Jungle trekking in between Teluk Rubiah and Teluk Batik

A few weeks ago Mr. Goh from Explore the Wilderness, (see my team building pages) called me. He asked if I was interested in jungle trekking. Of course he knew the answer already. So we left the next morning to Teluk Rubiah. The idea was to hike on a different path from Teluk Rubiah to Teluk Batik. The total distance between the two beaches is only a few kilometers but it can be a hard trek.

We have done several treks in this area with groups, for example with an Australian International School en more recent with a Chinese school. When we did those treks, we usually take the easier paths, all along the seaside. If I say: easy, I mean these trekkings are not too long and not too hard. When we went with the Chinese school, I brought my little friend Johan, already 9 years old to help us out. (you may remember Johan from our common journey to Penang by bicycle).

The old and never finished Sultans road in between Teluk Batik and Teluk Rubiah, now abandoned

This time we wanted to explore an area where I had not been. Mr. Goh, born and bred in Lumut had not visited this particular area in 10 years. We expected to climb up and once we would be higher up on the hill we expected a path. But instead we found raw jungle with traces of timber trails but long abandoned. There was no way that this particular route was possible for our new journey.

A week later Mr. Goh called me again. He had been with another friend again in the same area and had found a path. The problem was that now he only had come from the Teluk Batik side. The group he would lead on this trek would hike from the Teluk Rubiah side. Therefore we should do the trek as we would do it with the group.

The jungle on the mainland is different from the jungle on Pangkor. The mainland jungle is much dryer, and less dense then on Pangkor. But the hills are sometimes definitely steep. On our hike we found nice reasonable open timber trails, very much usable for our purpose.

This trek would not lead us to one of the hidden beaches in between Teluk Batik and Teluk Batik, as we usually do. The picture below was taken on the second of the hidden beaches and the closest to Teluk Rubiah.

These beaches are only assessable through jungle trekking or from the sea side.

When you look at the map it seems a small area, and not much of interest for day hikes. The opposite is true. You can easily get lost in this area. Even though you are never far from civilization, it can be really difficult to get out of the hills. A compass is an essential part of the equipment.

When we go for trekking we always bring food, fruits and plenty of water. You never know how long the hike will take. This time it was all quite straight forwarded. Mr. Goh and another friend of ours, Mr. John, had left markers so we basically had a comfortable morning hike.

Did I say "comfortable"? With three steep hills one can hardly call it comfortable. But the path was open and easy to follow. Only a few possible junctions were we had to pay attention to the situation. The jungle here was almost unspoiled.

One of the Australian International School groups take a rest when coming out of the jungle

While we hiked over the timber trails it was also clear timber here was no longer collected as the side paths were almost everywhere overgrown and taken back by the jungle.

Wild boar

But what always knocks me out while hiking here is the enormous variety of vegetation. Animal life at day time is limited to insects, in the early morning the mosquitoes have a good life on you but later the day they too are gone. Although in the area snakes and wild boar are plenty, it's unlikely you will see them easy. Snakes are more active in the evening and night and wild boar are very shy. You can find plenty of trails left by wild boar. And local hunters set traps for to catch and sell them (wild boar in curry is delicious!).

Jungle trekking with the Chinese group

The jungle in between Teluk Batik and Teluk Rubiah is hardly touched and therefore excellent to use for team building courses Mr. Goh organizes. And I love to join them on their jungle trekking

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See also Mr. Goh's team building activities and have a look at the days we spend with the Australian International School

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