Blue Lake Kangkar Pulai Closure August 2020 Update
Please note that Kangkar Pulai Blue Lake will be officially closed from now on (August 2020) and hiking activities will be strictly prohibited!
According to news from fellow climbers, the famous check-in spot in Kangkar Pulai, the Blue Lake, will be “closed” as of August 2020. It was said that the area where the Blue Lake is located is undergoing flood prevention construction works. Police have been visiting and inspecting the area lately.
In order to avoid unnecessary accidents and cooperate with the authorities, please try to avoid visiting Kangkar Pulai Blue Lake and choose other hiking sites instead. The Blue Lake was a private land to start with, so the public is not allowed to enter without authorization.
News source: GO JOHOR 食在好玩
Blue Lake Kangkar Pulai, Johor
Roses are red,
Kangkar Pulai Blue Lake is blue,
I know you’re reading this,
Rather jealous too!
I’m sure a lot of you have heard of the famous Blue Lake in Johor (C’mon, I know you have). It’s all over the internet some years ago! I remember seeing someone shared about the blue lake on Facebook and boy was I hooked with the blue of the lake!
In case you’re lost, head over to your Facebook search bar or even YouTube, key in “Johor Blue Lake” and plenty of searches will come up! Also, to hook your interest, here’s a picture of the blue lake I took:
I don’t have to look at your face to know that you’re hooked 🤪
Before you proceed, please read this Important update in 2020:
Updated in 2020: We went to visit Blue Lake Kangkar Pulai (Tasik Biru Kangkai Pulai) again after nearly 2 years. Unfortunately, trees and overgrown were chopped off in many places and the lake which used to look striking blue was now more of a turquoise-greenish color. Although the lake’s color wasn’t as blue as it used to be, it was still equally stunning to look at. Furthermore, the path to checkpoint two was extremely narrow with no trees to hold onto, so it can be quite dangerous to walk on.
Moreover, we also heard that certain people were fined for trespassing as this was supposed to be a private property. Hence, please proceed at your own risk. Fortunately, we have not experienced anything like that the two times we were there. We even talked to the workers working there and the security guard at the guard house. They did not say anything about asking us to turn back or to not trespass—nothing of those sorts.
Thirdly, we saw land reclamation works going on beside the lake. It seemed like trucks were filling up the lake. Hence, we can’t really tell if the lake will be gone in the future. We will try our best to make another trip there some other time in the future to make another update.
So... why is this blue lake special?
The blue lake, as the name suggests, has water that’s turquoise-sapphire blue in color. As someone who first lay eyes upon it, the colour is rather too blue to be true.Â
It seemed somewhat poisonous too. I have spent all my life establishing schemata on lakes bearing green instead of Turquoise-sapphire. Suddenly I am forced to accept the fact that Malaysia has blue lakes (there’s another one in Terengganu) too?!
As the saying goes, “When the flower blossoms, the bee will come.”Â
After the exposure of the location and thousands of jealousy-inducing photos later, the blue lake had turned into a local tourist spot in Johor, with Malaysians flocking to the beautiful lake daily just to catch a glimpse of the surreal lake.
Getting there
It wasn’t difficult getting there. We keyed in “Tasik Biru, Kangkar Pulai” and Waze brought us to where we wanted to go. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
When you see this sign, you need to turn in the road and keep going straight all the way. At the end of the road, turn right.
After the straight road, turn right at the very end and you will come to this entrance to get to the blue lake, which will be on your left. We entered anyway regardless of the signboard that says we’re not allowed to enter. Lots of cars got stuck at this point as they were doubtful whether they should enter. Even so, we met an uncle who told us to enter. Well, okay—if you say so!Â
After the tarmac road, you can expect driving into gravel roads. Palm trees that lined up on both sides of the road created the impact of grand California palm. I was hooked by such an entrance – trees after trees welcomed us. Update: Unfortunately, some of the palm trees were chopped down as of 2020. We almost couldn’t recognize our way because the trees looked so different.
Further down the palm tree road, we came to an intersection of left and right.
We were not supposed to enter the side with the security guard (right side), so we turned left instead.
There were still works going on in the quarry on the right, dangerous works like the blasting of quarry.
Also, there was a huge sign that writes: “All visitors must report at the guard house”.
After you turned left, keep going straight until you come to this point:
Once we’ve parked our car, it was time for us to enter the hiking area. As we went on a weekday, it was rather empty. At 9am, there were still about 2-3 cars coming in.Â
2020 update: It was pretty empty on a Sunday afternoon too! We hardly saw anyone!
The faster route to the blue lake?
As you can see from the picture above, the metal bars were down, closing the path to the trail. In 2020, this metal bar is opened up and visitors are allowed to enter freely as seen in the pictures below:
Walking in, we came upon another intersection of left and right. The path on the left was a steep ascending hike; on the right a flat path. We read about the faster route to the blue lake, so we took the path on the right. It was like a walk in the park as the ground was flat and unchallenging.
Steep ascent
After the walk in the park, all of a sudden we were climbing Mt. Everest!
The steep was constant and the ground sandy and stony. Our hiking shoes were also protesting and refusing to cooperate.
Louis and I were both panting on our way up because we both forgot to do some warm-ups! How can we both be so silly and thought that this would be easy.
Oh, wait, it’s because the Internet rated it as an easy hike!
And it was!
First Checkpoint
We started hiking at about 9 am and arrived at the first checkpoint in about 10 minutes. Louis’ first reaction was “WOW!” while I was already fishing out my phone, capturing everything in my Insta story.
To avoid the scorching sun, we stayed in the shade.Â
After us, about four more teams arrived at the first checkpoint. Two guys swooshed in front of us and disappeared below us.
WHAT IN THE WORLD.Â
They stood underneath and started snapping away.
I told Louis that I wanted to go down too! But I’d like to get the picture from the top because I want to capture every nook and cranny of the lake. What if I set a timer? Can we run down in 20 seconds?
But there was also the problem of passerby stealing our camera away when we are busy posing below.
For that reason, we stood at the same spot for a very long time. The intended spot where I wanted the photo taken was a great distance away. Finally, the final conclusion was to trust a total stranger.
I mean, just look how amazing the photos turned out! We posed as many poses as we could and he helped us snap away from the top, a great distance away. He even yelled things like, “Sweet sikit!”
After everyone was gone, Louis looked around and found a few more spots where we can take really beautiful lake pictures. But first, we had to go down through the rocky paths and endure the unforgiving sun and heat. The result? SO WORTH IT!
Checkpoint 3
We realized that we have been at Checkpoint 1 for far too long. It was time to move forward. At Checkpoint 2, which was not that far away, a few men were smoking while resting there, we decided to skip further up to Checkpoint 3.
From checkpoint 3, we get clear, unobstructed view of the lake!Â
There were some shades behind us, so that’s fine. From there, we can also descent down to checkpoint 2, where a flat platform/cliff that looked like the lion king cliff.
Huge flat stone platform
After thousands of blue lake photos later, we met an Indian middle age man who’s hiking his way to the peak.Â
He guided us (more like we followed him like how ducklings follow their mother) through the rest of the journey to the huge flat stone platform.Â
Many people were already standing there under the hot sun taking pictures. I was roasting. Like coffee beans.
We did not hang out around the flat stone area for long. It felt like I have skin cancer already.
The flat stone platform can also lead us to the peak. However, we did not attempt the peak because we’re too weak.Â
Both of us puny humans decided to retreat because we were dead from all the climbing, descending, and posing (not forgetting the devilish sun). Finally, we raised our white flags.
In A Nutshell
One simple question that you should ask yourself if you are still thinking whether you would like to visit this blue lake:Â
Do you like blue lakes?
You know you do.
Lovely photos, Anna. And yes, I love blue lakes. Definitely gonna check this one out if I ever go to Johor. Pssst, there’s one near Bukit Mertajam too. More like aquamarine but still insanely beautiful.
https://www.travelswithsun.com/frog-hill-penang/
I read about that one 🙂 maybe one day I’ll go and visit it! There’s one in Terengganu as well.
Hi, Are we still allowed to go there ? 🙂 Was planning for quite sometime to go there but wasn’t sure if it was still allowed
Hi, there has been news years ago that the lake is under a private property so it’s not appropriate to enter. There are also concerns over the safety of the nearby quarry, as quite often they will blast rocks and whatnot. As long as you don’t trespass into forbidden and sealed off areas, you should be fine. There were many people the last time I went! Remember to always turn back if anything goes wrong!
My house just in front of this blue lake. 2016 yrs,I already go in alone. If you want see the blue lake,just wait for 9.30am till 11.30am,this is the best timing. Behind currently not avalaible to explorer because the SAJ is the owner and will be fine and jail if caught. But if you reach there in best timing, you wont be regret. How blue is blue, you cant tell only see to believe. At the right side, you also can see the 2 green lake, which is north side and north east side. Im no hiking for now due to staying in Singapore but will go again for rubbish picking as volunteer.
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Does it close already if I want go for hiking this September 2020 ?
Hi Elle,
Yes, lately there has been news saying that the lake is closed due to ongoing works. It’s best that you avoid and choose other hikes instead. Sorry!