06/09/2026
3D2N Sungai Lobang Waterfall Expedition
Three Years From a Satellite Image to Standing Beneath It
Some expeditions begin on the day you put on your backpack.
This one began three years ago.
About three years ago, while studying Google satellite imagery, I noticed something deep in the interior that caught my attention — Sungai Lobang Waterfall.
From that moment, the waterfall stayed in my mind.
In 2024 during our Jamo trip, and again in 2025 during the Pegurap trip, I took the opportunity to survey possible approaches into the area. These weren't serious attempts to reach Sungai Lobang yet, but each trip helped me understand the terrain a little better.
Then, during our previous Long Urun expedition — our first expedition into this area — the waterfall suddenly became much more real.
While passing a plantation watchtower, we could actually see a huge waterfall far away in the mountains.
I checked the map.
There it was. Sungai Lobang Waterfall.
The locals knew about it too. The waterfall is so large that it can be seen from far away.
But seeing a waterfall and reaching it are two completely different things.
For three years, it had existed first as something I discovered on a satellite image, then as a distant waterfall on the mountainside.
Now it was time to find out if we could actually stand beneath it.
The Journey Begins
One day before the expedition, we left Kuching at 4 am.
After a 12-hour journey, we finally reached Batu Kalung Homestay at around 4 pm.
We rested, reorganised our equipment and prepared for the next morning.
After three years of studying maps, surveying possible routes and finally seeing Sungai Lobang with our own eyes from a distance...
Tomorrow, we were going in.
Day 1 — Into the Jungle
13.06 km | 9h 48min | +832 m
The next morning, we drove another 1 hour 30 minutes from Batu Kalung Homestay to our starting point.
Then the real work began.
There was no proper trail for much of the route.
We had to find our own line through the jungle, cutting and clearing vegetation as we moved forward.
When there is already a trail, you just walk.
When there isn't one, every section becomes a decision.
Which direction?
Can we get through here?
Is there a better line?
Cut. Clear. Check the direction. Move again.
And Day 1 was hot.
Under the sun, opening a route through thick vegetation made progress even slower.
After almost 10 hours and 13.06 km, we finally reached our campsite.
From there, Sungai Lobang Waterfall looked surprisingly near on the map.
That was when the map fooled us.
A straight line on a screen doesn't show you what's actually standing between two points.
We were about to find that out.
Day 2 — The Monster Day
15.41 km | 13h 11min | +880 m
We left camp at around 8 am.
The first 3–4 km took us through thick jungle before we reached a steep downhill towards the main Sungai Lobang river.
Once we reached the river, things initially looked quite promising.
The river was wide and relatively flat.
After fighting through the jungle, it almost looked easy.
Almost.
We started following Sungai Lobang upstream towards the waterfall — roughly another 5 km of river trekking.
And slowly, the river began to change.
The rocks became bigger.
Then bigger again.
Walking became scrambling.
And eventually...
river trekking became rock climbing.
Some sections required hands and feet. We squeezed between enormous boulders, climbed through gaps and crossed sections of water while constantly looking for the safest line forward.
This was where everyone became very focused.
One wrong step among those rocks could have consequences.
Funny enough, the big rocks weren't where we kept falling.
When the terrain was difficult, everyone was alert.
Then we reached the flatter, easier sections, relaxed our concentration...
and that's where all of us managed to fall down.
The closer we got, the more dramatic the terrain became.
Eventually we caught our first proper glimpse of the waterfall through the huge rocks.
There it was.
After three years of seeing it on satellite imagery, studying possible routes and looking at it from far away...
Sungai Lobang Waterfall was finally right in front of us.
But seeing it didn't mean we had arrived.
There were still giant boulders between us and the waterfall.
So we kept climbing.
At around 3 pm, we finally reached it.
Standing Beneath Sungai Lobang
This was the moment.
The team started taking photos and videos. Some went for a dip in the pool.
For a while, we could simply enjoy being there.
For me, there was something more behind that moment.
Three years earlier, this waterfall had been something that caught my attention while studying a satellite image.
Then I saw it from far away.
Now I was standing beneath it.
Mission accomplished.
But unfortunately... reaching the waterfall wasn't the end of Day 2.
We still had to get back to camp.
And it was already around 3 pm.
The Long Way Back
Everything we had crossed on the way in was waiting for us again.
The giant boulders.
The river.
The jungle.
And the steep section we had descended earlier now had to be climbed.
Except this time, we were doing it with tired legs.
Hour after hour, we retraced our route.
Daylight disappeared, but we still had to keep moving.
By the time we finally made it back to camp, we had covered 15.41 km in 13 hours 11 minutes with 880 m of ascent.
On paper, 15 km doesn't sound extraordinary.
But jungle kilometres are different kilometres.
There is a big difference between covering 15 km on a road or established trail and spending 15 km pushing through jungle, descending steep terrain, following a river, crossing water and climbing giant boulders.
Day 2 had definitely earned its name:
The Monster Day.
Day 3 — Heading Out
10.52 km | 5h 18min | +315 m
After Day 2, Day 3 felt much easier.
The weather helped too.
Unlike the hot sun on Day 1, the sky was cloudy.
And this time, we weren't entering unknown terrain.
We were following exactly the same route we had used to come in.
The difference was huge.
No more cutting.
No more clearing.
No more searching for a way through.
We had already opened the route on Day 1, so travelling the same ground felt much faster and somehow much shorter.
Maybe part of it was psychological too.
On the way in, every kilometre takes you deeper into the unknown.
On the way out, every kilometre takes you closer to home.
After 10.52 km and 5 hours 18 minutes, we finally reached one of the best sights of the entire expedition:
our 4x4.
We were out.
From there, we drove another 1 hour 30 minutes back to Batu Kalung Homestay to rest.
The following day, we packed up and began the long journey back to Kuching.
What the Map Doesn't Tell You
This expedition reminded me again why I love exploring places like this.
A map can tell you the distance.
A satellite image can show you a waterfall.
GPS can point you in the right direction.
But none of them can really tell you what lies between where you are and where you want to go.
They don't show how thick the jungle will be.
They don't tell you how slippery the river rocks will become.
They don't tell you when ordinary river trekking will turn into climbing giant boulders.
And they definitely don't tell you that something which looks quite near on a map can turn into a 13-hour day.
Three years ago, Sungai Lobang Waterfall was something I spotted on a satellite image.
Then it became a distant waterfall we could see from a watchtower.
And finally...
we stood beneath it.
That's what made this expedition special.
Not simply reaching another waterfall, but completing a journey that had been sitting in my mind for three years.
The final numbers:
3D2N in the jungle.
38.99 km — basically 39 km travelled.
2,027 m total ascent.
More than 28 hours on our feet.
And right in the middle of it all:
Day 2 — 15.41 km | 13h 11min | +880 m.
One waterfall that took three years from discovery to reality.
And one more reminder:
Never trust the straight-line distance on a jungle map.
A big thank you to Batukalung Campsite & Homestay for the kind hospitality and for giving us a comfortable place to stay, prepare and recover before and after the expedition.
A special thank you to Baro, our local companion, who accompanied us into the jungle and shared this journey with us. Having someone with local knowledge alongside the team was an important part of the expedition.
Trips like this are never just about reaching the destination. It's the route finding, teamwork, exhaustion, falls, laughter and all the unexpected moments along the way that become the real memories.
Until the next expedition.
