Pictures of Ulu Muda lake, Kedah; Final

Such a nice day for paddling…right up until we arrive at the campsite

Here are some pictures of Ulu Muda when I went kayaking there with Nadir. While the water levels have risen considerably, the lake is stunningly beautiful. Nadir, who was at the lake a few months back before the rainy season started was astonished at how much the flooding have changed landscape.

Our major challenge taking pictures at the lake is the humidity. Many times the lenses fogs up and we had to ‘warm’ them up before taking pictures. My ‘setup’ was particularly more challenging as I have my camera only in my dry bag. Nadir has his in the Pelican case.

A view of the lake from the jetty early in the morning before we unloaded the kayaks

Nadir on the kayak, with his Pelican case and camera out ready to take pics

The Lake in a way has all the other characteristics of other man-made lakes in Malaysia like Kenyir and Banding. The eeri, wide, open space slowly swallows you up and engulf you with a feeling of awe and astonishment. I would say this is the ‘privilege’ feeling only to those who have spent time on large lakes like this one.

Thanks to the higher than usual water levels, we were able to make some shortcuts, with some navigations around these sort of terrain…amazing!

Note in some of the pictures how the lake water turns from green/ dark to brown. Well, the brown water indicates a river we were paddling up. The river feeds into the lake and its brown water is a result of soil and mud being washed in from the river banks when the rains come pouring down.

Where the river water meets the lake

Dead trees submerged in rising water

Somehow this picture reminds me of the movie LOTR

Great picture opportunities around dead trees

As the water rise, some trees became submerged. On such trees, one can find many insects trapped on the tree branches. Too scared to risk the ‘swim’ across the waters.

A Praying Mantis on a tree branch.

This ‘couple’ took time to get to know each other better I suppose.

Manage to take a snap of these two perching on the water edge

Thanks to the risen waters, we were able to paddle close to the river edge which effectively used to be dry land. There are so many kinds of jungle fruits we say. Including the Chaplong fruit used on the Chaplong gun.

The Chaplong fruit. Have not seen these for some time now

Looks like tomatoes but nothings seem to have eaten them…hence probably poisonous

Nadir working on his GPS to find the way

Nadir taking pictures

Okay…we were told that there are to be no fishing in the Ulu Muda dam. What surprised us was that not only the locals were fishing but they used nets. Lots and lots of nets everywhere! Paddling pass by one of the nets, we can’t help but check to see what kind of fish were caught. This is probably one of the biggest Lampam I have ever seen.

The locals at Ulu Muda use nets to catch fish!

I think our trip to Ulu Muda was simple waesome! The humidity really hindered us from taking more pictures of the lake. This lake is going to be more accessible soon with new roads being paved in to promote the place as a tourist destination. I got to thank Nadir for agreeing to this trip. Ulu Muda lake is certainly worth a re-visit. Nadir…when?