Gunung Beremban (Cameron Highlands)

Gunung Beremban (Cameron Highlands)

Page Type Page Type: Mountain/Rock
Location Lat/Lon: 4.47400°N / 101.40130°E
Activities Activities: Hiking, Mountaineering, Scrambling
Seasons Season: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter
Additional Information Elevation: 5945 ft / 1812 m
Sign the Climber's Log

Overview

Gunung Beremban is the third highest mountain in the Cameron Highlands. Since the two highest mountains in the Cameron Highlands (Gunung Irau and Gunung Brinchang) have a road to very near the summit, Gunung Beremban is more interesting from a hiking and climbing standpoint.

The Cameron Highlands are known as Malaysia’s most extensive “hill station”. This is one of the few places in the country where you can escape the heat of the tropics. The Highlands have rolling mountains covered with thick forest, waterfalls and many tea plantations scattered about.

The temperatures in this region are more or less idea, but the region is very wet. There are no real wet or dry seasons and heavy rains are common (though sunshine is also common).

Added attractions to climbing the mountain itself are pristine rain forest, giant insects, birds and waterfalls.

Cameron HighlandsCameron Highlands as viewed from just north of Brinchang.

Getting There

The first destinations in the Cameron Highlands to reach are Tanah Rata and Brinchang. Since this is a popular tourist area, even though the town are small, direct busses link both towns to places such as Kuala Lumpur and even one nightly bus from Singapore (we took a direct bus from Singapore).

Several bus options are on the website below:

Bus Information

Ipoh is the nearest large city in the region and is served by many bus companies as well as an airport. There are four daily busses (Kita Omnibus) from Ipoh to Tanah Rata between 8 am and 6 pm. Finding a bus out of the Cameron Highlands is always easy since every hotel in Tanah Rata can either sell you a bus ticket or call the bus company for you. Out of the two towns in the area, Tanah Rata is supposed to be a better choice to stay than Brinchang, though both towns seem rather nice.

Once in Tanah Rata, there are several trailheads available for climbing Gunung Beremban. Make sure to buy a local map from any of the hotels in Tanah Rata. The Lonely Planet has an acceptable map as well. The best map seems to be the Cameron Highlands Discover Map and it cost less than $1 (3R).

Trailheads

Trail #2

The trailhead is at the Sam Poh Temple just east of Brinchang.

Trail #3

This trailhead is at the Arcadia Bungalow just southeast of the golf course between Tanah Rata and Brinchang. We took a taxi from Tanah Rata to this trailhead. In December 2010 it cost 10 Ringgits/$3 for the taxi ride.

Trail #4

This trailhead is at the Forestry Department just south of the golf course.

Trail #5

This trail starts at the Mardi Complex just east of Tanah Rata and is within walking distance of downtown Tanah Rata.

Trail #7

This trail also starts at the Mardi Complex (see trail #5)

Trail #8

This trail begins east of Tanah Rata on the same road going to the Hospital. This is the most popular trailhead in the area since it serves as the main trailhead to the popular Robinson Waterfall. Nearly all locals know where the Robinson Waterfall is, so it’s easy to ask for directions (if you need them). Otherwise, just follow the road east of Tanah Rata towards the hospital, but turn right just before the hospital on the road that follows the creek.

Robinson WaterfallThis is the Robinson Waterfall near the trailhead for Trail #8.

Routes Overview

Below is a very brief outline of all the possible routes to the summit of Gunung Beremban. The route we took was the one ascending Trail #3 and descending Trail #8, but many other routes are available. Any of the routes below will take the better part of a day to complete.

Cameron Highlands MapMap


Trail #2

From Sam Poh Temple, this steep and slippery trail joins Trail #3 (see below) after 2 kms.

Trail #3

It is possible that this is the easiest route to the summit of Gunung Beremban, but it still has steep and strenuous sections. See the Route Page for details. It’s about 5-6 kms to the summit.

Climbing Gunung Berembanclimbing part of Trail #3 on Gunung Beremban.


Trail #4

This trail heads south from the Forestry Department and then heads east to join the route from Trail #5 after 3 kms.

Trail #5

This trail heads east up the mountain to a confusing junction with Trail #3 after 3 kms. It is possible that this trail is mislabeled as Trail 6 on a sign near Trail #3.

Trail #7

This is considered to be one of the most difficult, but perhaps the most direct of the trails to Gunung Beremban. The second half of the trail is extremely steep.

Trail #8

If it weren’t for one difficult gorge to cross not far from junction with the path (Trail #9) to the Robinson Waterfall, this would probably be the easiest route to the summit of Gunung Beremban. After crossing a very steep gorge (often with a fixed rope present), the rest of the route is fairly easy. See the Route Page for details.

Steep PathDescending part of the steep Trail #8 on Gunung Beremban.

Red Tape

There is no red tape that I am aware of.

Giant InsectNo red tape, but watch out for the big bugs.

Where to Stay

There are plenty of places to stay in Tanah Rata and Brinchang. If you are there during popular holiday weekends (especially in April, August and December). If you are there on a holiday weekend, consider booking ahead.

The website below is a good resource:

Cameron Highlands Online

Backcountry camping is possible, but is likely to be wet and muddy. Any of the routes above can be completed in a day.

Gunung BerembanIronically, this is about the best photo (one of only two photos) that I actually got of Gunung Beremban. Most of the time when we were around the base of the mountain, it was covered in clouds and most of the time you are on the mountain you are in the thick forest. This photo was taken from the outskirts of Tanah Rata.

When to Climb

There are no real wet and dry seasons in this region (or perhaps it should be said that the entire year can be wet), so climbing can be done year round. This region is very wet and heavy rains are possible at any time. As mentioned above weekends in April, August and December tend to be very popular.

On average, April, May, September, October and November are the wettest months and January, February, June, July and August are the driest, but even the driest months receive an average of 15-19 days a month with rain. The wettest month mentioned receive an average of 22-26 days a month with rain so there isn't that much of a difference between the driest and wettest months.

Even though the area is wet, the climate is actually rather pleasant and has a good amount of sunshine as well. Rain tends to come in short heavy downpours (often at night) and is broken by periods of nice sunshine. It rained a little on us in December 2010, but most of the time we had good weather in the Cameron Highlands and it rained mostly at night.

Muddy sectionOne of the muddy sections of the route in December.

Mountain Conditions

Click Here for Cameron Highlands Weather Forecast

Weather averages for the Cameron Highlands at an elevation of 4750 feet/1448 meters are below. Information is from the book World Weather Guide, page 261.

Month High (° F ) High (° C) Low (° F ) Low (° C) in. Rain mm Rain Rain Days
Jan 71 22 56 13 6.6 168 17
Feb 72 22 55 13 5.2 132 14
Mar 73 23 55 13 8.5 216 19
Apr 74 23 57 14 11.7 297 23
May 74 23 58 14 9.7 246 22
Jun 74 23 56 13 5.5 140 16
Jul 73 23 55 13 4.8 122 15
Aug 72 22 56 13 6.4 163 19
Sep 72 22 57 14 10.3 262 22
Oct 72 22 57 14 13.4 340 26
Nov 71 22 57 14 13.0 330 24
Dec 71 22 56 13 9.0 229 21



Children

Children

Children refers to the set of objects that logically fall under a given object. For example, the Aconcagua mountain page is a child of the 'Aconcagua Group' and the 'Seven Summits.' The Aconcagua mountain itself has many routes, photos, and trip reports as children.