By ELWEEN LOKE
WITH garbage bags in hand, they thronged the Lata Kinjang waterfall.
The recent outing to the waterfall was hardly a picnic for a group of waterfall lovers who call themselves the Waterfall Survivors.
Having travelled from all over Perak and Kuala Lumpur, they were at the popular tourist spot located 7km from Chenderiang, Tapah, to give it a sprucing up.
While picnickers were enjoying the beauty of the waterfalls, with its crystal-clear waters cascading down from a height of 850m, the 210 volunteers had the not-so-enjoyable task of picking up garbage around the hillslopes.
Event organiser Royyie Ling said the gotong-royong, which was co-organised by Ministry of Tourism Malaysia in Perak and supervised by Larut Matang Forestry Department officers, was the volunteers’ way of giving back to Mother Nature.
“This activity is being carried out in our bid to restore some of the natural state of the Lata Kinjang waterfall.
“It is part of our ‘Save Our Waterfalls’ campaign, which we have so far conducted in Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Pahang,” said Ling.
The gotong-royong at Lata Kinjang, she added, was the last of the group’s activities for the year.
“We look forward to organising more activities such as this to raise public awareness of the existence of such beautiful waterfalls in our country,” she said.
Ling added that the Waterfall Survivors, which has about 8,000 registered members on Facebook, had left its footprints at over 100 waterfalls in the country.
Commending the group for their hard work, state Tourism Ministry office director Syahruddin Abdul Hamid said the Ministry appreciated the group’s efforts in keeping the country’s waterfalls clean.
“This is in line with our 1Malaysia Green, 1Malaysia Clean campaign,” he said.
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children." -Haida Proverb Waterfalls are beautiful but extremely DANGEROUS. Only attempt with experience guides.Take Nothing but photographs, Leave Nothing but Footprints