Mount Datuk

Mount Datuk located in Kampung Batang Nyamor, Gadung about 21 km from Rembau Town and 15 km from Tampin Town. The summit of Mount Datuk reaches 2900 feet above the sea level and journey up the mountain takes about 2 hours. The summit of the mountain was once used by Dato’ Perpateh Nan Sebatang to gather Ketua-ketua Adat ( Customs Leaders ) to announce the title and name of future Dato’ Lembaga ( clan chief ) in 1372. There is a natural track going up the mountain and on any fine days visitors could enjoy the panaromic view of the Straits of Malacca.

I joined a group of student climbers from University of Teknologi Mara Lendu, Malacca on the 19th Jan 2014 to climb to the top Mount Datuk (or Dato’). The mountain is one of two in Negeri Sembilan, the other being Gunung Angsi. The drive from Malacca to the mountain foothill was about two hour at a leisurely speed of 80 km/hour. We had to drive on a narrow road cutting through rubber plantations to reach the foothill. There was this sign to welcome us. In order to climb the mountain, you need to register with the officer there and pay RM 5 only. I am told the place had undergone some major renovations late last year, so it was all nice and spruced up.

We arrive there around 2 am. We climb early in the morning because of we want to see the sunrise view from the top on mountain. The things that we need while climbing is lamp, backpack, rain cover for backpack, garbage bag plus 2 spare ones, to pack all things in and tucked in the backpack, jacket with hood and trousers, boots, trousers, long sleeved shirt, gloves, warmer style top hat, medical bag, plastic cup, utensils, stove and gas and lighters. There have 24 group members of us. After set up all of the things that we need while trekking, we start stretching and the journey at 3 am.

We are hit from the very beginning with a gradient of at least 60-70 degrees and that spells work, a lot of hard work and torture on the knees, heart and lungs. It’s always steep looking up, this goes on forever and ever. We move in a group. When there are tired, we will stop and wait until he is ok to continue climb. After about 25-30 minutes of relentless climb in the early morning, we arrive at the memorial to the communist camp where as the check point to the climber.

After 10 minutes rest at the check point, we continue the journey. There have many rocks during mountain climbing. You know you are quite near the top when you come across rocks and boulders . Nearing the top, the flora and fauna give way to huge boulders and rocks. We arrive at the top of Mount Datuk after 2 hours and 15 minutes we climb.

We make a breakfast for all of the teammates while watching the beautiful view of the sunrise in the morning. Bread and hot milo are enough to get the energy back to back down at 10 am. After 1 hour and 20 minutes, we arrive at the car park and ready to go back to Malacca with the wonderful moment we had.