A stretch of rapids ahead and this large group of rafts gather to shoot through one by one.
Your helmet and life jacket are strapped on, and you might get butterflies in your stomach on seeing the roaring river with churning white water and massive boulders.
You might even have second thoughts, but then among the other white water rafting participants are children as young as five, also wearing helmets and life jackets and ready to tackle the river with their parents.
The torrents of swirls and currents of the river may look downright frightening to you if you are a newbie, but how dangerous can it be if even young kids are going along, you wonder.
“And after they try it the first time, they always come back to do it again,” smiled Haslil Razif Amir Hassan, a white water rafting expert.
Filled up with water? The inflatable raft is still unsinkable.
The river is Sungai Geroh in Gopeng, and white water rafters begin from a hillside which is only about 150m above sea level.
The rafting journey is about 7km downriver to the point where the river meanders placidly, and, depending on the time of the year, you either get an adrenaline-charged trip or a few thrills through the rapids with gentle stretches along a fast-flowing, crystal clear river.
“From October to January, when it rains almost every day, Sungai Geroh will be much fuller and the swells larger.
“After January, the dry weather makes the river shallow, you will see more rocks and the rapids are smaller,” Haslil Razif explained.
For first timers, he said doing it during the dry weather would be more fun.
A family getting a safety briefing from the helmsman before they launch into the river behind those trees.
“Almost everyone who tried it during the dry weather wants to come back during the wet weather for another trip when the river is full. Once they realise it is exciting and yet safe, they will always repeat the trips,” he said.
Haslil Razif, who has been running his white water rafting operation for 15 years, said that between 2013 and last year, his team had taken 2,889 families, and large groups from 98 government and corporate clients down the river with zero injuries and accidents.
He advised first timers to book their trips during off-peak seasons.
He said there were over 25 white water rafting operators and during the peak holiday seasons, they can hold 50 to 80 trips a day.
“There is an almost festive atmosphere up on the hillside every day during holidays because hundreds of people go up and the hillside road to the launch point can sometimes be quite congested.
“So when you take leave and come during working days, you will find a much quieter experience,” he said.
The other challenge with holiday seasons is the traffic congestion.
“On every holiday season, at least one group will arrive late because of the holiday jam on the highways and when they are late, they will miss their first rafting trip.
The looks on the faces of Haslil Razif's sons aged four, seven and eight are priceless as they ride the fun route in Sungai Geroh, which has only mild swirls on a fast flowing river.
Haslil Razif explained that due to the logistics of transporting rafts and participants to the launch point uphill, every operator has a fixed number of rafting trips they can do per day.
Therefore, participants – who may be arriving from other states – need to arrive punctually to be transported upriver at the prescribed time.
It will be a 30-minute lorry ride to the launch point.
Participants cannot drive up in their own cars because of the lack of parking space uphill.
For large groups, they ride standing in the back of the lorry and since everyone will be helmeted with life jackets snugly fitted and wielding a paddle each, they might feel a little like a platoon of soldiers being deployed.
For small groups, they will likely be in the lorry with their rafts.
White water rafting became popular in the 1950s after modern technology allowed for the invention of inflatable rafts, which are unsinkable even when overturned.
Seven ladies and two rafts off on a 30-min journey from their campsite to the launch point.
Today’s rafts are made with such strong material that almost the only way to puncture them is by stabbing one with a knife; the material is impervious to anything naturally encountered while rafting.
Each raft, explained Haslil Razif, typically has at least four air chambers, meaning that it will never deflate should an air leak occur at one spot.
He uses high-tech rafts made in the United States, which costs about RM15,000 to import now.
“These rafts come with a 10-year manufacturer’s warranty. That alone tells you how well made they are,” he said, adding that there are also a variety of rafts which are made in China and Indonesia.
A large group of rafting enthusiasts arriving by lorry at the launch point.
His rafts can hold four adults or two adults and three children.
For families with children aged three to five, they get to go on the “fun route” - a 5km section of Sungai Geroh along a lower elevation that has mild white water.
Only children aged 10 and above can join in on the “adventure route”.
“For children aged six to nine, it depends on the physical sizes and the assessment of the trip leader.
“The trip leader will determine the children’s ability to take instructions and communicate with the guide, who is also the helmsman on the raft,” Haslil Razif explained.
Haslil Razif Amir Hassan (right) helping a paddler lash on his life jacket snugly.
There are a few other configurations of groups that the trip leader will consider before deciding if the group experiences the fun or adventure routes, and Haslil Razif said families can text the ages of the family members to him (010-222 2294 or 017-215 1409) to get advice.
Based on the international scale of river difficulty created by the American Whitewater Association, he said the rapids of Sungai Geroh are only Class II, which is defined as “straightforward rapids with wide, clear channels which are evident without scouting”.
During the rainy season, he said the river’s white water become Class III+, defined as “rapids with moderate, irregular waves which may be difficult to avoid”.
The scale has a total of six classes, and rapids in the higher classes should only be attempted by experts.
Life jackets and helmets sized for children and adults.
All white water rafters are advised not to wear watches and jewellery, nor bring along phones or cameras because these items have a likelihood of falling to the river.
“But having photos of the trip is important. The guide will take the photos and a member of our team will be on standby at specific sections by the riverbank to take high-resolution photos for the rafters as they pass exciting stretches,” said Haslil Razif.
Adults on board are each equipped with a paddle to help move the raft occasionally, while the trained helmsman at the rear does the steering.
As for prices, he said the operators offer a wide range of package to fit groups and families. Usually, the price is between RM600 to RM900 for a group of four adults depending on the season and it comes with 2D1N camping with a roomy cabin tent tall enough to stand in. Also provided are meals, a barbecue, photography and video clips and the rafting trip.
