SkyTrek Extreme Obstacle Course

Back from an experience of a lifetime at SkyTrek Taman Pertanian.

Got to know such a place it existed when my friend Jee Wang tried it some months ago. Attracted by some of the challenges shown in the photos, we decided to see for ourselves how it feels like up close and personal.

The adventure park is located within Taman Pertanian, Shah Alam and can be reached by entering N-3.09325 E-101.50717 on your GPS.

Booking IS REQUIRED by calling the number on their website EVEN if your group is less than 10 pax. In fact you get a 10% discount by going in groups of more than 10.

We found this out the hard way when we arrived without booking and thus required to pay the RM3 entrance fee at Taman Pertanian THEN having to negotiate for transport (and we settled by renting their bike to proceed to camp 15 minutes away).

The ride is quick and smooth and the weather for the day is quite cooperative that it was cloudy but didn’t rain until much later when we’re about to leave, and even then only a slight drizzle.

As we didn’t book our trip for the day, we had to negotiate with the staffs there and since there’s just 6 of us, they managed to slot us in together with the bigger group. Much thanks there.

Note: As a result of that, although they are Wayyyyyy slow in their progress with all the waiting and cheering for their ladies, we simply suck it up and waited patiently for our turn. Personal rant.

We grabbed our gear and joined in for the basic training on how to keep our ass off making a dent in the ground.

Basically it was all about making sure that there’s always a tether hooked to their safety lines at all times and that under no circumstances that we do hero stunts and try to leap frog across the chasm.

We were given a basic course on rope work, climbing ladders, walking the planks and off we go!

< Picture courtesy of Ivan

For starters, we are required to climb to the minimum height without getting our arms fatigued and dropping off the ladder. We are made to understand that the platform up there is about 4 stories high. Honestly I think it’s only about 3 stories but still, climbing that is no easy task on itself.

Once we reached the platform, we are then made to climb up HIGHER before we can start. I suppose all this is to make sure we lose our perspective of the ground and make us feel safer but it sure didn’t help.

< Picture courtesy of Ivan

Once we reached the required height the fear begins.

As you cross each challenge (there’s 23 in total), you can’t help but noticing that you are slightly better than walking a tightrope across the forest canopy.

Add to the effect that you are so helpless up there, there’s no handrails! By right we had to ignore the presence of the safety line but since the platform itself is swaying to the bridge, it’s hard not to take advantage of it.

There’s a couple of different obstacles and each are rated on its difficulty. Most will feel challenging on itself but as we get used to it, we started to enjoy it.

For example the flying fox. It was to be a track with the least amount of work but required the most amount of guts (200 grams of it) but it turned out to be the most enjoyable moments in the track.

The track condition itself feels good and safe and there’s no sign on wear and tear on the gear nor the supports itself. Which is why we are able to do most Indiana Jones timed jump sequences.

Reality has been harsh. All the time spent on Tomb Raider, Star Wars and Prince of Persia didn’t help in tackling some suspended PVC tubes. Jumping across short tubes might seem easy on  photo but when you look down and see this:

And note that the tubes actually swings apart in between your legs, then jumping across just doesn’t seem that easy anymore. In fact the more you linger the more you know staying in bed is the best decision you did not make.

To be honest, the scary moments are usually while you are on the platform itself due to the narrow walkways and the trees sway in the wind. Also when you look down to take a picture and you realize your camera is not sling across your neck, dropping it just makes taking a picture not worth it.

The pictures you see here tells half the story, for it means I feel safe enough to take a picture, the really scary ones are those you do not see here. For those, nothing short of going there yourself will give it the credit it deserves.

In the meantime while we cool off and plan for the next trip, I only have the following 2 composite picture to share, the rest is in my Facebook album.