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KUANTAN RIVER in Sijunjung-Westsumatra / Indonesia
In the heart of Sumatra, a few km south of the Equator lies the KUANTAN river in some of wildest Jungles of Indonesia. The upper part of it's valley is of incredible beauty with several hundred meter high limestone cliffs, caves and picturebook rainforest.
The river has been rafted about 10 years ago but seldom receives any paddlers due to it's remoteness. Recently the regional government of SIJUNJUNG district improved the road along the river which eases access tremendously. The government wants to develop adventure tourism here and invited the most successful Rafting team ARUS LIAR ( ' wild currents' in Indonesian - they are all nice guys, no liars...) to an expedition to Westsumatra. Their boss, Lody Korua , thought it might be a good idea if a kayaker would join them as kayaking is not yet populer in Indonesia but people usually get very exited if they see someone in a tiny boat to tackle some big rapids...
Thanks to sponsor 'Mr. John' , Pak Muchlis Anwar... and all the others who put their money and energy into the expedition - it was worth it !!! - We hope this area will get more visitors in the future !
Most of the rapids are not too difficult ( grade 3 ) but there are some big ones as well on Kuantan river:
above: bashing through a hole of PALUKAHAN rapid ( don't ask me what PALUKAHAN means - even the villagers living close by don't know - they say : ' that's just a name ' )
Also the rafters from ARUS LIAR and the local team from SIJUNJUNG had their fun
To me the environment was even more fascinating than the rapids: there were huge trees full with flying foxes which reach a span of more than a meter here on Sumatra - once more than hundred swirled high above our heads and we felt as inmidst of 'JURASSIC PARK'
We went into some of the caves along the river...
crawling creatures of the dark
...and visited some traditional MINANGKABAU houses
Even an audience with the tradional Rajas / kings of the area was organized. These Rajas still have a lot of influence on matters of landuse, traditions and religion in their area.
above: a BANYAN tree - a strangling fig begins it's life as a seed dropped by a bird onto any tree. From the seed some roots will grow down the hosttree. These roots get stronger and stronger until one day they strangle the hosttree to death and the strangling fig stands alone. It's fruit is an important source of food to many animals of the forest; orangutans LOVE figtrees...
Let's go back to the river !
It is possible to do a several - day expedition down the KUANTAN river, however, the lower section does not have much rapids and is not necessary wilderness anymore
How to get there:
From SINGAPORE or Kuala Lumpur ( Malaysia ) cheap flights go with AIR ASIA, TIGER AIR or VALUE AIR to PADANG - when I checked last time it was about 50 US$ one way.
From MEDAN ( Northsumatra ) I paid for my flight to PADANG 45 US one way -
From the airport in Padang Taxis can be chartered for 40 - 50 US to MUARO SIJUNJUNG ( 3 hrs drive ).
At Muaro Sijunjung the best Hotel is HOTEL SAHID BUKIK TINGGI ( 20 - 40 US / night ).
For further info You can contact me / SUMATRA SAVAGES at linova@indosat.net.id
or, - if You can speak some Bahasa Indonesia, call MUCHLIS ANWAR from the local government in SIJUNJUNG
mobile: + 62 81535200678
or PRIYONO, journalist and Nature guide in Sijunjung
+62 - 754 - 21141, mobile: +62 - 8126765373
Now, if You can't speak Bahasa, here comes ZUFNAL to the rescue, this fellow even speaks English, Dutch and German !!! his mobile is +62 - 81374646802by Halim
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Paddling in Thailand's Phang Nga National Park
The Southwest of Thailand with it's spectacular limestone cliffs became famous through James Bond, Di Caprio...
...and John Gray, paddling pioneer and environmentalist, more than 20 years in the business...
...explaining geology of the 'hongs' of Phang Nga, a result of chemical weathering of carbonate stones.
" WHAT, a touri kayak trip in Thailand ? It's going to be crowded, hot, boring and they will force me to eat FISH !!! "
- those were my objections against such a tour. - I live in Indonesia, an archipelago consisting of some 15000 or so islands but only a hand full of kayakers swing the paddles due to truly idiotic import policies of Indonesia where You end up to pay the same amount of money for taxes as You've paid for Your boat ! - So I'm used to solitude when I go out boating and I've been to Thailand few times where I saw crowds of Sit-on-toppers in the most beautiful bays of Koh Pi Pi in search of THE BEACH...
So how was it then, really ?
Crowds / heat : After more companies in Southwest Thailand copied SEACANOE tours, it gets crowded, of course. This is one of the most beautiful coastlines on the planet, so don't expect to be the only one who wants to see it !
John Gray tackled the problem by scheduling a one-day-tour in the afternoon / evening - some paddling is done even at night ' HONG by starlight ' - that way we avoid the crowds and are less exposed to the heat at noon.
We were 16 people on the tour - I didn't feel exactly like Robinson Crusoe but I found it nice to have a chat here and there with others without screaming against the common techno sounds of Thai beaches.
Boring ? - If You're into hardship / suffering and need to paddle at least 50 km a day to achieve satisfaction then this tour is not for You ( however, most operators rent out kayaks to experienced paddlers to go by their own ).
Kayak day tours in Phang Nga are rather designed for everybody including absolute beginners, families...
...if You're too weak, too lazy or generally don't bother much about environment You can also use a boat like this :
' Motherships' are used to bring a kayaks plus passengers to the most beautiful spots of the National Park.
Decent operators give introduction to the ecosystem and explain what to do and not to do during the motorized cruise: " Don't scream, don't step on juvenile roots of mangrove trees, etc. "
The main attraction on 'Hong by starlight' is the particular environment of Karst formation with it's collapsed caves.
It requires a long time of research and knowledge of the area to find these caves, their entrances and exact timing of the tides to enter and leave such a hong in the right time. There is no way I would have found the entrance to these caves if I just rented out a kayak and paddled on my own. It NEEDS someone who really knows the area.
Inside the Hongs we saw birds, snakes, lizards and monkeys - there used to be saltwater crocodiles, - John calls them affectedly 'salties' but they are probably the only animal he does NOT like, proven maneaters... - but in Phang Nga a story of the past...
Inside a Hong
In the evening there's a big dinner ( of course: seafood - but nobody forced me and plenty vegetarian options ) -
Before sunset a couple of KRATONGS are prepared - Thai women do this usually in the time of full moon but our guides can do them pretty nice as well in February...
HALIM : " Let me dump this thing NOW ! " - GUIDE: " NO, wait for starlight... ! "
We paddle once more into one of the caves, this time in darkness - and release the Kratongs.
After that we call it a day and paddle back to the Mothership that brings us to Phuket. - It was very different compared to my tours in Indo - I usually fall into bed with aching back... actually I hardly paddled any distance at all but experienced a new environment in a breathtaking setting.
- I will definitely go again on a longer tour another time.
For anybody interested about such a trip I emphasize to search for a professional operator who loves what he's doing and not to go with the cheapest... It's that way with many things in life, isn't it ?
Sunset at Ko Lanta
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KAYAKING INDONESIA with ' BIG O'
OLAF OBSOMMER and a team of kayak celebrities traveled 3 weeks through Sumatra / Java in search for the wild.
I talked with Jared Meehan preparing the expedition: " Man, we need jeeps... roads on Sumatra are no highways ! - Plus, there is not much known about rivers down here - I don't want to end up hacking ourselves through the jungles for days or weeks - just to find out the river is unrunnable... so what we do ? "
Then an idea came into my tropical sun-fried mind: " Maybe LODI can help ! "- Lodi Korua is the manager from ARUS LIAR - indonesia's most successful Whitewater Rafting Company - he's the one who has seen most rivers in this part of Asia and always in for pioneering stuff. - Lodi was ' fire and flame' for the expedition: " YES, Arus Liar will support Your tour - how many Landrovers You need ? "
Arrival in JAKARTA - perfect service from ARUS LIAR alias LODI
We were brought from JAKARTA airport to ARUS LIAR basecamp at CITARIK river in Westjava. While there's just a handful of whitewater kayakers in Indonesia, Rafting has become a sport that is enjoyed by many Indonesians.
ARUS LIAR basecamp at CITARIK - lots of bamboo and other natural material is used for the campsite
Next day was the first of looong drives through remote parts of Westjava / Banten province. The river Lodi came up with is called CIBARENO - but more appropriate it should be CibaRAINo. The way down to the river took 45 minutes - half of it under burning sun, half of it in tropical rain... The weather changes extremely fast in tropics and with it waterlevels. Filming on that day was not possible but all paddlers came back with a big smile - for Tomass Marvic from Latvia is was the first time to paddle warm water.
The second river the team was to run was the CIMADUR - all information again was from Lodi who tried a couple of years ago to raft this river but gave up before a gorgesection. The evacuation of his raft and gear took several days with the aid of local people.
Good weather for a change, everybody in the best spirit BUT...
... as it turned out, CIMADUR also called out for the first victims of our expedition: Sam Sutton cut his finger with a machete while clearing a path, the blade slipping from the bamboo... 7 stitches in a local hospital - the expedition was over for him, - wounds heal very slow in these humid conditions. Toby Robertson fainted on the way out of the canyon - overheating and dehydration is a real problem in the tropics.
Next day: the team fit again and ready to go...
At least Toby could continue the next day to finish this first descent and jump the CIMADUR waterfall...
Just two minutes after the last of us had left the river, a flashflood swept over the rocks where we had been standing just a few minutes before ! Another reminder of how fast waterlevels in tropics can rise where the rain can start as sudden and heavy as nowhere else on the planet...
above: a few minutes later the flashflood would have swept Jared off the rocks...
Within one week the Big O - expedition paddled two rivers and had a look on a waterfall which turned out to be turned off - or so to say : the about 25 m high fall was just a trickle - not to think about jumping this fall:
We have been prepared that filming of kayaking in unknown territory including first descents of rivers would be timeconsuming. The weather in Java and rough roadconditions played their own part for delays. However, the exotic scenery of Java and the friendliness of the local communities we met on the way made the tour worth it. Another thanks / TERIMA KASIH to LODI at this point for his outstanding support and hospitality. SAMPAI JUMPA LAGI !
rice paddies in CIMADUR valley
What I did when the ' stars' where fighting for their survival :
Text and photos: Halim
Anybody interested about kayaking in Java should contact Lodi / Arus Liar: info@arusliar.com
----------------------- END OF PART 1 - JAVA ---------------------
------------------------ part 2 ' SUMATRA ' coming soon in this theatre --------------------------
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