Rubbish ruins it for true nature lovers

LROM club members at their campsite at Bukit Kutu during the drive-and-camp get-together organised in conjunction with National Day. — Photos courtesy of LROM

EARLIER this month, the 4x4 club that I am part of organised a special family drive-and-camp get-together to celebrate National Day near Kampung Pertak in Kuala Kubu Baru, Selangor.

Land Rover Owners Malaysia (LROM) club treasurer Alyna Tai knew of a good camping ground at Bukit Kutu and guided about 75 people, made up of club members and their families, in 25 cars to the spot.

Everyone was expecting a weekend of fun with family and friends. And for the most part, they did.

They did, however, encounter something that has fast become a norm for most outdoor lovers -- litter.

My story was supposed to be one of people coming together for two days of good clean fun, instead I now find myself tackling the issue of our forests being treated as a garbage dump by so-called nature lovers.

In LROM’s case, the club had been using the site at Bukit Kutu since the 1990s and Tai said she had seen it grow in popularity over the years as city folk looked for a getaway close to home.

“We decided to go to Bukit Kutu as many of our usual sites were packed with people, thanks to the long weekend in conjunction with National Day,” she said.

Tai (right, in red) and fellow club members at their campsite in Bukit Kutu.   

“The campsite is just 2km off the main road and it is on private land owned by the orang asli community there.

“They are the ones who maintain the area and they do a good job seeing that they only charge RM5 an adult to enter,” she added.

Tai went on to say that before they could even get to the campsite, they had to pass through a carpark packed with vehicles.

Many people had turned up to enjoy the long weekend with a picnic, which in itself is a good thing. But this was where club members spotted something disturbing.

“We noticed a lot of rubbish left around the camping ground even though bins were provided at the carpark,” said Tai.

Thankfully the club’s campsite was deeper in and only accessible by 4x4 vehicles, so they found it to be relatively clean.

But this is not always the case. There have been times that I personally had to clean up campsites that one would have thought nobody had visited in years.

It has become part of the whole off-road experience.

You spend hours driving through jungle, only to spend another hour or two cleaning up empty cans, potato chip packets and cigarette butts.

Food waste is another common problem; people tend to bring with them cooked food and simply dump leftovers wherever they feel like it.

Club members found a huge pile of durian waste at one of the campsites. This food waste could potentially attract disease-carrying rodents and other critters.

According to Tai, on a hike to nearby Lata Medang waterfall, they found that someone had held a durian party and left behind a huge mound of seeds and husks.

Never mind, the poor fellow who had to pitch his or her tent next to that odoriferous pile, that mound actually represents a serious health risk, attracting leptospirosis-carrying rats and other little nasties.

As most campsites are either next to a river or lake, attracting rodents so close to a water source that campers use to bathe is simply unacceptable.

Another major health risk is caused by those who use our waterfalls as lavatories, which is unfortunately quite common.

I will not go into too much detail but let me just say I have seen things – much too many times.

Aside from mucking up the place for everyone else, these litterbugs are putting our great outdoors at risk.

Right now, Malaysia is a country where we are more or less allowed to camp where we like, trek any trail we want or drive through the bush as we please.

Of course there are limitations, and you might need permission to do certain things, but we outdoor fans are mostly left to our own devices.

However, if the authorities start to take note of the damage being done, they may decide to impose restrictions.

I say this not without precedent.

A pile of rubbish left right next to the stream near the campsite.

In 2015, Genting Highland’s famed Mossy Forest was closed to the public for nearly a year after the Pahang Forestry Department decided that it urgently needed a clean-up and time to recover.

The secret to avoiding all this is simple, take out everything you bring in.

Don’t bury or burn them. That could contaminate the soil and ground water.

If you had enough space to bring it to the campsite with you, or take it on your hike, you surely have enough space to carry it out.

You have to respect the environment, because it is a fragile entity and what you do can seriously impact it.

If you destroy it, there may not be anything left to enjoy later.

You have to respect others too, because these impacts on the environment can negatively affect their health and happiness.

Most of all you have to respect yourself.

If you are a person who enjoys outdoor pursuits, chances are you will also enjoy challenges and bettering yourself.

So if your goal is self-improvement, how can you achieve by destroying the very thing you enjoy most?