Day Trip from Kuala Lumpur-Whitewater Rafting

Escape the concrete jungle for the real thing!

If you're looking for a fun day-out, away from the city a great experience would be to go whitewater rafting.

A two hour drive heading north from Kuala Lumpur towards Ipoh will take you to Nomad Adventures' Earth Camp where a host of activities awaits.

The most popular is their Whitewater rafting trips on the Sungei (River) Kampar.

In total you can navigate 22 rapids ranging from grade 2-3 and can opt for a half-day,either morning or afternoon or a full day.

The morning session starts at 9am sharp-or so they say but we actually commenced closer to 10am...nevertheless you will have to make an early start from Kuala Lumpur.

Upon arrival a lorry then transports you for about 45 minutes to the point of departure where you undergo a comprehensive safety briefing and then,to ensure that you're fully awake you begin by actually swimming through a rapid!

Then it's onto the raft and away you go.

The guides are pretty good fun and knowledgeable about the river.

The first two or three rapids we hit were pretty big and it's not uncommon to fall overboard but the swim beforehand gives you a bit of confidence so as not to panic (too) much

After that and as you get the hang of it and the rapids become less severe so the guide can decide to take some rapids sideways or backwards just for the fun of it.

The biggest danger is getting hit by a paddle or hitting a rock with a tender part of your body.

Our trip finished at about 12.30 with some lunch and then it was time to face the boring drive back to Kuala Lumpur.

The half day trip cost RM 150 and when you add-in the long drives and early start it seems like a whole day.We arrived back in town at 4pm after leaving at the ungodly hour of 6.30 on a Saturday morning!

The same company also arranges various rock-climbing and caving activities but the rafting trips are very popular.Other companies also run-the-river and it can jam-up with 8 or 9 rafts waiting at the top of a rapid.

All-in all a pretty enjoyable day out.