Gunung Ulu Sepat, Perak, G7 Mountains of Malaysia

30th Sept 2005 - 2nd Oct 2005

Gunung Ulu Sepat (7,091') Perak
G7 Mountains Above 7,000 feet

This G7 is situated in state of Perak. Out of seven highest mountain in the Titiwangsa Range you will find 5 of them in the Perak state. The other two which are not in Perak are Gunung Tahan and Gunung Chamah. After our Gunung Tahan and Gunung Korbu/Gunung Gayong trip, this is our 3rd. On the 29th Sept we went to Ipoh for lunch and later proceeded to Grik to check into a hotel and later met up with others members to have dinner. Grik Town is also famous for its local dishes especially fresh water fish and frogs (edible type).

Day 1. After breakfast at Grik town, we waited for other members who travel from KL (journey takes about 5-6 hours by North South Highway) . One of the member missed the trip because her backpack was stolen the night before. We drove to Pos Kemah lead by our guide Ah Meng. He is a very experience guide and has good contact with the head (penghulu) of the 'orang asli' (abrogines). Parked our car at the jetty and reported the name list to the police. We took an hour boat ride to the jetty Pos Slim. Another 1 hour bullock cart ride to the furthest orang asli settlement. Gunung Ulu Sepat is supposed to be the easiest among the G7 and the first campsite takes only 4 hours, when we arrived at the campsite, it was raining heavily. We brought along an umbrella for this trip and found it useful for setting up the tent in the rain. The rain stopped as soon as the tent was up and soon many of them were complaining of being bitten by sandfly or "agas" in Malay language, these sandfly are present when wild animals have passed by, they are very aggressive and work very hard.

Day 2. After breakfast, pack light refreshment to the peak. Only 4 hours to the peak and 3 hours back to the campsite. We were suppose to stay for night but most of the members unanimously agreed to pack and trek out because they are afraid of the sandfly. We arrived at orang asli settlement at 8pm at night. The head of the orang asli offer the hut for us to stay. Some prefer to camp outside. For us who stay in the penghulu house and do our cooking in the house. We were served roasted and boiled tapioca which are their main diet. We left behind a lot of food stuff for them. We were told that the penghulu has many wives, children and grandchildren. The village altitude is around 3,000 ft. and it gets cold in the night.

Day 3. After breakfast we went out to tour the village. Took pictures of the carefree children and we noticed there were no teenages or adults and we found out that very early in the morning they have gone into the jungle presumably to hunt for food. At around 11.00am our bullock cart arrived to transport us to the jetty for boat ride again. Considered to be a successful climb but nightmare with the sandflies, many who had been bitten even after a month they sometimes still feel itchy, and for some they scratch till they bleed
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The penghulu told us that when there are a lot of sandflies means that the wild animals are near by the vicinity . We are lucky enough because we have not seen any of them but only bitten by sandflies. Make sure when you plan any trip to Gunung Ulu Sepat be prepared for sandfly and brings lots of balm and insect repellant. Later we have lunch at a Chinese village along the way out of Grik town to celebrate our successful climb.

This posting by KC

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