Russ and Jan's World Cruise: Sunday, March 19, 2023

For anyone posting comments on the blog, they come to us as “anonymous”. Please add at least your name and maybe email, and I may be able to respond. THANKS!

Sunday, March 19 – Langkawi, Malaysia

Our excursion today was to take a boat ride through the mangroves. We thought this would be a different approach to sightseeing.

We couldn’t have been more correct. And to top it off, we had a beautiful sunrise.

Once again, we are at a tender port. We were advised it would be a bit of a walk from the pier to the busses. Yeah! At least ½ a mile. We boarded our bus for a transfer to the pier for the boats in the Kilim Geoforest Park. 30-40 minutes. The Park is a UNESCO site and part of a system of Geoparks that UNESCO has sponsored and is 100+ square kilometers. First, we are to visit the bat caves, then the crocodile cave. Then a fish farm and finally the mangroves.

Not real excited about bats, but it is mid-morning and they should all be resting. A short ride up the river from the Park base, and we unloaded to walk through the cave. The cave itself is an old streambed that is now above the water level. Low clearance, but the path is well marked, although we were advised to not touch the handrails. You probably wouldn’t like the smell left on your hand if you do. There are stalactites as well as stalagmites. As soon as you are inside, you can see the opening for the exit.

Two long tailed Macaque monkeys, just waiting to steal something from someone.

We had also been forewarned by the guides that the "mafia" hangs out at the bat caves. The mafia are actually long tailed macaque monkeys that like to rip off sunglasses, hats, cell phones, etc. We took this warning to heart and had everything secured and no sunglasses on. As we exited the cave, I noticed a monkey hanging around. A young lady was trying to get some photos. I moved on not making eye contact. All of a sudden, I felt my purse being tugged on. I wear it across my body, so I grabbed it and swung it around to find a monkey latched on to it. Russ grabbed at it and it dropped and scampered a few feet away. That was certainly startling. Unfortunately, I have no pictures. The little bugger did not steal anything either.

Mom macaque and her baby

Bats.

Towards the bottom of the photo, my camera picked up one in flight.

Back on the boat and we headed downriver. The scenery is great! Dramatic hills draped in jungle; the edges of the river lined with mangroves. We learned that there are over 80 varieties of mangrove and the island of Langkawi has about 60 of those varieties. The crocodile cave is just a low cave that passes through to another arm of the river. Water was a little too high while we were there to go all the way through.

Very interesting rock formations

Having fun as we speed along the river

The fish farm buildings

We'll be back in a bit to view the fish at this restaurant

Crocodile Cave

The driver of our boat was having a very good time with the boat. When appropriate, he was driving at high speed, slicing through the water, twisting back and forth across the river. A fine time. We hadn’t done anything like that in many many years since our days of some white water rafting in Oregon. We stopped at the fish farm which is in reality a number of restaurants set up on floating docks. They grow their own fish, and then serve it to boaters and kayakers that stop by.

Fish tank. These were 18" to 2' long.

We also stopped for a while to watch for sea eagles. The name of this island is Langkawi. Lang = eagle. Kawi = red brown. These sea eagles are not as large as an American Eagle but they are a very large bird and beautiful. With wings spread you can see the red brown coloration. Their breast and head are white. You couldn’t count all of them that were flying above us. Several landed in trees very near our boat. What a sight!

Two of these beauties.

We spent a bit of time gliding through the mangroves. These trees are amazing. This island suffers no damage from tsunamis due to the natural defenses. There are reefs of coral and then the shores are lined with mangroves. The mangroves absorb all that energy.

We went all the way out into the Strait of Malacca and looked back at the shoreline before heading back upriver to the Park headquarters and our bus back to the pier. We stopped and had a beer with friends on the pier before heading back to the tender.