Kampar River White Water Rafting in Perak Malaysia

We had booked our rafting trip through Ivy Holidays who are based in Ipoh and our journey started very early for most of us as it is a one and a half hour drive from Kuala Lumpur to Gopeng, Kampar.

Lorry service to the river

Kampar River or Sungai Kampar as it is locally known is one of the easier rafting choices if you are seeking group or family fun or even if you have a company trip. The rapids here are mild compared to other rivers which offer white water rafting. For our group of 9 people, we booked this rafting trip weeks ahead and made arrangements to meet up at Gua Tempurung Cave in Gopeng.

Gua Tempurong Cave public toilets

We left Kuala Lumpur at about 6.30am in order to get to Gua Tempurung by 8.30am to meet up with the Ivy Holidays staff and raft captains. On arrival at the entrance to Gua Tempurung, we parked our cars at the open parking lot and then had a change of attire at the public toilets near by. Bringing what we needed, we then got on to a medium sized lorry which would take us to Sungai Kampar for our white water rafting experience.

Lorry journey to Ulu Geroh village

The journey to Sungai Kampar for water rafting was something I did not expect as all of us were herded onto the lorry for a 25 minute journey though some beautiful scenery of the Gopeng and Kampar Kampungs (Villages). The raft captain, Ramlie, who was seated with us reminded those standing to look out for low branches during the journey.

Passing Eco resorts and homestays

Passing many beautiful landscapes, I must admit that it was a wonderful journey by lorry. Something I would always remember. We passed kampung homes, plantations, jungles and even Eco Resorts like The Gopeng Rainforest Resort, camp sites and local village homestays.

Passing Orang Asli homes

Along the way, I also saw some unique kampung homes looking like it was built for only one person. As we drove in deeper, we approached near Ulu Geroh, the Orang Asli village of Gopeng, out stop was just up ahead.

Uhuru Helmets and Paddles

Getting down from the lorry, we headed to a point where all the rafting equipment was ready for us. Grabbing a helmet, paddle and a life jacket, some looked confused as they were first timers doing water rafting.

Captain Ramli showing how to use a life vest

But everything was well organised as the raft captain Ramile from Uhuru Raft gathered everyone around to demonstrate how the vest and helmet was worn. After checking everyone one by one for safety procedures, we were then taken across a bridge over the Kampar River to the starting point for our white water rafting experience.

Raft captain briefing the rafters

It was here that the full safety briefing was conducted. Mind you this was my 7th rafting trip (see the end of this post for my other rafting stories in Sabah) so I had generally told my buddies about this briefing as it is very important that you pay attention to it as it will save your life. So the safety briefing went on for a good 15 minutes where Ramile, who is a trained professional rafter told us about paddling commands and what we needed to do in the event of a raft over turning or someone falling off.

Safety briefing before rafting

Another of the raft captains was also in the water to demonstrate certain things that we should do in the even one of us fell off the water. How to remain calm and also which direction we should keep our feet.

Rafting begins!

With double assurance from the rafters, Ramlie then allocated us to our rafts to begin our 2 hour white water rafting trip along the Kampar River. The entire journey would go through several rapids with grade one to grade 3 (class I to class III) and is not a continuous rapid for 20 km. Various places have the rapids where most places we would just paddle the rafts with the river flow.