On 18-8-2005 an article was posted in one of the Malsingmaps forums about an unknown waterfall near Tanjung Malim.A GPS tracklog and waypoints were given for this Strata Waterfall. Of course that was a challenge for a waterfall hunter like me! My first chance came during a birding trip with the Gang of Four to Tg Malim. Khong and I found some time to explore the trail head until a stream crossing. Many trails in this neglected palm oil plantation, so the tracklog was very useful.
The first real attempt was on 13-12-2005, with Aric

Just past Proton City, a small road leads to the Diamond Creek Resort.

The resort was meant to be an up-market one, but is a failure with most bungalows empty. The friendly security guards gave us permission to proceed.

The trail head starts at the end of the resort.

Even with the tracklog and a GPS, finding our way was not always easy. After about 1.6 km of trail we came at a junction where the right trail went down to the river. We considered following the stream from here, but finally decided to follow the left trail. This trail went up the slope, crossed a few tributaries and finally seemed to end at a small waterfall from a major tributary. It had started to rain and there was no trace of a trail on the other side of this stream, so we turned back.

This was the stream crossing where Khong and I had turned back during our recce.

Here we thought it should be possible to follow the river, but finally we decided for the trail.

A nice waterfall. The trail is supposed to continue after crossing the stream, but we could not find any traces.

Although we did not reach our destination, we enjoyed the trip. Butterflies, fungi, tree fruits. It was clear that not many people ventured this far.

A beautiful butterfly, the Papilio Helenus, looking for salt in our sweaty shirts and shoes.

We did not try to find out if these fruits were edible.

A fungus, belonging to the Trametes species

A third attempt, with Edward, was not very successful. This time we managed to scramble up at the other side of the small fall and found that indeed a vague trail continued uphill. But we had not enough time to explore.
On 6-1-2006 I tried my luck again, this time with Paul and Rahim. The guard welcomed me as an old friend, he must have been surprised why I came back so often. Without problems we arrived at the, by now familiar, small waterfall. But when we continued, after a short rest, I could not find my GPS! At the time I thought it had fallen in the water. That was bad luck, we had to find the way ourselves now. Actually that turned out to be not too difficult. The trail followed the left slope high above the river. At one point the sound of water was so loud that we decided to scramble down.
Waterfall found! But was it the Strata Fall?

Our first view of the lower fall.

A closer look.

The upper tiers of the fall.

Another view of the upper falls

Before going back, we took a refreshing bath in the huge pool of the lower fall.

After the falls, the river continued its way downstream.

On the way back we almost got lost, but thanks to Rahim we found our way back. It was a nice trip, but was it the Strata Fall? Back home, a big surprise. My GPS was not lost in the stream, but it had found its way to the bottom of my backpack! And it had been working until the batteries gave up, long enough to take the location of the falls. Second surprise, it was clear that we had overshot our destination by a few hundred meters! We had to come back one more time to conquer this elusive Strata Fall.

The trail to the falls. The bridge (first attempt) has been marked, and also the stream from where it might be possible to follow the river itself. The second and third attempt ended at the small waterfall. It is clear that we overshot our mark....

The Strata Fall Grand Finale