Penang Hills and Trails - Sungai Rusa or Bust
Botanica / Bandar Air Puteh to Sungai Rusa

This is part of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang. Click here for the index, this is a Grade 2 walk. There is a sketch map at the bottom showing the route followed.

Please visit my Penang buses page for information on accessing the starting point.

When combined with our Jalan Chai Horseshoe walk the later parts of this makes a worthy Top Ten walk albeit best done in the opposite direction - read how to do it here 

A couple of days earlier we had discovered our Jalan Chai Horseshoe walk and this walk was suggested by what we discovered then.

We had not intended to revisit here so soon, we were meant to be going up Hakka Hill near Pulau Betong, but the 101 buses were being mucked around by the traffic and we missed our 10.30 501 connection at Teluk Bahang by a whisker. By the time we caught the next 501 at 13.10, our options were limited. Fortunately it was running rather early and it meant that when we got to the Botanica junction, we only had to wait a few minutes for the 13.30 404 (Pantai Acheh) bus to whip us up towards the top of the development, saving an unpleasant and hot walk. Whereupon we turned left and then left again at the pillars

Then we turned immediately right towards the hills and left again at the current top of the development, I won't repeat my detailed opinion of this place except to say politely that it's totally inappropriate for this area of the island.

Heading upwards towards the hills, you'll need a right turn to find this small road to enter the shaded and more civilised area

We passed the houses where we had had some helpful information previously and turned left at the crossroads rather than go up to where we had been before; ahead of us lay a steep climb which was not eased by the fact that we had done a significant road walk up to the Tropical Fruit Farm earlier after we missed our first choice 501 service.

We ignored the new dirt road to the right and in the cool of the very late evening and with the benefit of suitable liquid refreshment I can say that it was a very enjoyable climb, 

There were nice views back towards the Ratanagiri Bhavanarama (Forest Meditation Resort) and quite soon we got to the summit of the track which was in a shaded area. There is a path off here upwards but it only goes a short way as far as a cleared area with some water tanks.

Madam was nursing an ankle she had twisted earlier and needed some delicate handling but her smile was returning as this was absolutely her favourite kind of trail. Onwards and gently downwards it went and as so often happens, I was feeling very pleased with myself for this 'discovery'.

Then we came round a corner and instead of continuing down, the road started to go up again, but by 2015 there was a new wide track to the left. When I checked the road up, it finished very soon and only a concrete path continued and it went up again. Take the new left road and turn left at the first junction onto the concrete path, ahead it finishes at a house. 

It was time for a botanical break, it obviously dries out up here at times as there was a cactus in bloom:

After my confidence had been dented by some recent bad decisions, I was naturally worried that the path would end in the middle of nowhere, but fortunately we bumped into a local resident on a motorcycle who confirmed we were headed down to Sungai Rusa. It was, however, rather steep in places which probably explains the existence of the wider track higher up as an alternative exit for agricultural produce.

I confess I was wondering where the next beer was going to come from as my liquid lunch which we usually carry was supposed to have been picked up in Balik Pulau before our plans were forcibly changed and Yuehong was missing her mid-walk snack. Down we went and there were glimpses out to Sungai Rusa. Soon the track started to level out and we passed the remains of what must have been a substantial house.

In no time, we passed a Chinese house and wandered past some vegetable plots with the route of our descent visible behind.

We came out right by the bus stop in Sungai Rusa just south of the mosque and school which face each other on opposite sides of the road. We were more than a little early for the 17.30 501 bus from Balik Pulau. Refreshment would have been available 1km away in Sungai Pinang but Yuehong had done enough walking for the day. Dinner was a regular Nasi Kandar in Teluk Bahang and we got back on our trusty 101 bus just before it got dark. Overall it had been a far better day than had seemed possible earlier.

If you are doing this walk in reverse, then please see the description in the Top Ten walk - Sungai Rusa to Balik Pulau which covers most of what is described above and explains how to do the initial part.