Kuala Kubu Bharu is undoubtedly well known for its outdoor activities. Just at the KKB Waterfalls entrance itself, shares the starting point to many popular hiking spots such as Bukit Kutu, Gunung Rajah, Lata Makau, and of course, Lata Medang (these trails require permits to be applied in advance).
Even if you don’t have a permit for the above hiking spots, you can still enjoy chilling by the river of Sungai Pertak just a few meters from the inner parking area.
How to apply permit for Lata Medang / Lata Makau / Bukit Kutu / Gunung Rajah via KKB
First, you may download the standardized forest permit application form for Selangor here. To apply, fill up the form and then either email it to phdhuluselangor@yahoo.com, or print them out in three copies and do a walk-in submission and payment at Pejabat Hutan Daerah Hulu Selangor. For the email method, once they reply to you with the approval, you will still need to make the payment either through counter walk-in, or by sending money through bank draft or postal order (wang pos).
Before your hike, you need to submit a copy of your permit to Kuala Kubu Bharu Police Station. You may do it early in the morning before your hike, as this police station opens 24 hours every day.
Detailed guide on hiking permit applications here.
Lata Medang Hiking Guide
Tapak Berkelah Sungai Pertak
Just like the hike to Kutu Hill and Mount Rajah via KKB, set your driving location to Tapak Berkelah Sungai Pertak. You will pass through an Orang Asli village and just before the entrance, there will be a post where the Orang Asli would be collecting a fee of RM1 per pax to enter. I am not sure if this fee collection is authorized but since the area is being taken care of by them, I think it is pretty justifiable. After making your payment, drive right in and you will find a parking area just by the river. During crowded times, you may have to park at the spacious Bukit Kutu Parking field just to the left of the Orang Asli’s post.
On a side note, since I will pass by Kuala Kubu Bharu town for my hikes here, my all time favorite breakfast spot is Uncle Mark Wan Tan Mee for their curry noodles and wan tan mee. The shop opens early in the morning at 6am.
I also like to grab some amazing vadai from Nagu Curry House if it’s past 8am, to be eaten by the waterfall halfway through my hikes.
Just a few meters down the parking area is the beautiful river and rapids of Sungai Pertak. Here is where you can chill and take a swim if you do not have a hiking permit.
This river looks different from time to time, depending on the rainfalls. Both pictures above were taken at the same place but on a different day. The water is nice and clear during dry seasons, but murky when there are rainfalls on the mountains.
8.07am: To start your hike to Lata Medang, Kutu Hill or Mount Rajah, walk along the road from the parking area above the river site.
(+4)8.11am: The road takes you to the first stream crossing bridge.
(+1)8.12am: Cross the first bridge and follow along the trail.
(+8)8.20am: You will then reach the second river crossing bridge that has partially collapsed and stayed that way for a long time but is still usable.
This photo was taken on another day when the water level had risen. As you can see, the lowest section of the bridge was submerged in the water. There are some wooden blocks beneath to aid you getting a better foothold to carefully cross the river.
Trailheads to Lata Medang / Bukit Kutu
(+5)8.25am: After crossing the second bridge, is the trailhead junction to various hiking destinations. Keep to the left to Lata Medang, Lata Makau and Gunung Rajah. For Bukit Kutu, turn right. (Although by turning right here you still get to turn left on the trail ahead to Lata Medang and Gunung Rajah, but it is still easier to just keep to the left from here.)
Shortly after heading left, you may notice one small trailhead on the left side. It is a path opened by Orang Asli to their place, just ignore that and follow the main trail ahead.
It is highly recommended to download apps such as Outdooractive to find the correct trails and to know where you are (it works offline). From this map you can see the clear directions to Bukit Kutu, Gunung Rajah, and Lata Medang.
(+16)8.41am: Walking along the trail, a river will be on the left side. We passed by several campsites by the river, maintained by the local Orang Asli. These are some out of bounds areas, only accessible if you book the place with them. Here are some contacts I found along the trail (ordered from downriver to upriver): Air Luit Perak Camp – +6019 203 5687; Lata Jebus Ayah Eden (RM3 per pax, RM20 per tent, RM35 per family tent) – +6011 1933 4231; No name site (RM25 per tent) – +6013 759 4133; Ayah Lehe (RM30 per tent, RM1 per pax) – +6019 689 6301.
Trails to Lata Medang / Gunung Rajah
(+15)8.56am: Finally at this split path, turn to the right to Lata Medang. Going straight ahead will take you to Lata Makau and Gunung Rajah.
The Lata Medang trail looked like a wide dirt bike road at first, and slowly turned into a nicer hiking trail.
(+45)9.41am: A couple mini steep and slippery parts of the trail where we had to use our hands to climb up and slide down.
(+2)9.47am: Passing by an open area by a slope with fallen trees.
(+5)9.52am: Crossing a mini stream.
Lubuk Mercu
(+20)10.12am: After 2 hours of hiking, we first turned right at a split path near the waterfalls and reached Lubuk Mercu.
People often mistake this spot as Lata Medang and stop here without further exploring the path ahead.
Closeup shots of Lubuk Mercu waterfall. Due to its sandy riverbed, the water is deeper near the falls.
We knew there were two paths we could take to reach Lata Medang from Lubuk Mercu. The easiest way is to head back to the split path and take another trail. Another less used trail is to cross over to the opposite bank of the river at Lubuk Mercu. We decided to take the less traveled path and crossed the river. However, the trail was densely covered by the bushes and we rushed back to Lubuk Mercu due to the many large hungry leeches there. (Oh yeah, we encountered some leeches along the trails starting from the Lata Medang – Gunung Rajah junction.)
10.42am: So, we had no choice but to take the beaten path towards Lata Medang.
Lata Medang Waterfall
(+5)10.47am: It was just a short 5 minutes walk from Lubuk Mercu to Lata Medang.
There was a rock right in front of the waterfall, a nice place to sit and enjoy looking at the waterfall. Also, many people thought that this was the last checkpoint, but this is just the lower part of Lata Medang waterfall. To reach the upper fall, just head back up to where you came down before the fall, and follow the narrow bushy uphill trail on the left side of the fall.
Within a minute or two, we reached the upper part of Lata Medang Fall.
Although close to the strong current of the waterfall, the water here was surprisingly shallow, thanks to the rocky floor on this level.
We were quickly greeted by a bunch of local dogs who followed an earlier group of hikers who were still enjoying the waterfalls.
They are usually there to ‘escort’ hikers in exchange for food and like to get petted. Try petting one and a few more will rush to you to get some.
It reminds me of the bunch of playful puppies I met at the entrance one year ago. I wondered if any of them are part of this pack of teen dogs now.
In the end, two of the dogs decided to escort us on our way back, while the others stayed by the other group of hikers. They usually ran ahead of us and waited patiently for us to catch up, sometimes sniffing and digging some herbs. One time they even ran off the trail to bark at some wild boars, driving the boars away before joining us back on the trail.
结语
The hike to Lata Medang typically takes about 2 hours up, and around 1½ hours back. Expect to encounter some leeches along the trail starting from the junction of Lata Medang trail and Mount Rajah trail. Crowds are expected during weekends. And as always, remember to apply for your permit in advance.
On the way back to Kuala Kubu Bharu town for lunch, we stopped by Selangor River Dam Viewpoint for the view.
We then had lunch at Nagu Curry House for their nasi briyani and mixed dishes.
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Great written article, Thank You for the superb sharing
Hike Kutu b4 but yet to visit this magnificent waterfall
Thanks for the comment, Abduh. You should visit these falls 😀
Thank you so much for your review.helps a lot!!!
hi, may i know if you have lata medang gpx?
Hi, I don’t have the gpx file. If you refer to the open maps (eg. Outdooractive / Mapcarta) the route is already there to follow, some have gpx for download too.