Kuala Krai is a territory (jajahan) and town in the interior of the State of Kelantan in the north-east of Malaysia.
Kuala Krai territory is a landlocked administrative area in the centre of the State of Kelantan in the north east of Malaysia. The land is hilly, and before the 20th century the entire area was tropical rain forest. The territory contains the confluence of two major rivers, the Lebir and Galas, to form the Kelantan River, which then flows some 70 km northwards through one of the most densely populated flood plains on the Malay Peninsular to its estuary in the South China Sea near the State capital of Kota Bharu.
As transport links improved during the 20th century, people moved into the area to take advantage of the abundant land available for farming. A railway was constructed in the 1920s through the undeveloped interior of Malaysia to link Kelantan State with the main centres of population on the west coast. This line ran through Kuala Krai territory, and settlements became established along its route. Road links followed, and towns and villages grew to cater for the mainly agricultural population.
Rubber production was increasingly important throughout Malaysia, and many rubber tree plantations were set up in this area. Later, the country-wide shift to oil palm in the 1970s and 1980s saw the establishment of oil palm plantations in the territory, some of which replaced rubber.
Infrastructure developed to support the population and by the end of the 20th century Kuala Krai town had become a busy thriving town, and the administrative centre for the territory.
Some of the better known towns and villages in the territory include Dabong, Kemubu, Manek Urai, Pahi and Kampung Laloh.
Kuala Krai has excellent transport links. The railway station is on the Keretapi Tanah Melayu main line that runs from from Tumpat and Wakaf Bharu (close to Kota Bharu) right through the interior of the country toGemas on the west of the peninsula, where it joins the main west coast line from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. The town has good road links, with Federal Route 8 passing close to the town. And it is on the western bank of the Kelantan River, along which there are regular boat services up-river from the town.
Hospital Kuala Krai (HKK) opened in 1917, built on a small hill close to the town. Known as Hospikrai, it now serves a population of 200,000 in the southern part of Kelantan, and has 120 beds and 218 staff. The hospital has resident specialists in Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pediatrics, Surgery, Anesthesiology, Pathology and Medical; there are visiting specialists from Kota Bharu for work in Psychiatric, Dermatology,Ophthalmology, Orthopedic and ENT.
Kuala Krai Mini Zoo is managed by the District Council and open to the public. It is home to a variety of animals, including a male elephant called "Salleh", monkeys, bears, deer and various birds. The site extends to about 10 acres (40,000 m2), and also includes a Mini Museum displaying photographs and documents relating to the history of Kuala Krai, as well as a number of preserved animals. The mini zoo first opened in 1961, the only zoo to specialise exclusively in animals from the Malaysian jungle.
There is a small public library in the town which, as well as giving access to its collection of books, affords public access to the internet for a small charge.
Eighty-one concrete steps leading down from the town to the river bank and boat jetty were constructed sometime between 1927 and 1929, and were named the Bradley Steps after a Mr. Gerald Bradley who was the energetic District Officer of the interior of Kelantan at the time. They have recently been renamed the Kuala Krai Steps.
Just upstream from the town is the confluence of the Lebir and Galas rivers to become the Kelantan river, and it became clear that an elevated river level at the Bradley Steps was a good predictor of imminent flooding in the cultivated and populated river basin further downstream. Consequently, stick gauges were placed by the steps so that the river level could be read and monitored by the local police, who transmitted the rainfall and water level information via VHF sets to the Flood Warning and Relief Committee in Kota Bharu.
The Kelantan Department of Drainage and Irrigation has since replaced the stick gauges with metric plates. This facilitates the prediction of flood levels and lead-times in villages all the way from Kuala Krai to the river estuary. The steps, and the floodwater level, can be seen on the Kuala Krai Flood Webcam.
SOURCE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuala_Krai
