Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve Puchong : Waterfall Gem in Concrete Jungle

12012013 - The day before, my friend asked if I would like to trek in Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve in Puchong, and I immediately said yes! I have always wanted to go there. I even had it in my calendar to visit this place on that day too but I cancelled it because I have no one to go with. The universe heard me! Anyway, I googled the directions happily, and I was so proud of myself for being able to reach there by myself. But boy, was I wrong when my friend called me and told me I was at the wrong location. And the correct location they are meeting up was 15 minutes away. Which means 30 minutes for me, because I have the 'talent' to get lost EVERY TIME. I did not even realise there was a separate entrance.

I drove some distance about 14km away, and I thought I was heading the wrong way. Finally, 30 minutes later, I found myself in this high-rise condominium area where I do not see any signs of hills. This is in Seri Kembangan. Nor do I see any people starting their trek. It was just the 4 of us. I walked to the end of the road and I saw a roundabout. Still no signs of entrance.

I am pretty sure this does not fit the description of an entrance. Then, I saw my friends walked through the shrubs on the left. I saw empty land that looks like it was cleared for development. We scrambled up on some rocks, and upon reaching the top, the view of the high-rise buildings was quite a sight. Still, no signs of entrance I see.

My friend took out his GPS to ensure we are on the right trail. Jungle GPS.

We walked into some tall wild shrubs, which gave a 'lasting' impression to my exposed legs.

It was a new trail, and we were walking into wild grasses, hedges, shrubs, wild branches. My friend was prepared with his 'parang' (heavy knife) to cut the branches. There were spider webs too with spiders spinning the web. Truly the 'never-walked' on path.

In this trail, we saw hooves print of possibly, a wild boar.

Stopped for a while to discuss on the route to use. My friend never lost his cool and calmness despite being a new trail, because that is how he treks. He likes to go to the path never travelled before.

This is how 80% of our trail looks like.

You know when you are on a new path when you stepped on layers of dried leaves. Your feet just sink in.

Then, my friends saw this long pipe, and they were so happy! Because we were on the right trail.

At 11.45am, my eyes set sight on one of the most beautiful waterfall. Such clear cool green waters. I cannot believe that such nature exists in Puchong, an area that is heavily developed.

The waters is deep enough for diving.

Look at how clear the water is. The colour of the waters reminded me of Redang Island in the East Coast, and the blue lakes in Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Geopark in Lijiang, China.

Then, we proceeded on about less-than-3-minutes trek (which is above the waterfalls) to our own private clear blue (my friend said it is green) lake. The place is beautiful. 

  
We jumped from the ledge into the waters. In the below photo, can you see the slightly jutted rocks? The height looks short but I was terribly afraid of jumping inside. My legs were wobbling and I was glued to the rocks before my friend threatened to push me inside. It was deep enough although I fail a bit in my jumping attempts. Instead of jumping, I was 'falling' from the ledge, resulting in the soles of my right foot hitting the rocks. It hurts, but it is better. 

We left the place at 2.45pm. We walked back using almost the same route. I said almost because we don't remember our trail back, and we walked through a new route. So, it was like 60% new route and 40% old route. We crossed the initial waterfall and the waters were gorgeous with the sunrays glistening on the waters.

Along the way back, we saw a group of milipede. Eeekk.. my friend threw one at my shoe, and I think the whole of the Forest Reserve heard me. =_="

We reached back at 4.45pm and it was a relief to be out from the jungle. The results of new trails = scratches everywhere. Note to self = to always wear long pants when I join them. Regardless of the scratches which goes away eventually (that was the vain me complaining), I am so happy that I was invited to go this place because the waterfalls was definitely worth it.

Oh yes, the route to the waterfall is supposedly closed. It is the route from Puchong, which is the proper trail. I am not sure how it looks like though. But I met 2 group of trekkers who used that route and was at the waterfalls. So, I am not too sure how they managed to get through.