NST travel contributor dies while hiking in Gerik
IPOH
NEW Straits Times contributor, Zulkifly Ab Latif, 40, a travel writer and photographer, died while hiking up Pulau Tali Kail in Gerik yesterday. Zulkifly, from Kota Tinggi, Johor, had suffered from breathing difficulty before collapsing.
He was one of 18 media participants who took part in the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry’s Eco-Tourism Exploration familiarisation trip deep in the jungles of central Perak.
It was a three-day programme that started on Tuesday.
It was learnt that he had complained of chest pains and nausea before collapsing and losing consciousness.
A Perak Fire and Rescue Department spokesman said it received a distress call at 1.27pm.
“We received a phone call saying that a member of the press, who was a participant of a eco-tourism exploration programme, was unconscious.
“Firemen from Gerik were dispatched to the scene to bring down the man to the Banding Jetty.”
The spokesman said the man was pronounced dead at the scene and his remains were handed over to the police. The operation ended at 5.20pm and the body was taken to Gerik Hospital for a postmortem.
Zulkfifly had been a regular contributor to NST Life & Times’ Travel (now known as Jom!) since 2009.
He began his writing career in Kumpulan Media KarangKraf’s Remaja magazine before finding his niche at another publication in the same group, Traverama.
Jom! editor Zalina Mohd Som said Zulkifly had attended a photography course when he wrote for Traverama.
This led to him honing his skills in photography, which got him noticed by the team at Life & Times travel section. He was roped in to be one of its regular writers in 2009.
Zalina said: “I lost a good writer and a good friend. He loved nature and diving assignments. He was the only one in our pool of writers who was a certified diver.”
Zulkifly, a bachelor and the eldest of four siblings, was based in Kampung Makam, Kota Tinggi, where he lived with his mother, a single parent in her 70s who runs a lempeng food stall.
Zalina said: “He always championed small-time independent guides. He would say, ‘Why do we need to help bigger corporations instead of these independent guides, who are making things happen?’
“That’s why, at the end of his articles, he’d write down the phone numbers of the pak cik or mak cik guides he took for the trip.
“He fought for the protection of our nature too.”
On March 9, Zulkifly broke a story about the discovery of the world’s 29th species of the Rafflesia flower on Tioman island.
Zalina said when writing on such issues, Zulkifly was critical of the authorities’ stance of wanting to prioritise development over environmental protection.
However, she said, Zulkifly was a good listener and a family man.
“The reason he moved back to Johor was to take care of his mum.”
Zalina said she and Zulkifly shared many hobbies and they had planned to hike up Gunung Stong together after Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
The ministry conveyed its condolences from its staff to Zulkfifly’s next of kin.
“The ministry will render suitable assistance with the handling of his remains. May his soul be blessed and placed among the pious and righteous.