Tekiwit Waterfall – Ulu Baram, Miri

Ever since I saw photos of Tekiwit Waterfall circulating in social media a few years back, it has been in my wish list as one of the waterfalls I must visit.

I was fortunate enough to get that opportunity early March 2019. This was a trip with a few other colleagues of mine and here is what I experienced.

Location

Tekiwit Waterfall is located in Ulu Baram, Miri. It is about one hour trek from a Penan village called Data Bila.

To get to Data Bila, our full Day journey brought us to Segah Sela’an One Stop Homestay.

This homestay is roughly about 248 kilometers from Miri and is in the district of Telang Usan, Miri Division.

The six hour drive from Miri is three hours on tarmac and the remaining three hours on gravel road.

The best mode of transportation would be by 4×4 wheel drive.

Data Bila

The next day in the afternoon we made our way to Data Bila village. This is another one hour drive from Segah Sela’an homestay.

Data Bila is a small Penan Village with a population of about 150 people. These group of Penans had more or less abandoned their nomadic way of life for about thirty years now.

From nomadic huts they now live in permanent wooden houses and the village also has a church.

There is a river near the village and a swim is definitely recommended. The water is very cool.

Me going through the photos I took while enjoying this lovely serene river ambiance.

On a nice hot day the sunset can be pretty amazing. I was fortunate to be witness to a wonderful one.

Did some fancy silhouette shots while in Data Bila.

Accommodation here is basic but comfortable enough. The host’s generator is out by 9pm. So it is an early night for most visitors here.

Huge living room serves as a dormitory.

The trek to Tekiwit Waterfall

Old logging roads leading to Tekiwit.

On a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being the hardest, the trek to Tekiwit Waterfall is about 3, moderate trekking.

The jungle trail well kept. The beginning of the trek is along an old logging trail.

From logging trails we then finally went on the jungle trail. The jungle trail is well kept by the Penans.

We trekked along hill slopes and midway we crossed one small stream.

Stream crossing made easy with this simple bridge.

As we trekked nearer, about 45 minutes from our start of the trek, we could hear the roar of the waterfall. As we arrived, we were indeed amazed with the view.

It didn’t take us long to take selfies at the waterfall.

Instaworthy photo shooting.

Not wanting to loose out on this Instaworthy waterfall we all took loads of photos.

We had our picnic lunch and just after noon, we headed back to Data Bila, said our goodbyes and went back to Segah Sela’an homestay.

Three peak Batu Siman hill.

On the way back we all stopped again for another Instaworthy photo opportunity which is Batu Siman hill.

After an evening with a nice barbeque dinner, the next day we headed back to Miri.

The memory of the cold steams of Data Bila and the awesome Tekiwit Waterfall still lingers. The hospitality of the Kenyah and Penan people during this trip was superb and most importantly, genuine. I will definitely be be coming back.

To conclude, this is by far is the best waterfall I have visited.

Travel Tips

Trips to Tekiwit Waterfall need to be pre arranged with Segah Sela’an Homestay or with any registered travel agents based in Miri.

Be sure to pack with you the following :

• Good trekking shoes
• Insect / mosquito repellent
• Light clothing
• Torchlight as there is no 24 hour electricity
• Personal first aid kit (just in case)

Thank you for reading and if you want extra details on the above, drop me a line and I’ll get back to you soon as possible. Till my next Bejalai, take care and don’t forget to comment.