Highland Destination Bukit Fraser
A Journey into the Cool Hills of Malaysia

by Fida Wild

Kuala Lumpur's sweltering heat drives me out of the town. And I might just have found the place to recover - Fraser's Hill. After all, what was good for the Brits can only be right for me.

Kuala Kubu Baharu - just 8 km away from Bukit Fraser - proofs to be a bit of a hassle. The bus schedule is lax and the one-way-road up the hill is only open at odd hours. That doesn't make the journey any faster.

The bus crawls painfully slow mountain wards around hairpin curves and sounds like an asthmatic old-timer. The view though compensates for the slowness. The vegetation changes to the green bounty of the moist rain forest with moss draped trees and climber plants. I am dazzled by the mighty fern-trees.

The elephant fern (Angiopteris palmiformis) is a perennial evergreen and can reach a height up to 5m and an age of up to 300 years. Its potential healing powers range from treating boils and ulcers to arrest the discharge of blood from a miscarriage. The poultice of the fern is said to help relief coughs, and Hawaiians steep the fern in coconut oil to make it fragrant.

The small hamlet with its stone cottages resembles an English Village. It emits colonial charm and has a surprising intimate feel to it. It's surrounded by the lush Pahang rain forests and rolling hills, part of the Titiwangsa Range, that run from the Thai border all the way down to Negri Sembilan.

One feels closer to heaven, the colours are rich and intense, the contours of things feel sharper and the mist in the distant is a feast for my eyes - I instantly relax. It's crisp up here, 1524m above sea level. In fact, after the humid heat of the lowland, I shiver and dress in more and more layers, even at night, until my body adapts to it.

A Slice of Old England

Upscale Condos – an eyesore?

Fraser's Hill owes its name to a colourful character. James Louis Fraser, an adventure loving Scotsman, who, after searching for gold in Australia, found tin up here. His character is surrounded by all kinds of gossipy stories - opium and gamble are just two of them. Around 1900 he vanished without a trace.

Two clergymen sojourned up the hill in search of their friend, but without success. However, what they found was a lovely and pleasant mountain climate. Known for their love of Hill Stations, it didn't take long to convince the government, to build a summer retreat for the ever-homesick Brits.

To this day, Fraser's Hill - or Bukit Fraser - kept the colonial flavour and suffered relatively little destruction by progress and tourists. It didn't succumb - up until now - to Disney-esque changes like other hill stations. Tourists are a mix of Malayan weekenders and nature loving foreigners. Fraser's Hill has become THE destination for bird watching enthusiasts and holds a yearly competition.

Sharefah Binti Abdulah

I buy fresh fruit from Sharefah Binti Abdulah, who looks like a teenager but is actually 49. The man standing behind her doesn't lift a finger and looks more like decoration. It is her same-age husband and father of their 5 children between 3 and 18.

We take to each other instantly and I hang around a bit for a friendly chat. I ask what she misses most in her life: "I'd go to University - I'd like to have a better a job - a profession 'just for me'. Don't get me wrong - I love my children, and I wouldn't give them away for anything. But if I had had the opportunity to study, I wouldn't have 5 children." She went to school for ten years, but was denied college or any further education and says that she will do anything to make sure her children get the education they deserve.

A lucky coincidence brings me in contact with K.S. Durai - WWF Education Officer and the best nature guide in town. He's obsessed with flora and fauna but luckily attached to a great sense of humour. He invites me to join his little group of three - a WWF Media Relations Officer from Kuala Lumpur and a visiting English journalist on a mission, namely to investigate the environmental impact the newly built Golf Course has on Fraser's Hill.

A Birders and Botanists Paradise

Next morning we take off despite a drizzle, and slip and slide for the next three days through the muddy rain forest. Our light coloured summer garb soon transforms into khaki garments, a perfect camouflage for birding. Apparently, birds are sensitive to just about anything from loud colours and noises to scent and sudden movement.

Durai is in his element - he knows the world up here and his enthusiasm is infectious. He's Indian by birth, but lost the charming timbre of IndEnglish completely. Only when he's excited - which is almost always the case when in nature - he shouts an inimitable "wondrrrfull" like only Indians can do.

Mr. "Wondrrrfull" sneaks around bushes like a hunter approaching his pray. With his digit at his lips, he lets us know that we are worse than a noisy bunch of silly teenagers that have to be put in line.

Silver-eared Mesia

He shows us a playful macaques family and birds with unspeakable names. He whistles in uncountable different ways and birds answer with their joyful chirping. With whispers, he spills his encyclopedic knowledge upon us. Scimitar-Babbler (uncommon), Bamboo Woodpecker (rare), Barn Swallow (common) Siberian Rubythroat (a mistake?), Silver-eared Mesi (FH's mascot) and on and on he goes, leaves me with a brimming head.

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