River trekking along Sungai Batu

A scene along Sungai Batu

It was Pak Abu’s idea to go river trekking along Sungai Batu. Pak Abu has been doing quite a bit of trail finding, based on the Spencer Chapman book ‘The Jungle Is Neutral’. A knowledgeable and skillful bushcrafter, this 4 hour walk along the river is really satisfying.

Spencer Chapman is a British Officer and a World War II veteran stationed in Malaya during the Japanese invasion. From the brief reading on Wikipedia, it seems like this British commando really did some damage to the Japanese during his ‘tour’. It is also in the jungles of Malaya that he was caught by the enemies a few times, escaped and endured the jungle for long periods of time. The Sungai Batu was one of the trails that we walked along during his tour in Malaya.

Our objective however was to walk along the river, enjoy nature and to see if the trail is manageable for a group walk with a local groups. We drove two separate cars, one parked at the end of the trail while the other brought us to the trail head. From the roadside, it is just a short walk to the river where we would start to walk downstream.

We crossed the same river numerous times

We expected to cross the river a few times. I initially took count, even marked the river crossings on the GPS but lost count about 5 crossings later. We had to cross as walking became more difficult and the terrain over the other side is much easier to navigate. Many parts of the river and the banks are littered with small size boulders and rocks, making walking slow and low the order of the day.

There are many rocks along the river, creating ‘mini’ rapids

The jungles close by have relatively the same characteristics all the way. Bamboos, dense secondary jungle and cleared plots of land indicate the area has been cultivated, probably by the local Orang Asal communities.

Fallen bamboos became an obstacle during the walk

Useful bamboo easily available along the trail

Like any other jungle, look closer and one can find loads of interesting stuff. I manage to spot a tiny snail, probably a baby snail. We also spotted an ant’s nest. Ants nest is commonly found on the ground, in tree trunks and even in balls of tree leaves weaved together but this nest is special. It seems to be made of mud (soil) and is shaped like a rugby ball on a small tree trunk.

A tiny snail or probably a baby snail

This ants nest is built like a rugby ball on a small tree trunk

At one of the rest stops, Pak Abu manage to spot a semi-buried bottle. We decided to pick it up and it turns out to be an old whisky bottle. We only manage to make out the letters 1820 from it. A few hundred meters downstream, we made yet another interesting find. This time it is the jaw bone of an animal. Not sure what it is.

We found this old bottle along the trail

Not sure which animal this belong to

There were also several drops along the river. The below is probably the biggest drop along the river. Not big enough to be classified as a waterfall but definitely big enough to drown someone.

One of the river drops along Sungai Tua

Pak Abu parading a large leaf he found nearby

The later parts of our walk led us towards one of the parks established by the local government for the public. Needless to say, it is full of rubbish, un-kept, foul smelling and a sore sight and yet the people who runs it dares to charge entry fees.

A snapshot of our trail on google earth

We walked a total of about 9.5km that day. It was a pleasant walk really with lots of river crossings and interesting to see. The walk became more ‘meaningful’ with Pak Abu around as he is able to narrate part of the trail as he remembers it from Spencer Chapman’s book. We finished the walk tired, leech free and satisfied. Satisfied as we have probably walked a trail that tells a story of a wartime commando. And that is something to remember.

Click here to read more about our second part walk of the Spencer Chapman walk.