Gunung Reng: Mysterious Mountain Caves In Jeli, Kelantan

The Mystery Mountain

According to local folklore, Gunung Reng appeared around 1,400 years ago by a supernatural act of divine punishment. It is said that, where Gunung Reng sits was once a Jawa village, and is now buried under the mountain. The incident happened during a time when the village organized a feast that lasted for seven days and seven nights. One of the games/activities the villages did during the feast was pitting a fight between a dog and a cat. As a punishment for animal cruelty, a storm arrived during the match, bringing along Gunung Reng, which was originally located somewhere down river bordering Perak and Kelantan, 3-day walking distance away, and dropped the mountain onto the village. The incident was believed to be reported by an elderly woman and her granddaughter, who rushed back to their neighboring village during the storm to take in the paddy they had left out to dry, who were shocked when they returned to find a mountain on where the village was. The original spot of the mountain is now a lake, though it’s unclear where the lake is.

Explore Gunung Reng Caves

To go to Gunung Reng caves entrance you will drive past a mosque and enter the side road to Taman Cahaya Ibadah car park.

Situated next to a playground, the cave entrance is always open and free to explore.

Upon entering the cave, you would notice Gunung Reng is quite a hollow mountain with spacious cave chambers inside. A walkway is built from the entrance to the main cave chamber. Some stairs are installed from the main chamber to the other sub chambers for easier access (take a torch light with you).

One of the main highlights you would first notice is a unique bell-shaped cave ceiling above.

Another highlight is the large population of bats living here. You’ll hear them and see them flying / hanging on the ceilings. In the late evenings, you could watch swarms of bats flying out of the caves to feed at night.

Some photos captured in the darker parts of the caves (I don’t have a tripod for steadier / longer exposure shots).

Some special-looking mineral veins(?).

If you wish to explore deeper into the many caves, or even rock-climb to the summit of Gunung Reng, you can engage a local guide who knows the ins-and-outs of Gunung Reng’s maze of caves. Abbas Salleh is one of the top guides in the area (check out his Instagram page for amazing photos of Gunung Reng). Unfortunately for me, he was guiding a group in a forest on the day of my visit, so I could only manage to explore a small section of the caves by myself.