A day to Remember

The Sungei Selangor rapids at Pertak will be flooded soon. The EIA report is out and closing dates for the submission of objections is set at the end of this month. There were some, MNS has raised the issue of the danger of loosing the fireflies colonies in the Selangor River estuary.

This is the road from KKB and after going through what seem to be a gorge, both sides of the road opened up to the Selangor river basin. Here is where the "Dam" will be sited and a prominent banner welcome visitors for the day.

Most NGOs had stopped public protests leaving the battle to those with vested interests.

There was this group of people who have invested in the area or having their interest within the flooded zone. A silent protest to arouse public interest and create awareness was set for this weekend. This is the background for the open day.

Facilities available were thrown open to the public to draw in the crowd.

This occasion given good coverage through the press, drew huge crowd. This was one of the registration centers at the "Tracks".

Events for the day included free white water rafting, use of the fishing ponds, rock climbing, opening up of the special mountain bike tracks, jungle trekking, garden tea party and side shows.

The issues of that day were the flooding and relocation of two "Orang Asli" villages in the valley- Kampong Gerachi and Kampong Pertak.

We decided to follow an off road track that ran parallel to Hulu Pertak to check up the terrain. In future, this track is designated and will be upgraded as the replacement portion of highland road to Fraser's Hill.

The Pertak is a beautiful river making its way down running pass around the rocks.

The village of Kampong Pertak is a level below the existing road but another level higher from where the river is flowing. From the contour of the ravine, it appeared that the lower reaches of the Hulu Pertak would be under water.

Having satisfied ourselves with Kampong Pertak, we headed to Kampong Gerachi, the village that will be imminently flooded. True enough this village lies close to the site of the proposed dam.

It’s present position in a much lower altitude, is in a basin besides the confluence of Sungei Gerachi and Sungei Selangor.

The picture on top is that of a villager hut and these are the children that play around the place.

The rafting operators had a tough day transferring the dinghies in constant rotations to please the huge crowd that has signed up for the white water.

The sample route chosen for the free ride is a safe circuit for the novices. Such arrangement dispensed with the usual long briefings needed for inexperienced hands.

After all that had being said, lack of idea in control and coordination’s led many rides to go into unthinkable directions except the true path.

What could have been a straightforward row pass the rapids turned out to be excitement and funs for the city folks!