Batu Caves now part of a new Geopark

 In March 2023 it was announced that the new Gombak-Hulu Langat Geopark had been established. This is in Selangor, Malaysia. The Geopark includes Batu Caves and Damai park, as well as Bukit Takun, and the Klang Gates quartz ridge.

The Gombak-Hulu Langat Geopark (GHL) was certified as a national geopark on 13 March. 

See article in The Star 23 April "Malaysia's new geopark is a geological wonder that's just an hour from KL". 

It is the 7th national geopark. Others with karst area are Langkawi, Kinta Valley and Lenggong.

Tin dredge in Selangor, 2019

I have posted a few times in the past about the tin dredge in Selangor, close to KLIA.

I was interested to see this article, "Anyone interested in buying Selangor’s tin dredge?" in Free Malaysia Today, published on 23 March 2019. My blog is mentioned in the article.

And the FMT article first appeared in The Thrifty Traveller's blog, "Selangor Tin Dredge", posted in 2017.

It seems that over the years, nothing has been done towards selling or preserving the dredge.

Tin dredge in Selangor

Every time I go to Kuala Lumpur airport, I look out to see if the dredge is still there. And as of March 2016, it is!

See my blog on the Selangor dredge from 2010.

Many press reports write that the dredge at Tanjung Tualang in Perak is the only one in Malaysia. That is wrong. There are still two dredges in Malaysia!

Tin dredge at Dengkil, Selangor

As far as I know there is only one remaining tin dredge in Selangor. I used to know of two, and have photos of them, taken from flights in/out of KLIA and LCCT.
Dredge from plane July 2007 -

When looking at Google Earth, one is still shown.

And I was able to find the location of the 2nd one by going back in the historical imagery on GE. This is quite a fascinating tool on GE. This dredge was at Payah Indah.
This is the Petaling Lake dredge -

Paya Indah July 2007

The 'missing' dredge at Paya Indah is Petaling Dredge No. 9, which as I suspected is a new one, built in 1982. This is a 5600 tonnes bucketline dredge equipped with 24 cu ft (680 litres) buckets and digs to a depth of 130 ft (40 m).

Several years ago there was talk in the press about converting this dredge into a museum. The Sun reported on this.

UPDATE January 2014 - According to Mohd Ezuddin Samian's comments below, this Petaling Dredge No. 9 had been sold and shipped overseas.

Dredges are still being constructed in Malaysia, at Port Klang (and also in Singapore). New ones have been sent to Ghana, Ecuador and Brazil.

Older Malaysian dredges have been sent overseas. One (PT7) has gone to Sierra Leone, 2 to Bangka Island in Indonesia. Another to Zaire.

Anyway on my birthday in Dec, Jan and I did a trip to see the last remaining dredge. It is located in Dengkil, and can be seen from the ELITE highway just before the last turn to the KLIA highway.

Jan photographing the dredge

highway signs

As we approached, a guard stationed on the dredge came to see who we were and immediately started talking into a walkie talkie. We talked to him across the water and asked if we could go onto the dredge, but he said no. He told us the dredge is up for sale, and might be bought by Australians, so that is why it is guarded. The Malay guard even had a dog, though the dog took no interest in us.

[The dredge was still there in Nov 2012, April 2015]

Putra Jaya behind the dredge -

tree growing on the tail
The buckets -

Front view

There are some nice pictures of the dredge on a blog, the photos were presumably taken before the dredge had any guard or fence around it.

The dredge seems to be in very good condition, especially compared to dredge T.T. No. 5 at Tanjung Tualang in Perak. I noticed it has moved slightly since the last GE image from Jan 2010.

UPDATE January 2014 - According to Mohd Ezuddin Samian's comments below, this dredge is the "Sri Banting Dredge". See details on OCIE page.

We saw a strange green building near the highway and went to have a look. Checking on GE shows it was built between 2007 and 2009. We went in and were totally amazed at the amount of stuff dumped there. Loads of childrens' toys, clothes, furniture. The place looked as if it had been almost fully constructed then was abandoned for whatever reason.

The dredge from the roof.

On the way out using a different track, we drove over a rubbish dump!

We then went to see some sand quarrying and a landfill site.
See more on Selangor Dreding history.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Batu Caves train station 2010

The new Batu Caves train station has opened, and the KTM Komuter route started service on July 29 2010. It connects Batu Caves to Port Klang, via Sentul.

The new station is rather smart. I remember when it was just a field, with a small hut. The only time I used the train in the past was during one Thaipusam -this was the only time that the line was in operation for public trains. It is normally used for the cement cargo industry.

The 7.5 kilometre journey from Sentul to Batu Caves takes 15 minutes. The new route passes through five new stations namely Sentul, Batu Cantonment, Kg Batu, Taman Wahyu and Batu Caves.

The train fare for the Pelabuhan Klang-Sentul route is RM5.80 and an addition of RM1.30 is charged for the direct journey from Sentul to Batu Caves.

Old station sign

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission