It all started when Kelantan Selatan Development Authority (Kesedar)
sponsored a bolting expedition at the surrounding limestone corps in 1999,
hardly 10 years after its ‘black area’ status was lifted in the late 1990s.
It was only natural for Kesedar to take on the expedition, for the area is
blessed with beautiful limestone outcrops.
Realising the potential of rock climbing, Taman Etnobotani was established. The
96-acre park now holds most of the climbing routes and two other – Cattle Ranch
Wall and El Dorado Wall – are located within walking distance from the Gua
Musang town centre.
The routes range French Grade-5 routes for beginners while experts have the
challenge of Grade 7As, 7Bs and unfinished projects.
Apart from rock climbing, these jutting outcrops also offer adventures for
cavers. Though rather short, caving here is still satisfying as there are dark,
narrow tunnels, rat-hole openings and an underground stream.
One of these is Gua Ning which is hardly 10 minutes drive from the town. It
takes about two hours to walk through the cave to the other opening.
Other caves in the vast Gua Musang area are mostly pre-historic caves located in
the interior along Sungai Nenggiri, another famed attraction.
Besides the annual Nenggiri Rafting Expedition, its 50km stretch from Kuala
Betis to Kampung Star sees a steady flow of adventure-seekers as it offers some
30 rapids.
Extreme sports fans would find it a challenge to conquer Gua Musang’s many peaks
like Gunung Rabong, one of Kelantan’s highest peaks and Gunung Stong in Dabong.
Located at the western foot of the great Titiwangsa Range, Gua Musang is also
another getaway to Taman Negara via Kuala Koh.
Most of Gua Musang’s adventure activities are handled and packaged by Kesedar
Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd, the tourism-arm of Kesedar. For more info call 099126366
or visit
www.kesedartravel.com.my.
CAVING AT GUA MUSANG
Taman Ethnobotani KM3, Jalan Persiaran Raya Gua Musang, Kelantan Tel: (09)
9126829
There are two popular stories, and both relate to the huge cave in the hill
behind the town. One account says that a group of superstitious hunters were
camped out here, when a storm destroyed the hunters’ attap huts. A bolt of
lightning struck the hill and almost split it in two.
The hunters thought the guardian spirit of the cave was angry and begged for
mercy. As they prayed they saw a pack of civet cats run into the cave, so they
lay in wait for them to come out again. However, the animals never reappeared.
The
hunters
then named the hill Bukit Gua Musang and the town, Gua Musang.
The second story refers to a rock formation inside the cave, which reportedly
resembles a civet cat, hence the name.
Today, this famous cave in Gua Musang, Kelantan is a fairly popular attraction.
When we, a group of cave explorers from the Malaysian Karst Society, went up for
a weekend recce, we were pretty sure we would see no signs of musang here.
But imagine our surprise when one in our party went into a small passage in the
cave and came face to face with a furry creature. At first we assumed it was a
civet, but it turned out to be a porcupine. The porcupine was also startled and
disappeared into a small dark hole.
The cave of Gua Musang is located immediately behind the town’s railway station
and is reached by a steep scramble up the hillside. We got some funny looks for
our caving helmets and lights, and our muddy clothes.
After a steep climb following the track up the hill, which was slippery from a
recent shower, we reached the cliff face and saw a small slot. This is the cave
entrance. The main cave chamber is huge, but the entrance passage is a very
narrow ascending rift. There is an amazing amount of graffiti adorning the walls
of the entrance chamber – it’s a shame that so many were so thoughtless in
defacing the cave.
Inside the cave, we found lots of wings belonging to Atlas moths strewn around
the floor in some places. Probably the porcupine had eaten the moths, leaving
just the wings. We explored all the passages we could find. The chamber goes
through the hill to a back entrance and you can climb up to the top of the hill,
but we felt it was a bit dangerous to attempt it as the ground was slippery.
The next day we ventured out to Pulai. Pulai, south of Gua Musang, is an old
gold mining area. It is said that Pulai was founded in 1425 by two brothers, Lim
Pak Yen and Lim Ghee Yee, who fled China.
The brothers came here in search of gold. Once word got out, there was a gold
rush and a small settlement was created. As the gold supply slowly diminished,
people started planting padi to survive.
Pulai has a temple reputed to be 400-500 years old, reportedly the second oldest
temple in the country after the Cheng Hoon Teng temple (1646) in Malacca. The
Pulai Swee Nyet Keung Buddhist temple and its surrounding village was burnt down
by the Japanese in 1941.
The temple was rebuilt in 1970 and is quite small, but it has an interesting
collection of ancient cannon parts.
Across the river from the temple is a limestone hill with a new temple. Bukit
Tok Cu is also known as Princess Mountain and a temple is being constructed on
top of it. The workers told us that a man had a vision of steps being built up
the hill in 1984, but work on the temple only started in 1997.
However, a shrine was already in existence in the upper cave when an
archaeological team dug there in 1991. The upper part of the cave is not very
extensive but we were able to look straight down some open shafts to the cave
chamber back down at ground level. We couldn’t see any obvious way down so we
retraced our way down the steps and entered the main chamber at ground level.
Looking around, we found an easy climb up inside the cave and found ourselves
back in the new temple again, much to the surprise of the workers.
We had our base in Taman Ethnobotani, where there are rooms and chalets for
rent. The park was set up in 1997 for the collection and propagation of
medicinal herbs. This recreational and nature park is administered by the
Kelantan Selatan Development Authority (Kesedar).
Some 3km from Gua Musang, the park covers 38ha of lush greenery and limestone
outcrops. One small hill is located right at the entrance of Taman Ethnobotani,
and here we got to watch climbers practise their moves.
The park holds many climbing routes. Apart from climbing, there are other
outdoor activities like rope and wooden obstacle courses, and flying fox and
abseiling. Visitors can also learn to make traps and pick up jungle survival
skills. Nature lovers will enjoy visiting the deer and ostrich farms and the
medicinal herb garden.
Gua Musang has three limestone hills that run parallel to the main road leading
into town. One was burnt by a fire last year, and its odd appearance with the
patchy vegetation growing back made it look like a mangy dog. And that’s what we
called it: Mangy Dog Hill.
Most of the Gua Musang limestone hills house caves, but they tend to be quite
short. Gua Madu, located on the edge of town, is now in a recreational park.
Further away in the Sungai Nenggiri area are the famous archaeological caves
like Gua Cha, Gua Peraling and Gua Chawan.
