Gunung Senyum photos over 20 years

Excuse the quality of photos as they are old photos I have scanned and haven't bothered to play around with).

I've known Gunung Senyum for 20 years and there have been quite a few changes. My most recent visit was in January 2010.

Gunung Senyum became a tourist site in July 1989.

On my first visit in 1991 we thought we would have to walk for an hour to reach the hill from the end of the road, but found the road went all the way. However we had to drive through dusty oil palm plantations.

It was quite a dramatic view approaching the hill in those days.

At Senyum, the car park was right by Gua Cahaya Mata Hari (now called Terang Bulan). There were food stalls. The lake didn't exist, it was just a swampy area.

My 2nd visit was in 1992 -

Car park by the hill in 1991 -

My 3rd visit Jan 1996 and I found many changes. Drove in from Kg Awah, 46km, but there is a new road leading in from Temerloh. The old car park at the foot of the hill was abandoned, and the chalets which were built since 1992 were already ruined. The new car park was further away from the massif, in an open and treeless area.

Food stalls, staff quarters, toilet/shower block and outside taps, but no reception or office.

Sign boards 1991

1996 -

sign near the caves

sign now near office 2010

dadah sign, Terang Bulan 1996, and below - steps to Terang Bulan in 2010

All the caves are now fenced off with open gates. All the name boards have gone. There is a fence around Gua Kolam Tujuh and new metal ladders on the climbs.
1992 -

2010

1998 -

Gua Tok Makam Long is fenced with a locked gate as it is a dig site, but the side of the fence is broken open and the rangers take tours through here. Grave now built up with stone, and fenced. Excavations at this site were begun in August 1995 by Zulkifli Jaafar from National Museum. This site has been dated to the Hoabinhian and Neolithic periods. On my visit there was one dig pit in floor (3 skeletons).

Gua Cahaya Mata Hari, aka Terang Bulan, has a wooden walkway with handrail.

June 96 - New road now signposted, from Kg Awah.

3 pits in MTL, and bypass to the crawl.


June 97 - New rd from Temerloh, following river.

Archaeological dig in entrance to Terang Bulan.

Apr 98 - there is now a wooden office with balcony, where we slept.
New camping dorms, shower block.

Gua Gajah had a no entry sign -

Gua Gajah / Slot Cave 2010


Jan 2000 - Wooden handrail in Terang Bulan is falling apart, new signs outside cave. This photo is 2010 -





Feb 2010 - most recent visit


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Photos of the changes -
Up to Makam Tok Long 1991 and then 2010 -

The grave in 1991

new stone 1996 (above) and 2010 (below)

Digs 1996 -

1997 -

2010 -

There is a walkway over the swamp

danger area -

View from carpark

1998 -

Office 2010

and chalets



See more recent photos of Senyum.

© Liz Price

No reproduction without permission

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