Cendarawasih Off-Road

14-17 Sept 07

10 landrovers departed Singapore in the wee hours of the morning for 4 days of adventure and off-roading in the jungles of Malaysia. The expedition took a total of 610km for the 4 day journey, quite short compared to previous expeditions we have been on.

The journey north took us on the North-south highway till the Yong Peng exit, after which we took the federal highway 1 to Segamat. After an early lunch, we set off the remaining 1 hour journey to Cendarawasih on highway 12 where we met up with our guides at the plantation turn off.

The initial half hour drive was through an oil palm plantation. The plantation then gave way to an old logging trail. After about 2 hours, we came to our campsite, a nice open area just next to a flowing river. This was to be our base for the next 3 nights. This trip was different in that each day was spent moving out from the base camp along the path, tackling different obstacles and learning how to do it right. This included clearing of fallen trees, bridge building, driving over gulleys and bypasses. There was lessons on spotting and hand signals and winching techniques.

The weather was hot and humid with the rain on the 2nd day making the trail all the more muddy and tricky. Through this, we learnt about the limitations of the truck and our driving skills and learnt as much as we can to improve ourselves in the outdoors. Obstacles we encountered were quite tough with log bridges no wider than the width of the tires, log steps, V gulleys with an angle of 60 degrees at the bottom of the V, ensuring that every truck had a bent rear bumper or 2

Some details of the trip below:

2nd Link
Turn off at Yong Peng Exit: Toll 10.70 RM
Highway 1 to Segamat Town
Highway 12 to plantation turn off
Turn Off to Campsite
N 02 48.243'
E 102 56.717'

Campsite:
N 02 44.903'
E 103 07.601'

Total distance 610km