Sungai Bantang Waterfall : The Hunt For An Ancient Tree & A Natural Water Slide

Sungai Bantang Waterfall is a waterfall within Sungai Bantang Recreational Forest, in the town of Bekok, near Labis. Well known for being one of the gateway to Endau-Rompin National Park, this sleepy town is also home to the refreshing Sungai Bantang Waterfall. Unlike the other waterfalls in the National Park, which requires permit application, entrance via 4wd and a 2-3 hours long hike on jungle trail, this waterfall is very accessible. Within minutes of walking distance from the car park, anyone can easily pay a visit and have a quick rendezvous with Mother Nature.


Basic amenities such as car park, recreation area, public toilets, changing rooms are also provided (although they are not properly maintained). For those who like camping, a campsite area is provided in the vicinity of this amenity forest.

More about my trip to Endau-Rompin National Park here

Since it was very close to the National Park, we decided to drop by after our trip to the National Park. The waterfall itself wasn’t attractive enough to garner a visit just for it alone, but if you are visiting the National Park, a quick stopover like we did is more than enough. So, read on if you would like to know more!

How To Get There

The recreational forest is about 10min away from Bekok Railway station and the registration office of Endau-Rompin National Park (Selai Office). As we completed our check out process at the registration office, we once again hopped onto Kenny’s 4wd and headed towards the recreational forest. For more stories about my camping trip in Endau-Rompin National Park, read: link

4wd ride :)

For those who are driving from JB or KL, exit Yong Peng from the North South Highway, then turn left towards Yong Peng and continue staying on route 1 heading north. You will pass by Yong Peng town and subsequently another town called Chaah. After passing Chaah, travel for another 3km and lookout for signboard turning right towards “Bekok”. Once in Bekok, look for the following address:

Alternatively, you may also take the KTM trains to Bekok. The train travels direct (northbound) from JB, but a transit at Gemas is required for those travelling southbound from the north (i.e. Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Penang, Padang Besar).

A crowded “marketplace”

It was a Sunday morning when we visited, and oh boy, this place is crowded! There were people all over the place, having picnics at every corner. With the place being so easily accessible with minimal fitness needed, it is not a surprise that the place became a marketplace on weekends. The whole area is quite spacious, suitable for picnic and there are even several gazebos around if visitors would prefer some shelter.

Crossed the stream to get to the other side, in search of an ancient tree

The crowd is mostly scattered around the area surrounding the stream and once we crossed over to the other side, and ventured deeper into the jungle to the waterfalls, the crowd thinned out. But still, this is not your typical hidden gem find, so don’t expect to have the whole place to yourselves.

Ancient Tree

They say it's 1000-year old

Within the Recreational Forest, there are also many large, thousand-year-old trees, but one particular tree stood out among the rest. Our first stop of the day was to hunt for this tree. From the trail head, we walked for a short distance, until we came upon a shallow stream, and after crossing it, we took a left turn into the jungle and hike for a couple of minutes, and viola! The tree is found.

Ancient 100-year old tree found

Group photo

There isn’t a clear pathway, so it’s best to go with someone who know the way, and as in our case, Kenny had been here numerous times, and he knows his way around this area. Without him, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to find my way here, as there were plenty of diverging trails.

Water Slide

The highlight of the trip that day was none other than the sliding down the waterfall. Besides Kenny, Yong also frequently visits this waterfall as it is not too far away from Segamat, where he stays. I was a little hesitant to slide down at first, as I couldn’t swim, but after seeing how much fun the boys were having, I decided to give it a try.

Tagged along for a slide down the waterfall

I tagged with Yong for my first slide, but later did a solo and another group slide with the rest. It was really fun to be sliding down the waterfall and since the water level of the pool was low enough, it’s pretty safe actually. However, one still have to be careful with the landing so not to hit the surrounding rocks. As I was kinda light, I ended up the furthest in the pool and my head could almost hit the big rock ahead of me. Thankfully, I was quick enough to block with my hands, and all is well.

It doesn’t always cost an arm and a leg to have fun. Certain things in life are free yet extremely fun

Another thing to note is that wearing long pants is more advisable as the direct contact with your butt and thigh may not be too pleasant and the abrasion may be hurtful to some. I find it bearable for a couple of rounds, but I knew I would enjoyed better and would have even gone for more rounds if I wore my long hiking pants that day.

Here’s some of the videos they took that day. 

Shower Facilities – Worst I’ve Seen of A Recreational Forest

We didn’t too much time in the waterfalls as we needed to drive for 2-3 hours to reach JB, so we left by lunch time and hiked out to the trail head, headed to our car, grabbed our clothes and shower gels, and off we went to the public toilet. What greeted me there was the worst toilet I’ve ever seen in a recreational forest. The place is dark and smelly with no lights, and there are algae everywhere. Luckily, there is an open shower area outside, so I ended up showering with my clothes on while some Malay folks were looking at me with this disapproving look. I made sure to do it quite since I understand some may not like seeing a girl washing up wide in the open. Once I was done, I headed inside to change. With the condition of the toilet interior, I did it in a flash of lights.

Lunch at Yong Peng

After leaving the recreational forest, we drove to Kedai Kopi Tong Heng for the famous Deep-Fried Kway Teow, a local specialty in Bekok. However, much to our dismay, the place is only open at 5pm. We then decided to drive to Yong Peng for lunch instead.

Here’s the Restaurant’s info if you would like to try this local specialty shall you ever visit Bekok:

Kedai Kopi Tong Heng 

Address: No. 47 , Jalan Station 86500 , Bekok Johor

Operating Hours: 5pm-11pm, close on Monday

If Plan A doesn’t work, there are 26 other alphabets to choose from

In the end, we stopped by Restaurant Zai Fatt, Yong Peng for late lunch, before continuing our journey back to JB and Singapore.

Group photo. Finally one that is complete

Dishes we ordered that day. Not bad :)

再发餐馆

Address: Jalan Besar, Taman Sembrong, 83700 Yong Peng, Johor, Malaysia

Operating Hours: unknown

Epilogue

Overall, I had a great time in the waterfall, and the water slide was indeed the highlight of the entire recreational forest, at least to me. Apart from that, I really don’t see myself returning to this place. It’s too crowded with people and I am not particularly good with big crowds. Besides, the facilities here are poorly maintained, as I have highlighted above about the public toilet. There was also garbage all over the campsite where campers and visitors just simply discarding their food waste around, and the stray dogs and wild monkeys only made things worse by scavenging through them. This will certainly attract rats and it’s really not a good sign in the long run.

Hopefully, the forest department would do something about this. With proper maintenance, the place could further boost the tourism in that area, and increased tourism is always a good thing for the economy, even though I’d always like to stay away from over touristy place. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Thanks for reading-