What’s 98 little islands and one big one? Langkawi!

 Today we are heading to Langkawi, Malaysia to explore the mangrove forest. On this trip we have tried to make any UNESCO site a priority. We will be visiting the mangrove forest here, checking out a cave of bats and being in nature for the day.  We had to tender to the port, well, not really a port, a resort dock to start our trips. We arrived there at 10 am this morning, anchored , cleared customs, loaded on tenders and onto buses all by 10:30.. the efficiency of the excursion crew is always amazing! And we are talking about 300-800 passengers!

I’m going to concentrate totally on this place in today’s blog. The Kilim  Geoforest Park is a UNESCO Geo forest. They receive funding and are certified by the organization to promote and save the mangrove forest here on the island.  Every four years they are re evaluated to see if they are maintaining the eco system to the standards expected. Their focus is the environmental health of the island and its mangrove trees. The rock formations have been found to contain fossils from four time eras of earth’s development. In order to receive this designation, the island had to close four marble factories down ( the rocks containing fossils).The government has decided that the UNESCO rating and eco tourism is the future for Langkawi. 

Our departure point

Mangroves

Our boat could haul A** up and down the mango groves…

Heading to the crocodile cave (no actual crocodiles) It looks like a crocodile mouth.

Trying to decide if our boat will fit in Crocodile cave since its high tide.  We decided to go for it!

Next we headed to a local fish farm.  This showed us various fish and gave us a chance to see how they farmed.. This was mostly for show, but representative of the local fish farms.

Stingray..Al managed to pet it

Below : puffer fish

Off we go to the next site!

Eagles hunting in the skies.

Our guide explaining how mangroves propagate. He was a special kind of guy. He came here for his vacation 20 years ago and never went back to his job in KL as a travel agent. He believed so much in the mangroves and helping with their safety that he studied , became a ranger and devoted his life to educating others on the importance of the mangrove forest.

At last it was time to visit the bat caves.  The bats that are here are fruit bats and insect eating bats. They are a protected species here as in the US. 

The cave was impressive, although I did not go into it. I never have been able to go to caves, i get anxiety just getting close. I made it almost to the entrance but then could not go in. Luckily Albert took great pictures when he was inside.

Bats lined the wall

What was I doing while Albert headed into the cave? Well, I chose to sit at the jetty where we boarded the boat.  There were a group of monkeys hanging around…they grab everything they can.. especially food or purses or glasses or anything they can get their little hands on! I found one near where I was sitting and concentrated on taking pictures. 

Unbeknow to me, one of these little jerks came up behind me and grabbed me by the hair and started scratching my head and hissing… the girls at the ticket counter started throwing bread and a fan at him to scare him away from me….needless to say, I was freaked out and have nothing nice to think about the title jerk.. all the way home I felt like i had bugs in my hair from his little clawed hands…..I could just see me explaining how I got a scratched bald head in the next day’s pictures! Anyway, here’s the culprits cousin:

They look so cute but trust me, they are all jerks given the chance! Even with the attack of the monkey, today was a great learning tour and we all enjoyed it.

Tomorrow we finish our visit with Malaysia with a visit to Georgetown.