Kuala Selangor
A Mangrove River An Hour From Kuala Lumpur Where Fireflies Flash In Unison Along The Banks One Of Very Few Places On Earth Where They Synchronise · Kuala Selangor, Selangor
MOST FIREFLIES FLASH AT RANDOM. ALONG THE SELANGOR RIVER THEY FLASH TOGETHER - whole mangrove trees pulsing on and off in unison, thousands of insects synchronised, which happens in only a handful of places on earth and is not fully explained even now. Local people call them KELIP-KELIP and they live in the BERAMBANG trees along the tidal banks. YOU GO OUT AFTER DARK IN A SMALL BOAT AND THE ENGINE GOES OFF. It is genuinely strange and it is AN HOUR FROM KUALA LUMPUR. BY DAY THERE IS BUKIT MELAWATI, a hill with an eighteenth-century Selangor fort, the royal mausoleum and SILVERED LANGURS that come down to be fed. BE AWARE OF THE PRESSURE: light pollution, boat wash and riverbank development have measurably reduced the firefly populations here, and operators vary enormously in how carefully they run. Go at new moon on a dry night, choose the paddled sampan at Kampung Kuantan over the motorboat jetties, and put every light away before the boat leaves the bank.
Kuala Selangor, Selangor, Kuala Selangor, Selangor, Malaysia
KUALA SELANGOR IS ABOUT AN HOUR TO NINETY MINUTES BY ROAD FROM KUALA LUMPUR. THE FIREFLY TRIPS RUN AFTER DARK, typically from around eight, FROM SEVERAL JETTIES - KAMPUNG KUANTAN USES TRADITIONAL PADDLED SAMPAN AND IS THE QUIETER, LOWER-IMPACT OPTION; other jetties use motorboats. CHOOSE THE PADDLED BOATS IF YOU CAN. NO FLASH, NO TORCHES AND NO PHONE SCREENS on the water - light disrupts the display and operators will tell you so. TRIPS ARE CANCELLED IN RAIN AND ARE POOR AROUND THE FULL MOON. BUKIT MELAWATI keeps daytime hours with a small train up the hill; THE SILVERED LANGURS ARE FED BY VENDORS, which is provisioning and is criticised. THE NATURE PARK has mangrove boardwalks. Seafood at Pasir Penambang is the usual dinner.