Langkawi, Malaysia

Langkawi, known as the Jewel of Kedah is a duty-free island and an archipelago of 99 islands in the Strait of Malacca, located some 30 km off the coast of northwestern Malaysia. According to one interpretation, Langkawi means island of the reddish-brown eagle. In Malay, Lang means eagle and Kawi means red stone. There is a 39ft. high statue of the eagle in Eagle Square, but unfortunately we did not see it.

The tour today was called “Cave and Mangrove Adventure”

The tour started with a one hour drive to the Kilim jetty. Here we boarded a boat, and headed out to a fish farm where we saw all manner of fish, including a manta ray which you could touch and feed. There was also a large pen of very large, ugly Grouper, which I may never eat again!

Next, we headed off to a quiet section of water to see what they called eagles. In fact they were not eagles but native Red Kikes and Sea Gulls (the guide joked that these Sea Gulls ate fish whereas the ones we know from back home, eat French fries). They attract the birds by throwing pieces of cut up fish in the water behind the boat, then revving up the engine to create a loud noise as well as a large plume of water. The noise and the splashing is a recognized signal that attracts the birds that quickly fly out from their concealed perches in the mangrove trees, and swoop down to pick up the food from the surface and quickly fly away again. He told us that during the pandemic, when there was virtually no tourism, many of the birds died because they were so used to being fed, they lost their instinct to actually catch live fish. As a result, the guides try to keep the feedings at a minimum, so only one boat in a group actually throws the food overboard.
Next, we slowly motored through narrow channels lined by mangrove trees with their exposed roots. Mangroves are tropical trees that thrive in conditions most trees could never tolerate , as outlined before.
At one point, we nosed into the mud bank and the guide, having picked a few stems of immature mangrove trees at the fish farm, showed how to plant them. Lee took a turn and dropped the stem from the bow of the boat, so it stuck in the mud. Apparently in 3-4 months it will be several feet tall.
The next stop was the cave, actually a tunnel, through the base of an island where we were to see hundreds of bats clinging to the roof of the caves. At that point where they were hanging, it was very dark and the flashlight of the guide closest to us, did not provide enough light for us to see them. Peter and Heather, however, saw lots of them. Moving along, the cave got quite high and wide in the middle but then narrowed significantly towards the exit. At that point, it was so shallow, we almost had to crawl on our hands and knees to get through. One of the guides was right behind me and coached me through with his hand on my back to keep it down so I didn’t scrape against the ceiling.
After the bus returned to the pier, it was a fair hike to get back to the ship which then left for Penang, Malaysia at 5:00pm. The entertainment tonight was by Chris Ritchie, described as being one of the UK’s most sought-after vocalists. He did some great impressions of Tom Jones.Read more