Mount Setong or Mount Stong ( Malay: ''Gunung Setong'' or ''Gunung Stong'') is a mountain located in

Dabong Dabong, also known as Kuala Krai Selatan, is a small town in Kuala Krai District, Kelantan, Malaysia. It has a Dabong railway station, railway station. The famous Gua Ikan (Fish Cave) is situated nearby on the Galas River. The town is located a ...

, southern

Kuala Krai District Kuala Krai (Kelantanese: ) is a Districts of Malaysia, district (jajahan) in Kelantan, Malaysia. Historically, it was known as ''Kuala Lebir''. Background The Kuala Krai district is a landlocked district in the centre of the State of Kelanta ...

Kelantan Kelantan (; Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate''; ) is a state in Malaysia. The capital, Kota Bharu, includes the royal seat of Kubang Kerian. The honorific, honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' ("The Blissful Abode"). ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. It is situated approximately 300 km (186 mi) from

Kota Bharu Kota Bharu ( Kelantanese: ''Koto Baghu''), colloquially referred to as KB, is a town in Malaysia that serves as the state capital and royal seat of Kelantan. It is situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia and lies near the mout ...

, the state capital. While it stands within Kuala Krai, it is also relatively closer to

Gua Musang district Gua Musang ( Kelantanese: ) is a town, district and parliamentary constituency in southern Kelantan, Malaysia. It is the largest district in Kelantan. Gua Musang is administered by the Gua Musang District Council. Gua Musang district is bordered ...

. The 1,422-metre-high mountain is a popular location for mountain climbers for its rough and challenging treks.

Geography and ecology

Mount Setong is located within a

massif A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...

in the northern part of the

Titiwangsa Mountains The Titiwangsa Mountains ( Malay: ''Banjaran Titiwangsa'', ), also known as ''Banjaran Besar'' (lit. 'main range') by locals, is the chain of mountains that forms the backbone of the Malay Peninsula. The northern section of the range is in sout ...

. It is surrounded by several other peaks, namely Mts. Basor, Ayam, Baha, Anak Noring and Chamah. The area around Mount Setong, including Gunung Setong State Park, provides a vital habitat for Malayan tigers, a protected

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

in the country.

Forest profile

The mountain features hill

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indo ...

, upper dipterocarp and

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

forests, as the elevation gradually increases. There is an abundance of flora containing beneficial and medicinal properties that can be obtained within these forests.

Special features

The mountain and its vicinities are part of the larger Gunung Stong State Park and Geopark, which is nationally hailed as a famed

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

within

. In addition, within the park's grounds are the 303-metre-high Jelawang Falls, which boast one of the highest waterfall drops in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

References

Mountains of Kelantan Titiwangsa Mountains {{Kelantan-geo-stub

Geography and ecology

Forest profile

Special features

See also

References