When my friend suggested we visit Genting Highlands for a RM20 hike, I was dubious but curious. And we weren’t disappointed. From KL, it took us an hour to arrive at Resorts World Awana, where we met with guide Eddie. It’s pretty surreal to visit Genting Highlands and not be surrounded by massive concrete buildings.
After a safety briefing by hiking guide Eddie Chan, we were off about 8.45am for our 8km hike. They don’t usually start so early, due to safety reasons. A typical hike briefing would start at 9.15am, and last hiker in would be at 3pm. We stopped frequently to listen to Eddie enumerating his love of the area, so I would say the hike was not overly challenging for our hiking mummy group.
A guide with love for nature
Eddie is a very knowledgeable guide with lots of passion, pointing out the various flora and talking about the fauna, the future plans for Genting Highlands and the need to sustain the biodiversity. Genting Highlands has many flora and fauna species endemic just to this area. It was quite an eye opener. “Preserving, protecting and promoting the biodiversity assents of Genting Highlands”, is the slogan he uses for each of his FaceBook posts.
Around the resort there are 40 siamang and gibbon families and you can often see them near the buildings, letting tourists get uncommonly close to them. We saw a cobra lily which was very interesting, many types of yam, felled trees due to the heavy downpour and erosion and lots of butterflies.
There are now 24 different trails; mountain walks and hikes at varying degrees of elevation from 3000-6000 feet above sea level. It’s private land, so they conduct walks strictly by guide to preserve the forest.
A well deserved lunch
We were back at the club house by 12pm. We opted to head down to the nearby town to sample the local fare. There are lots of restaurants there, and we tried Resto 126 where they served the special (mouth watering) crispy pork belly. The other dishes were equally yums. We got off the mountain before 1pm, and arrived home by 1.45pm.
For those keen to see pitcher plants endemic to Genting Highlands, please check out the Mossy Forest Trail; about 500 meters of a curated walkway and perfect for kids. The tallest pitcher plant they have measures 17.5 inches! They also have the easy Awana Trail, part way round the golf course and about 2.2 km. This trail is family friendly, wheelchair and pram friendly with a wheelchair friendly toilet facility. More info here.
Useful info
- Ensure you have a minimum of five persons in your group and contact Eddie two days before you go, to find out if the hike is still on.
- The rating of this hike is about 7/10. There are some steep bits and some tricky parts over the river, but you’re going slow going, so it is not taxing.
- This trail would be ok for active kids over 10 years of age.
- At the time of writing, price has now increased to RM50 for the Clearwater hike.
- Please refer to Resorts World Awana and call them on 03-6436 9000.
- You can also contact Eddie Chan directly on 013 399 3667. Have a look here at his FB page.
Would you like to know what else you can do in Genting Highlands? Have a look here at our tips!
