Pengkalan Kempas was once a bustling port in Negri Sembilan close to the state border with Melaka. Situated on the banks of Sungai Linggi and about 30km southeast of Port Dickson,The town’s main street is flanked on either side by weather-beaten pre-war shophouses, many of them shuttered indefinitely.
But despite being left behind in the march of progress, the town still retains its charm. Before the construction of the North-South Expressway’s southern route from Sungai Besi to Johor Baru, Pengkalan Kempas enjoyed brisk business as a pit stop for motorists en route to Melaka from Port Dickson and Kuala Lumpur.
Pengkalan Kempas was well known in the 1800s and early 1900s as a bustling port town. More than a century ago, the town’s strategic riverside location attracted settlers predominantly from China’s Fujian province who arrived at what is today the Pengkalan Kempas jetty. Locals are proud of this history and a sign at the jetty declares it as the historic landing site of the town’s early Chinese settlers.
These settlers cleared swathes of land to cultivate rice and rubber, and later traded these commodities with merchants who plied the river.
Once upon a time, goods were traded upstream to Port Dickson and beyond, and boats also ferried people to and from Singapore. Now, the rubber plantations have been replaced by oil palm, while boat operators take tourists on eco tours to watch fireflies light up the berembang (sonneratia caseolaris) trees or on fishing trips.
On weekends, the jetty is a favourite spot for anglers who fish for giant freshwater prawns. There is a small restaurant under the shade of a berembang tree by the jetty serving prawn noodles. Just behind the jetty, you can see the remnants of an old jetty (only 1 square beams) and remnants of the laterite walkway where the pioneer Chinese settlers landed here.
“The river and surrounding mangrove forest are teeming with life, and is especially known for estuarine crocodiles or buaya tembaga and fireflies.
How to get here using public transport
There is a public bus myBas numbered T31 from Seremban Terminal 1 bus terminal to this site.
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