Broga Hill aka Bukit Broga

Posted on Jan 27 in Chinese Tradition, Jungle, Mountain and Waterfall, Malaysia Explorationby ShelynPrintText Resizer Text Resizer

Before I manage to find time to blog about Bukit Tabur (Tabur Hill) I have already conquered Broga Hill. I’m supposed to write about Bukit Tabur first but I can’t resist sharing my Broga Hill aka 茅草山 hiking trip now. So I will save Bukit Tabur trip to the later post.

Bukit Broga’s trek wasn’t tough and interesting at all in comparison to Bukit Tabur. The altitude of the hill is only 500ft above sea level. The view from the peak wasn’t as stunning as Bukit Tabur as well. But I just simply prefer Bukit Broga for its tranquility and greenness. Not sure if you still remember the Salem commercial on TV long long long time ago where the scene was shot in a lush glossy green field surrounded by mountains and hills. Bukit Broga looks very much like that! Too bad I tried to google the old Salem commercial but I couldn’t find it. Instead, I found this even older Salem commercial which is quite interesting.

Bukit Broga is located in Semenyih, 5 minutes drive from the University of Nottingham. You may refer to the University of Nottingham map in order to get to Bukit Broga.

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The light green color hills are Broga Hills. The picture was taken on the way to Bukit Broga.

The entrance of Bukit Broga is quite obscure as there isn’t any signboard. But the rabbits can guide you to the entrance.

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Rabbit farm implies that you have reached the entrance to Broga Hill

Keep an eye on this Rabbit Fun Land. About 3.5km drive from the University of Nottingham, you will see the Rabbit Fun Land on your right. The entrance to Bukit Broga, a dirt road leading to an oil palm estate, is just right opposite it.

We actually woke up quite late last Saturday, 24 Jan 2009. We departed at 7:30 a.m. and reached Bukit Broga at 8:30 a.m. We parked our car by the roadside of the oil palm estate. The place must be quite popular as there were already few cars when we reached.

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The trek to the first summit took about 30 minutes. The first 5 minutes was an easy walk through the oil palm estate.

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The path eventually narrowed led us into the jungle and lalang (cogongrass). It took us about 25 minutes to hike up the gradual incline of the trail to reach the first peak which was covered with rhythmically swaying grasses (cogongrass).

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The grasses were so tall that we had to wade through them to get to the next peak. It was actually quite fun to walk in the grasses. Look at the picture, the grasses were as tall as my shoulder height.

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This is the first summit of the hills where we could clearly see the Semenyih town.

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This is the second peak of the hills with the boulders scattered around. Now you know why I like these Salem feel hills. They are different from most of the hills/mountains in Malaysia which are covered by gigantic trees and big plants. Due to the big rocks underneath the ground, only grasses (lalang) can grow in this area with the thin soil surface and hence, giving this a spectacular foreign view of lush green field. Oh my… isn’t it romantic?

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This is the 3rd peak of the hills.
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This picture cool huh? With the blue sky in the background. Can sell it as a poster or postcard.

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The picture was taken from the 3rd summit with the view of the 2nd summit behind me and the 1st summit which was blocked by the 2nd summit.

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Don wasn’t aware when I snapped this photo of him. He looks as if he was drawing a gun and ready to fight.

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My favourite shot of the trip

Broga Hill

Don finally noticed I was taking pictures of the shadow so he started posing more for the photos. So cooperative! And look at his ass, so huge!

Broga Hill

I told Don we shall bring along a pot of hot coffee, some cookies and our favourite books, spend few hours in the morning here perching on the rock, do some readings while enjoying the coffee and cookies. Forgot to mention that it was very very windy here on the hills. What a fantastic place to rest and relax.We descended at about 10a.m. using the same route. The trail of the 3rd peak was actually quite steep and slippery due to the sandy soils. So we actually semi-slided down since it’s easier to slide. We managed to have our lunch at 11a.m. in Semenyih town. We had no idea at all what was nice in Semenyih town so we just randomly chose one of the restaurants, Seow Spicy Food Restaurant, something like that (can’t remember the name :-p), and ordered Chicken in Wine, Taufu and Vegetable. The food was quite good but the portions were too small.

On the way back, we dropped by Semenyih Lake and took a look of the place.

Semenyih Lake

Nothing impressive, just a lake and that’s it.

We reached home at 1p.m. and took a long nap.

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How to get to Broga Hill?

A detailed map from Bandar Sunway to Broga Hill: (Click to enlarge)

Broga Hill Map If you come from Kuala Lumpur, you may refer to the map below:

Map to Semenyih Campus: (Click to enlarge)

Broga Hill Map

What to bring:

  • Good, comfortable hiking boots/shoes – Even though Broga Hill is an easy hike, I wouldn’t take the risk to hike with a pair of sandals (some people did it fine, though).
  • Extra clothes – I like to change my sweaty shirt after the hike. It feels more comfortable with clean dry shirt while traveling back in the car with air conditioner.
  • Since it’s quite an easy hike without many obstacles along the trail, long pants are not necessary. I prefer to hike with short pants to keep me cooling, unless it was a tough hike that I need to wade through the bushes and climb across the rocks. Then I will opt for long pants to protect my legs.
  • Hat and sunglasses – Good enough to keep both the sun and the rain off.
  • Water – It’s Malaysia, typical tropical country. We can’t stand without drinking water inside the air conditioner room, let alone hiking under hot sun.
  • Garbage bag – Always make it a habit to bring back all the trashes from the hill. Never be a selfish bug to litter the place that provides us leisure activity and please us with scenic view.
  • Simple First Aid kit, antibacterial wipes and hand wash solution – we need to be more conscious about health and safety.
  • Insect Repellent/Sunscreen – These items should almost go without saying. Both should be brought on the trail and not left in the car because there’s a good chance the sunscreen will need to be reapplied during the hike.
  • Snacks – Some fruit, or an energy bar to keep energy up during the hike.
  • You can even bring some nice food and drink to have a picnic there. Broga Hill is absolutely an ideal place for picnic. But the crowd has been picking up since the last time I visited in August 2009. It was too crowded that almost impossible to find any space to lay your bum on it.

! Note: Specially thank Kok-Siang for allowing me to excerpt your great post of the direction to Semenyih.

There are several ways to Semenyih. Each route has its own pros and cons. So you could choose your route wisely, Trade-off between Time, Distance, Money (toll + fuel), and Accessibility (newbie?).

Route 1:

1. From North-South Highway, take exit to Kajang. Follow Kajang signboard (blue colour) if you do not want to pay 2 tolls in Silk Highway. However you will pass through all the traffic jam along Jalan Sungai Chua and Jalan Semenyih. There are numerous traffic lights in Kajang towns. See the map below:

Route 2:

If you come from North-South Highway, you could follow the direction below with minimun hassle. Take an exit to Kajang from North-South Highway, then go straight all the way (follow main road), reaching Silk highway. You will have to pay two tolls in Silk Highway, then you could take an exit to Jalan Semenyih right after the 2nd toll. (If you miss, dont panic. You could drive straight, reaching to Kajang-Semenyih bypass road, just look for Semenyih sign board to exit, you will eventually reach Jalan Semenyih as well. Do not drive to KASEH highway, otherwise you need to pay another expensive toll)

Route 3:

From North South Highway, take an exit to Bukit Mahkota and Bandar Sri Putra (near to Nilai rest station). After that you will pass a Petronas station after the toll. Just go straight to pass through a narrow bridge which underneath is a railway. After that turn right at the T juntion (Turn left to Bangi old town). After that you will reach another T juntion to Jalan Bangi. Take right turn again to Semenyih direction (Turn left to Bangi old town). Then drive toward Semenyih town, the road is winding. If you are not familiar, do not use this especially at night. The connection in between Sri Putra and Jalan Bangi is not well constructed and less signboard. So it is not recommended to those who are new to Semenyih. It is the shortest route to exit North-South highway from Semenyih (10 minutes drives).

Route 4:

From Jalan Loke Yew, take the Kajang-Cheras highway. Passing two Cheras Tolls, and drive toward Kajang/Semenyih. At the end of Kajang-Cheras highway, do not exit to Kajang, because Kajang usually has heavy traffic. In other words, just drive straight toward Saujana Impian / Semenyih sign board. You will pass through Tesco at the right hand side and you are now in the Kajang-Semenyih bypass road (no toll). After that you will pass Giant at the left hand side. Just go straight until you see a Jalan Semenyih sign board and take the exit. I uses this route to KL centre.
(Note that if you continues go straight after the exit to Jalan Semenyih in Kajang-Semenyih bypass road, it will lead you to KASEH highway to Seremban/Nilai, there is a toll at the entrance to KASEH. If you accidentally drive into KASEH, immediately take the Semenyih/Bangi exit or the 1st exit from the KASEH toll. After that turn left after the toll. )

Route 5:

From Puchong (Cyberjaya /Putrajaya) take the LDP Highway route. After the last LDP toll, go straight and take a left turn to Kajang direction. (keep on going straight will reach Cyberjaya). After that, you will pass through IOI Resort at the right and UPM at the left. After that you will reach to Silk Highway (note: if you dont want to pay Silk Highway Toll, you could take Kajang town road, see route 1). After paying 2 tolls in Silk Highway, then you take an exit to Jalan Semenyih right after the 2nd toll. (please refer to route 2)

Have a nice and safe trip to Broga Hill!

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Entry Details: This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 7:07 pm, by Shelyn, and is filed under Chinese Tradition, Jungle, Mountain and Waterfall, Malaysia Exploration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Print This!

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