Jewels of Sg Chiling Fish Sanctuary

Sg Chiling Fish Sanctuary is located in Sg Chiling Recreational Forest, Hulu Selangor.  It is accessible by road en-route from Kuala Kubu Bahru to Frasher’s Hill.  Sg Chiling is  gazette under Forestry Department, yet managed by the Fishery Department.

Tor tambroides

As the name suggested, Sg Chiling is a safe-heaven for Malayan mahseer ( Tor tambroides ), locally known as kelah.  Here, the kelah are mostly juvenile, swimming upstream against the rapid.  In the market, kelah fetches very handsomely, due to scarcity and its fine texture.   Its population is critically endangered due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution.

Kelah lives in rivers and lakes, ascending to rapid stream for breeding.  They are omnivores, eating small crustaceans, insects, frogs, and also fruits and algae.

Trogonoptera brookiana

It is not difficult to spot a Rajah Brooke's Birdwing butterfly here, at least once throughout the journey.   Yet impossible to photograph.


Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing butterfly ( Trogonoptera brookiana ) is named by Alfred R. Wallace in 1855, after James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak.   Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing is  a protected insects in Peninsular Malaysia ( Protection of Wildlife Act, 1972 ( Act 76 ) ), Sarawak ( Wildlife Protection Ordinance, 1998 ( Chapter 26 ) ), and Sabah ( Wildlife Conservation Enactment , 1997 ).

Nepenthes ampullaria

Nepenthes gracilis

Nepenthes are found along the trail, thriving where sunlight are more abundant, especially right after the suspension bridge, long before the first river crossing.  There are two types of Nepenthes I spotted along the way, perhaps more.  N. gracilis is a common type, a climber with a slender green cups among the paku resam ( Gleichenia linearis ).   N. ampullaria has a smaller, shorter cups with red-brown spot, with cups grow closely together on the ground, hidden beneath the shrubs, thus more difficult to spot.


Nepenthes are popularly known as pitcher plants, monkey cup, or periuk kera in Malay.  They are a genus of carnivorous plants in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae.  Nepenthes are native to the Malay Archipelago.

All Nepenthes are protected in Sarawak ( Wildlife Protection Ordinance, 1998 ( Chapter 26 ) ), and Sabah ( Wildlife Conservation Enactment , 1997 ).