I get to know about Hose Mountain when I was searching in YouTube on the mountain expedition in Borneo, and saw one of the search results are "Hose Mountain Expedition" it was a documentary by Mr Stewart McPherson, he has his own expedition company called Redfern Natural History Productions. I actually follow his work few year ago on the pitcher plant of Borneo. He had travel to many parts of Sarawak, Sabah, Borneo than any other local does.
It trigger my curiosity to search where is this mountain located, so I start to dig deeper, and later found out that it was in Kapit, Sarawak.
The town of Kapit is currently difficult to access by land, and the only easy way in is by boat. I start to collect information on how to get there, where to stay, and who to contact. It took me quite sometime to collect all the information, I'm very lucky that I get to know a few people who been there before, and manage to collect some valuable information from them.
Read on my Part 1 of my Hose Moutain Exploration Post here. (click to read)
I continue on trying to collect more information about this area, and notice that there is a Waterfall, a tall one!!! They called it The Pancur Gelanggang Waterfall.
Fast forward today, I'm finally on my way to the waterfall. Our journey starts at about 8am in the morning, where we wait for a guide to bring us there.
We need to use a 4WD to get there, its about 14 km away form the village I stayed, and took us about 36 mins to reach the trail head.
As I remember my host Mr Killau told me that no one had been there few years ago, and the nature had claim back their places, and he was right. After we start to trek, some of the grass are taller than us. And my poor guide clearing the way for us with his parang knife.
This is an abandon logging trail, many years back, it was a wide open logging road which lead all the way close to the base of the waterfall.
During our hike, its was drizzling, and it gets heavier over time. I was thinking to myself, there goes my chance to fly my drone over the waterfall.
The guide lead the way, follow by Loong, Me, my little hiking buddy Mr Anson. At the back we have my team leader Sui Chin, his wife, our driver, and our guide's wife also joined on this fun trip. 😊
Just as we reached to a wide open space, our guide point to the front with his parang and told us the waterfall is just in front 😮 He told me that there are still a few waterfall at that area, and he ever climbed to an even higher waterfall, that time he did not bring any rope, so he used the rattan as rope, and slowly climb to the very top of that waterfall. Its very danger, but worth the climb.
There is a basin area where multiple fall combine into one 😄 this gets me very exited to explore more and to get to that place he told me.
As the fog slowly fade away, I quickly took a picture of the Gelanggang waterfall. As told by my host Mr Killau that we only need 1 hour to reach the waterfall 😓 from my experience with all the guides, first, they seldom keep track of their time while hiking, their form of keeping a record of time is alwaya "agak agak" and second, the pace of their one hour are maybe a few time faster than ours pace.
Up until this point, we have already hike for almost 2 1/2 hours, and we are yet to reach our destination. This concern me, as we still need to get back to our homestay, and then get back to Kapit using the 4WD. And the road its not safe at all if drive at night. Should I call off my exploration? But I've always want to reach that waterfall...
Art of Nature
The vegetation are getting ticker and we only manage to move 2 - 3 meter after a 20 mins of clearing by our guide.
3 hours had passed, and we are still yet to reach. From this point, I was thinking which one are more important, getting lots of nice image to share on social media to earn likes, or the safety of my driver and team. After much consideration, I suggesting to turn back to my team and they all agree. I am worry that we will not have enough time to go back to our homestay and then continue to Kapit town again, as the logging road are very danger and dark to drive at night, and its a long long way to Kapit.
So while turning back, its time for my Mavic to do his job. I boot up my drone, and fly towards the waterfall direction.
Unfortunately the top part of the waterfall are covered by fog, after my drone reached the waterfall. The distance reading in my drone controller its about 1.8 km, which means we still have about 2km to go until we reach the Gelanggang fall.
Without further ado, lets enjoy this breath taking waterfall in still image.
THE PANCUR GELANGGANG WATERFALL in the SOUTHERN HOSE MOUNTAIN, ULU KAPIT
From the reading of my drone controller, the height of my drone that time was about 400 meter from ground, and my drone are yet reached the top of the waterfall 😲 I am really amaze by the height of this waterfall. Its different from the Julan Waterfall, as Julan Fall is a single drop, where this Gelanggang is like a fan shapr, drizzling down its water from above. Amazing and beautiful!!!
This is the treasure of Sarawak, Borneo, its not gold, its not silver, but its the nature, the flora and fauna.
And this is the joy of an exploration its with a team that shares the same interest, and care for each other. Till we meet again my dear Gelanggang waterfall, you will be miss 😘 our next trip here, we will be more prepare.
A big thanks to our driver Charles Killau (the son of my host Mr Killau) for driving us here. We've enjoy the trip very much, and our guide and his wife (at the back of the 4WD) for guide us to this wonderful place.
READ THE COMPLETE STORY HERE
Hose Mountain - Kuching Sibu Kapit Tunoh Mabong (Post 1 of 2)
Hose Mountain - Pancur Gelanggang Waterfall (Post 2 of 2)
