Haur’s quite a natural poser.
Standing up is a must for off-road riding. It keeps the bike more agile, relieves some of the suspension bumps, and most importantly, it looks good too!
Taking turns to hit that water crossing.

We asked for an adventure, and we got an adventure. Approximately 5km from the falls, it started raining. Actually, it started POURING! Sheets of heavenly fluids came smashing down onto us, turning the dusty trails into a slimy mud track. Luckily for us, we found a nearby village settlement and took shelter there while we waited out the rain.

RAIN!

The sun re-emerged some time later, but not before turning the ground into a traction-less slippery sheet of gooey mud. Our heavy adventure bikes struggled as we inched along the route. Looi, Siu Hon and Sawn had it real bad with their less-than-knobby tires.

Passing a logging truck on wet, slippery ground.
Campsite parking. The other bikes with less-than-knobby tires were parked about 100m further up and coming down here required riding down a steep, slippery slope.

We reached our campsite at about 4pm. And before our tents could go up, the heavens opened again, and poured on us over the next 2 hours. It rained so heavily that it turned the waters in the nearby stream muddy brown. Eeew.

We were thankful for the nearby shed that kept us somewhat dry.
Waiting out the rain.
On my comfy camping chair, waiting out the rain.
Dinner time! It was still raining when we started cooking.

Sunrise! Good morning everyone!

We woke up the next morning relatively fresh. Thankfully, the rain stopped about 7pm the evening before and the night was mostly dry. We cooked up a nice breakfast, packed up some, and then hiked our way to the nearby waterfall.

Finally! A little dryer weather. Ready to hike to the waterfall.
The once-clear river turned chocolate brown – due to the heavy precipitation the day before.
We arrived the waterfall – Air Terjun Harmau Berjermu, which roughly translates into “Waterfall of the Sun Basking Tiger”
The morning sun rays piercing through the rainforest canopy.
Poster boy… I meant, POSER boy. .
Soaking in the waterfall.
We thought we spotted 2 monkeys at the waterfall.
…or maybe three monkeys.
This is where the falls got its name – the orange and black rocks here look like some tiger stripes.

While the weather was great, we started making our way out. Unfortunately, the sun wasn’t out for long enough, and the floor was still moist from yesterday’s downpour, making riding on 2 wheels really challenging.

We immediately met with our first challenge – climbing this muddy, slippery slope.
The slope was steeper and more slippery than it looks in this pic. Brrrrr……
Falling was okay. Picking up the bikes was what consumed most of our energy.

It wasn’t too long that we were overwhelmed by fighting the slippery trail, the overhead sun’s heat, and worse – more rain! By now, we were also running low on water. We spotted a nearby settlement and took shelter there while we rested.

I probably also speak for some of us in the group, but by now, I was feeling the effects of heat exhaustion.

Thankfully, we met a local driving through the roads. We then learnt that the slippery slope that we were attempting, was probably the most difficult part of the road out. It *should* get easier after that.

Trying to make our way out.
Almost out…
Splash!
That’s what adventure bikes are built for!
The ‘lil GS was alot dirtier than it looks in this picture.
Soon Haur looks decently clean too.
Chi Meng’s 1200GS looks a little brown.
But the winner of the mud fest award has to go to Sawn!
The HAPPIEST moment of our entire trip – when we spotted tarmac!!
By now, all our bikes had a common color theme – BROWN.

2D1N of adventure – moto-camping at Tiger Waterfall. I guess we sure got a lot more adventure than we asked for!

5 thoughts on “Camping at Tiger Waterfall”

  1. Woohoo! Great adventure, fun, paying with mud like you did many many years ago before you turn 10

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