14 of us attended the clean-up job ala garbage collection. The (secret) event on 20th April was created (exactly) one month before, following a number of hikers who have volunteered to assist with the rubbish management exercise. All those who had expressly indicated their willingness to volunteer were the first batch brought into the invite.
The T-FE peak was littered with rubbish of all sorts – scattered everywhere, at the peak and slopes from the peak; needless to say, it was pure eyesore. My not-up-to-par videography of the rubbish (https://www.facebook.com/groups/MOTHSgroup/permalink/10151954524131681/) at the site during my recce with Ho Chiu Wah on 9th March reveals the mentality of those hikers and trekkers with lack of regards for nature’s beauty. The T-FE/T-X (Tabur ‘Extreme’) junction on the ridge also suffered the same.
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| In the beginning - loads of rubbish |
The clean-up was not only just the collection. We developed ‘notices’ to be placed at the strategic locations where hikers can see them, and abide by them, we hope. The intention was rather one of education, not activity alone. It is to spread the message of “leave no trace”, where we hope the same message spreads all over.
As usual, I began my briefing that includes a general description of the Klang Gates Quartz Ridge, the kind of terrains we were expected to encounter, the safety aspects and on how and where we will perform the tasks.
Before we enter into the forest, we had one group shot, where everyone looked fresh and ready-to-go!
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| Group photo at 'secret garden' |
While rubbish collection was in progress, some helped out in tying the notice to the trees. Thick raffia string was used, and it is expected it will erode over time and snap; so whoever see the notice on the ground in their trip there, please help to put it back up. TQ!
Our efforts were extended to collecting rubbish at treacherous slopes. Dee Lu brought the necessary climbing equipment for this purpose.
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| Dee Lu abseils |
As a bonus, with the weather that looked perfect at the beginning, I decided that we could do a ‘secret’ trip after the collection, right after a revisit to a special somewhere. Some parts of our trip are highly risky spots and there was no room for error. Teamwork was great to ensure everyone traversed across safely. In this shot, crossing the gap with this slim boulder was really challenging.
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| Negotiating the gaps between boulders |
This was the last stop before turning back – Tabur East cliff.
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| View of Tabur cliffs |
We could not proceed to secret location; halfway, heavy rain and we were still touching the sky! Lucky for us, there was no lightning. Heading back the where we started, we grabbed our rubbish bags along. Mists quickly formed after the short bout of rain. We were soaked!
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| Moderate heavy rain - view of Tabur Extreme across |
We took shelter at this incomplete hut until the rain got lighter. After that, we were back at Deen’s to have a drink.
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| Taking shelter from the rain |
I and Chiu Wah would like to personally thank the folks for the job well done! Thanks to Dee Lu for her climbing equipment and to Chun Yeet for his off-the-scene help in preparing the notice slides.
To comment, head over to original posting in FB: https://www.facebook.com/notes/jimmy-oddstuff/completed-project-clean-up-at-bukit-tabur-far-east-t-fe/10152017946991434
