Visiting two waterfalls at Gunung Kanyi - 09.11.22

Went with a small group of friends to Mount Kanyi near Sematan last weekend. This mountain is situated far west of Kuching, near the western tip of Sarawak. It is part of the Pueh range, about half of which is in Indonesian Kalimantan. We visited two waterfalls here, the second one has been dammed up to create a reservoir which supplies drinking water to surrounding villages.

See also:
Orchids and other plants of Gunung Kanyi (09.11.22)
Youtube videos:
Gunung Kanyi 09.11.22 playlist
More photos:
Flickr photoset (click here)



Click for larger image. Google Earth image of western Sarawak (looking northwest). The Gading National Park mountains can be seen on the lower right, containing three peaks all below 1000m. The Pueh range is much larger and the Indonesia-Malaysia border cuts across the highest points. 


GE image. Looking south. The highest point on this range is about 1570 meters above sea level and is directly above the top most white flag.


To view notes on the map, please click here.




Topo map of Gunung Kanyi. The highest point is 1570m and is about 4.5km as the crow flies, from the top waterfall.


As always, Kolo Mee breakfast. Quick, cheap and easy, and all that fat and calories quickly burned off during our hikes. This was at a kopitiam in Batu Kawa.


We began by walking about 2km from a small village along this dirt road to the foot of the mountain.


There is a mini hydro-electric station nearby, maintained by SESCO.


The trail up this slope is very slippery. Watch out for loose soil. Though not apparent in the picture, the gradient is pretty steep.


That’s the Gading park mountains to the north. The surrounding valleys have been turned into farm lands, mono culture plantations (acacia and oil palm).


Slash and burn farming. Hill paddy planted after an area had been cleared and burned. Many of the small trees (secondary forest) died and ferns quickly covered the unplanted areas.


One of the waterfalls we visited.


Note the broken concrete slabs.


The steps here are not maintained and there are broken pieces of wood everywhere.


Pieces of a bee hive. Hives are collected for the honey.


West waterfall – dammed up to create a reservoir which supplies drinking water to nearby villages.


The waterfall flows over granitic rocks.


West waterfall and reservoir.


Water cascades at the west waterfall.


Dam and reservoir.




Yes, there are BSIs here too. Brainless Selfish Idiots.


East waterfall or waterfall number 1. After visiting the west waterfall, we trekked to the east one which is where picnickers and swimmers gather. This waterfall is a multi-tiered fall starting from far up the mountain. The West one is not for swimming as it supplies drinking water.


East waterfall.


The water flows down this rocky river into a large pool further down.


When we arrived here, the air was very smoky because there was a large group further up barbequing. The source of the smoke can be seen behind the trees just above the two people in this photo.


We returned to the small village after taking some photos at Waterfall 1. On our way back along the dirt road, it started to rain. Being so close to a high mountain range, intermittent rainfall is normal and expected. So we would put on ponchos or raincoats only to have the rain stop shortly after. However, when we got to the village, the rain started to pour heavily! It was as if the skies had been waiting patiently for us to reach some shelter before dumping all that water down.

We waited for a bit then made our way back to Kuching. We’ll be back for sure, next time we intend to go all the way to the summit.

There are more places to explore here, including, from what I heard anyway, an abandoned WWII camp said to be haunted. Spooky!

Don’t forget to see the related posts (links at start of page).