I survived Endau Rompin
After talking to some friends, I realized that not many people know where and what is Endau Rompin National Park, aka Taman Negara Endau Rompin.
From a quick Googling, the following is a introduction of Taman Negara. "Taman Negara Endau Rompin is the lesser known national park in Peninsular Malaysia, overshadowed by the more famous Taman Negara in Pahang. Due to the lesser accessibility to conventional vehicles, it has kept the Park more pristine and beautiful. Located on the Johor-Pahang border, this 2½-century-old extensive lowland forest is home to several rare and endangered species. This park is popular with conservationists and
nature lovers who enjoy the wildlife and virgin environment."
That's to say, it is as close as you can get to a real rainforest in this region and practically just at our door step being near the Mersing region.
It was a waste that my GPS died. But from some other's gps readings, I think this is the route and roughly where I stopped to turn back
I had seen Endau Rompin on a Map those days when I was exploring Malaysia with paper Maps. It cannot be missed due to the big splotch of green on the map. I had always wondered how to reach there. But from the information that I gathered on the internet, it seems that a permit is required to visit, and the chalets there are not the cheap holiday type. So, I had KIVed it to be explored for some later time.
Lately, I have quite exhausted places that I can visit for day trips to interesting places in Malaysia. Endau Rompin floated into my mind view again and did a more thorough search for information on the place. I had quite a few conflicting information. Some said that driving a conventional car is possible, some said not. I thought: I should find out for myself.
I had planned to run in couple of weeks back, but due to the rainy season, I decided to postpone it. It probably would not be fun if I got my wheels stuck in some muddy pothole.
The "Jam" at the woodlands causeway at 6.10am
This Saturday morning, I had originally planned to head for a Rakit for some relaxing fishing when my pals mistook the time to be on a Sunday instead. But no matter, because my car is due for servicing and I wanted to make sure that it could probably survive the Sin-Thai driving trip that I was going to do.
Heading up Route 3 towards Mersing
After turning at the Endau Rompin/Mersing fork
Reaching there rather early, we had an early breakfast at the Coffee Shop round Taman Molek area. Servicing was surprising rather fast and we were wondering where to go after that. I was thinking then to try driving up to Endau Rompin, rather impromptully. Asking Mr Chen of my Servicing shop, he said it was drivable there, but nothing to see. But I wasn't sure if he was right as he told me that it was near to Kota Tinggi. That was somehow wrong. Seeing his recommendation, I decided to give it a try. From Molek, it was just a drive up North on route 3. It's a road that I am very familiar with, which is the road to Sibu. The Turn-off to Endau Rompin was further up north at a fork between Rompin and Mersing.
From the left turn, the road became more forested with lesser traffic. The weather took a turn for the worse and it started to drizzle. And then, to add to the challenge, my wife's phone went flat. I was relying on it for my GPS as my own phone(with GPS) had gone belly up and I was using D's nokia phone as a standin. That's is to say, I didn't have any backup GPS. And from that point on, we were driving blind without help from the friendly eye in the sky.
Rest point for toilet break
Friendly Uncle says there cannot go!
After driving for a while, D had to answer nature's call and I pulled over by a small eatery near the road. It was also a good time to get more information from the locals. We asked if Rompin was reachable, and he looked at my little car and guffawed that I could not enter from the Kahang entrance. Furthermore, it was raining. But the Malay owner was very helpful and drew for me a map to instruct me to drive via the Rompin way ie. Up to Mersing - Endau - Rompin. He said that there was another entrance with proper tarred roads. But that route from the map, that was another good 100km.
The entrance to Endau Rompin from Kahang
But since I was already so close to the Kahang entrance, I decided to drive there to have a look see. So it was another 3km drive down the road when I saw the turnoff into Endau Rompin. Rain was pelting incessantly and not about to stop. But the rain was light and not too worrisome.
After turning in, a stretch of muddy looking road. A 4WD was coming out
Road wasn't too bad. Quite smooth really
Initially, just wanting to take a picture, I turned in and stop along the road. There were some 4wd driving in and out. But then, I saw an old sedan driving out and I thought, "hey, it is drivable!".
Ok, so we covered 6km now. 50km more to go
So I couldn't resist just driving in for a while to try out. If the road got worse, we will turn back. The sign said that the road to Endau was 56 Km. I was only able to drive about 20-30km/h on the bumpy road. But although it was not smooth, it was doable. By my estimate, we should be able to reach there in 1.5 hours?
Road was still fairly good
First river crossing
Oh! Got a Sedan car, so should be doable?
2nd River crossing. We were to be stuck here later for 3 hours
Teh Tarik River
Hmm, there is a Kampung here!
40km more
Nice fluffy plants on the edge
Yee? got a mosque here. Probably for the workers
Coming to an opening
Dying oil palm plantation
Tires all caked with mud
A turn here. 25km more
Wow. Pristine pond
23km more
Alamak! Put the sign right in the middle. Which is the correct way?
To our surprise, there were 2 kampungs that we passed on the way in. Seeing the traffic in and out gave us more confidence and we pushed on. At some places, I was able to go 40km/h, but most places were like only 20-30km/h. At regular intervals along the road, there were signage to tell us how much further to go. It was mainly forested area, and palm oil plantations. But as we got deeper, the traffic became more scarce. And we passed by more lorries and tractors instead.
Some pictures at the Entrance
Souvenir from Endau Rompin
Close up of the notice
A and D at the Park Entrance
We finally reached the entrance on the National Park, evident by the Signage in front. From my calculations, we had about 10km to go. Meaning that to reach the visitor centre, we had to drive into the jungle for another 10km. Initially, the road in seemed to be tarred. Somehow it was badly maintained and there were numberous potholes around. I was hoping that the road would get better and tried to reach further in. But the road condition remained just as bad. There were some bridges that we had to drive over too and the bridges themselves don't look too sturdy.
Road with plenty of potholes!
Wild boars sighting!
The scenary here was more "wild" and we had an interesting encounter of a family of wild boars crossing the road. I only managed to snap a distant picture of the last 2 small wild boars before they disappeared into the forest. There were also plenty of animal dungs on the road. Monkeys were swinging about on the trees as we passed along. At some places where we came out to take some pictures, we could smell the "wildness" of the area. In fact, our human scent should be quite strong to the animals around.
Aha! I recognise this bridge from someone's posting on their 4wd trip
Bridges made of wood
Right in the Jungle. Despite being on the "road"
The air smelled strange
Wow. These locals go up and down on their motorbikes!
After driving in for 2km, I saw that the road had somewhat gotten dangerous. If my car were to break down here, help would certainly be quite challenging. Furthermore, the mobile signal was not strong and at some places, there was totally no signal. From my calculations, it was yet another 8km into the dense jungle. I decided then to turn back and head for safety. I didn't want to be caught in the dark in this area.
On the way out, my car almost got stucked on a bridge. As I was driving across, something gave way and my tires lost traction for a while. Luckily for us, it found a grip and moanaged to pull itself across.
So it was with some regret, we made our way back to civilisation. We were so close but yet so far. If only the road here was in better condition, I would have been sipping endau coffee brew at the canteen there by now. Going back, we stopped at the entrance to take some pictures and then made our way out via the bumpy road again.
Haiyoh. A piling work going on. Nobody can pass!
Super muddy in my car
We went to the Kampung Mamashop to get some food
Long Jam!
Just as we were nearing the last section of the road at the place where we had to cross a river, there was some sort of piling works taking place. Because the crane was on the bridge, nothing could go in and out of the place. So, we were like caught in this massive jam while waiting for the work to complete. We were there from 3.30pm till 6.45pm before anything moved again. Worse than our legendary causeway jam. And to think that till then, we hadn't had our lunch. We were all famished. But luckily, we passed a smallish mamastore at the kampung and went there to buy some biscuit for some munching.
Barely made it out before it gets really dark
By the time we were out on the mainroad, it was already dark. Driving back to the Mersing turn-off took another hour and from there, another 2 hours to reach Terbrau City Jusco for our long overdue lunch/dinner. After stuffing ourselves, it was back home via Causeway into a Jam. But luckily, the Jam was a quick moving one, and only lasted half an hour. Then it was back home to snooze and wake up at 5.30am for another trip to the Rakit. :)
From a quick Googling, the following is a introduction of Taman Negara. "Taman Negara Endau Rompin is the lesser known national park in Peninsular Malaysia, overshadowed by the more famous Taman Negara in Pahang. Due to the lesser accessibility to conventional vehicles, it has kept the Park more pristine and beautiful. Located on the Johor-Pahang border, this 2½-century-old extensive lowland forest is home to several rare and endangered species. This park is popular with conservationists and
nature lovers who enjoy the wildlife and virgin environment."
That's to say, it is as close as you can get to a real rainforest in this region and practically just at our door step being near the Mersing region.
It was a waste that my GPS died. But from some other's gps readings, I think this is the route and roughly where I stopped to turn back
I had seen Endau Rompin on a Map those days when I was exploring Malaysia with paper Maps. It cannot be missed due to the big splotch of green on the map. I had always wondered how to reach there. But from the information that I gathered on the internet, it seems that a permit is required to visit, and the chalets there are not the cheap holiday type. So, I had KIVed it to be explored for some later time.
Lately, I have quite exhausted places that I can visit for day trips to interesting places in Malaysia. Endau Rompin floated into my mind view again and did a more thorough search for information on the place. I had quite a few conflicting information. Some said that driving a conventional car is possible, some said not. I thought: I should find out for myself.
I had planned to run in couple of weeks back, but due to the rainy season, I decided to postpone it. It probably would not be fun if I got my wheels stuck in some muddy pothole.
The "Jam" at the woodlands causeway at 6.10am
This Saturday morning, I had originally planned to head for a Rakit for some relaxing fishing when my pals mistook the time to be on a Sunday instead. But no matter, because my car is due for servicing and I wanted to make sure that it could probably survive the Sin-Thai driving trip that I was going to do.
Heading up Route 3 towards Mersing
After turning at the Endau Rompin/Mersing fork
Reaching there rather early, we had an early breakfast at the Coffee Shop round Taman Molek area. Servicing was surprising rather fast and we were wondering where to go after that. I was thinking then to try driving up to Endau Rompin, rather impromptully. Asking Mr Chen of my Servicing shop, he said it was drivable there, but nothing to see. But I wasn't sure if he was right as he told me that it was near to Kota Tinggi. That was somehow wrong. Seeing his recommendation, I decided to give it a try. From Molek, it was just a drive up North on route 3. It's a road that I am very familiar with, which is the road to Sibu. The Turn-off to Endau Rompin was further up north at a fork between Rompin and Mersing.
From the left turn, the road became more forested with lesser traffic. The weather took a turn for the worse and it started to drizzle. And then, to add to the challenge, my wife's phone went flat. I was relying on it for my GPS as my own phone(with GPS) had gone belly up and I was using D's nokia phone as a standin. That's is to say, I didn't have any backup GPS. And from that point on, we were driving blind without help from the friendly eye in the sky.
Rest point for toilet break
Friendly Uncle says there cannot go!
After driving for a while, D had to answer nature's call and I pulled over by a small eatery near the road. It was also a good time to get more information from the locals. We asked if Rompin was reachable, and he looked at my little car and guffawed that I could not enter from the Kahang entrance. Furthermore, it was raining. But the Malay owner was very helpful and drew for me a map to instruct me to drive via the Rompin way ie. Up to Mersing - Endau - Rompin. He said that there was another entrance with proper tarred roads. But that route from the map, that was another good 100km.
The entrance to Endau Rompin from Kahang
But since I was already so close to the Kahang entrance, I decided to drive there to have a look see. So it was another 3km drive down the road when I saw the turnoff into Endau Rompin. Rain was pelting incessantly and not about to stop. But the rain was light and not too worrisome.
After turning in, a stretch of muddy looking road. A 4WD was coming out
Road wasn't too bad. Quite smooth really
Initially, just wanting to take a picture, I turned in and stop along the road. There were some 4wd driving in and out. But then, I saw an old sedan driving out and I thought, "hey, it is drivable!".
Ok, so we covered 6km now. 50km more to go
So I couldn't resist just driving in for a while to try out. If the road got worse, we will turn back. The sign said that the road to Endau was 56 Km. I was only able to drive about 20-30km/h on the bumpy road. But although it was not smooth, it was doable. By my estimate, we should be able to reach there in 1.5 hours?
Road was still fairly good
First river crossing
Oh! Got a Sedan car, so should be doable?
2nd River crossing. We were to be stuck here later for 3 hours
Teh Tarik River
Hmm, there is a Kampung here!
40km more
Nice fluffy plants on the edge
Yee? got a mosque here. Probably for the workers
Coming to an opening
Dying oil palm plantation
Tires all caked with mud
A turn here. 25km more
Wow. Pristine pond
23km more
Alamak! Put the sign right in the middle. Which is the correct way?
To our surprise, there were 2 kampungs that we passed on the way in. Seeing the traffic in and out gave us more confidence and we pushed on. At some places, I was able to go 40km/h, but most places were like only 20-30km/h. At regular intervals along the road, there were signage to tell us how much further to go. It was mainly forested area, and palm oil plantations. But as we got deeper, the traffic became more scarce. And we passed by more lorries and tractors instead.
Some pictures at the Entrance
Souvenir from Endau Rompin
Close up of the notice
A and D at the Park Entrance
We finally reached the entrance on the National Park, evident by the Signage in front. From my calculations, we had about 10km to go. Meaning that to reach the visitor centre, we had to drive into the jungle for another 10km. Initially, the road in seemed to be tarred. Somehow it was badly maintained and there were numberous potholes around. I was hoping that the road would get better and tried to reach further in. But the road condition remained just as bad. There were some bridges that we had to drive over too and the bridges themselves don't look too sturdy.
Road with plenty of potholes!
Wild boars sighting!
The scenary here was more "wild" and we had an interesting encounter of a family of wild boars crossing the road. I only managed to snap a distant picture of the last 2 small wild boars before they disappeared into the forest. There were also plenty of animal dungs on the road. Monkeys were swinging about on the trees as we passed along. At some places where we came out to take some pictures, we could smell the "wildness" of the area. In fact, our human scent should be quite strong to the animals around.
Aha! I recognise this bridge from someone's posting on their 4wd trip
Bridges made of wood
Right in the Jungle. Despite being on the "road"
The air smelled strange
Wow. These locals go up and down on their motorbikes!
After driving in for 2km, I saw that the road had somewhat gotten dangerous. If my car were to break down here, help would certainly be quite challenging. Furthermore, the mobile signal was not strong and at some places, there was totally no signal. From my calculations, it was yet another 8km into the dense jungle. I decided then to turn back and head for safety. I didn't want to be caught in the dark in this area.
On the way out, my car almost got stucked on a bridge. As I was driving across, something gave way and my tires lost traction for a while. Luckily for us, it found a grip and moanaged to pull itself across.
So it was with some regret, we made our way back to civilisation. We were so close but yet so far. If only the road here was in better condition, I would have been sipping endau coffee brew at the canteen there by now. Going back, we stopped at the entrance to take some pictures and then made our way out via the bumpy road again.
Haiyoh. A piling work going on. Nobody can pass!
Super muddy in my car
We went to the Kampung Mamashop to get some food
Long Jam!
Just as we were nearing the last section of the road at the place where we had to cross a river, there was some sort of piling works taking place. Because the crane was on the bridge, nothing could go in and out of the place. So, we were like caught in this massive jam while waiting for the work to complete. We were there from 3.30pm till 6.45pm before anything moved again. Worse than our legendary causeway jam. And to think that till then, we hadn't had our lunch. We were all famished. But luckily, we passed a smallish mamastore at the kampung and went there to buy some biscuit for some munching.
Barely made it out before it gets really dark
By the time we were out on the mainroad, it was already dark. Driving back to the Mersing turn-off took another hour and from there, another 2 hours to reach Terbrau City Jusco for our long overdue lunch/dinner. After stuffing ourselves, it was back home via Causeway into a Jam. But luckily, the Jam was a quick moving one, and only lasted half an hour. Then it was back home to snooze and wake up at 5.30am for another trip to the Rakit. :)
Comments
Yes, you are very near indeed! You could have spent the night at the park's accomodation at the Kahang entrance.