sign in a cave in Laos

14 February 2010

Gunung Senyum caves 2010 visit

Gunung Senyum hutan lipur in Pahang is a very popular place for caving and just general "lepaking". Located in the Jengka district, north of Temerloh, it is well documented on websites and travel blogs. I've been there many times over the years, and have seen it change with new developments. So when I went back in Feb 2010 after an absence of exactly 10 years, I was interested to see how the place looks now. I went with "waterfall Jan", and you can see his Senyum album.

Sign from Temerloh
Entrance to Senyum
First views of the massif

I was quite pleasantly surprised because although there are a lot of new builldings, the place is relatively unspoilt. It was also very quiet when we arrived and no one came to see what we were doing. It was only at the end of the day I realised the place is officially closed on Fridays, and yes we were there on a Friday!
There are now chalets
The office -

There is now a landscaped lake between the car park and the massif, with a small bridge leading to the walkway alongside the lake. There is also a long and wide suspension bridge replacing the old wooden boardwalk running alongside the cliff.


Tourism Malaysia have put up one of their distinctive brown information signs, which has extremely inaccurate facts about the age of the rocks!


We visited the main tourist caves. I was pleased to see there was not too much fresh litter or graffiti. All the caves have new signs since my last visit, with the information concentrating more on myths than real facts.
Jan checking the route
I slept here once -
Now there is a landscaped garden

Didn't see any cave racers in Gua Cahaya Mata Hari (Terang Bulan) so wonder if they are still there. There is still a large bat population and associated cave fauna -
begonias
sacks of guano
broken walkway
crab
bat family
very flat roach
triple parked
Psechrus spider and web
3 sets of bat jaws
cockroach graveyard
hatched cockroach ootheca
cockroach remains
one wing of a moth
Begonia


Gua Kolam Tujuh -
curtain of roots
We saw a dead snake
Looking into Taman I -
In the wang
On the phone
beehive stal
looks carved

Gua Gajah / Slot Cave

Makam Tok Long -
grave site & archaeological digs
Going through the squeeze
snake skin, maybe racer
begonias
Gua Silat aka Danau Impian
Gua Silat

The hill
why a danger area?
Opening hours
Final view


I've posted an album on changes at Gunung Senyum over 20 years.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

5 comments: