Today we had booked an excursion with the ship on a mangrove boat excursion at the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park.
We did the usual – gathered in the Stardust Theatre to meet with the rest of the group, then exited off the ship and moved to a waiting bus. In today’s case, the bus was an 800 metre walk away. But we had this beautiful view to look at as we were walking!
It was quite humid and about 30 C today, so air conditioning in the bus was appreciated. After a 40 minute drive we arrived at our destination. We divided into two boats that each held 18 people. Our group of four made sure to stay together.
We first went a minute down the river to get to to the Kelawar Cave Geosite. The geosite is located within the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park in the east of Langkawi. This cave is located in an isolated limestone hill in the mangroves. The layer of this cave represents the ancient sea level about 5,000 years ago.
We saw plenty of sleeping bats (and a few awake ones flying) as well as stalagmites and stalactites.
We learned a tremendous amount of interesting information about mangroves. Of course, mangroves grow in brackish water (a mix of salt and freshwater). In 2004 when Indonesia had a devastating tsunami (that killed 150,000 people), Langkawi was the second hardest island hit. Part of what saved Langkawi was the existence of the island of Sumatra. Then on the island of Langkawi the 5 or 6 kilometres of mangroves along the shoreline, acted as a barrier taking the force of about 90% of the tsunami wave.
We then went on a boat ride at higher speeds where we went to an eagle nesting area.
We saw white bellied sea eagles that were impressive. It was exciting to see Bromony Kites too.
We went out to the ocean entrance to the park and had this amazing opportunity for a selfie!
We stopped at a floating fish ‘farm’ which showed examples of various fish – including sea bass, red snapper, flounder and horseshoe crab.
It was an excellent day seeing the beautiful sights of Malaysia!
Once the boat tour was done we headed back to the bus for the drive back to port. We did a little shopping before returning to the ship.
After lunch on the ship, the others played a game of bridge and I returned to the room to clean myself up and organize a few things. Our delicious supper was followed by a game of Five Crowns!
Tomorrow we are in Penang, Malaysia – so breakfast at 7 am awaits!
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