Stong Waterfall

 

Gunung Stong (1390m), Gunung Baha (1395m) and Gunung Ayam (1480m) are situated in the Jelawang Jungle, near the village of Dabong in the state of Kelantan, Malaysia. The Stong waterfall, at a height of 305m, is claimed to be the tallest in South East Asia (which I doubt so - 300m is not very tall for a waterfall, and I've seen taller one at Kinabalu.)

There are many limestone caves near the vicinity of Dabong village, among the popular ones are Gua Gelap ("Dark Cave"), Gua Kris ("Kris Cave", Kris is a Malay sword), Gua Pagar ("Fence Cave") and Gua Ikan ("Fish Cave"). Sadly, Gua Ikan had been badly vandalized by graffiti, leaving only the other three worth exploring. Arrange with your guide if you wish to go for cave exploration.



Inside a limestone cave

To get to the base from the train station, you'll first need to walk across the village to the "Teh Tarik" river. There you take a boat ride across, follow by van from the river to the base. At the base of the Stong waterfall was a resort which is now out of business. There are two trails from the base that lead up to Baha Camp - the Jungle Trail and the Waterfall Trail. The later is more scenic and provides you with a more intimate look at the waterfall, but it is slightly more challenging and there is the risk of flash flood on a rainy day.

Baha Camp is situated near the edge of the 305m vertical drop of Stong waterfall. At the camp is a kitchen cum dinning hut for you to do your cooking and eating, and there are plenty of camp grounds in the surrounding areas. There are also a limited number of huts available for rental if you prefer not to camp, and each hut has a double bed in it. Further upstream from Baha Camp are several cascades and pools where you can swim and dip in. There are also several natural water slides where you can have fun sliding down.

Baha Camp's kitchen and dinning area

Stong is well know for it's spectacular sunrise. To experience it, wake up early in the morning at about 0630 and get over to "Lover's Rock", which is the giant boulder at the very edge of the fall. The breeze before dawn can be quite chilling, so do remember to bring along your jacket or wind breaker.

Our group consisted of 2 teams - team 1 would attempt only G. Stong alone in 2 days, while team 2 would attempt all three mountains in a 3 days trek.