Kuala Sepetang Discovery: Mangroves, Charcoal Factory & Fireflies

11 AM: Meet & Greet our friendly driver at your Kuala Lumpur hotel lobby and transfer to Kuala Sepatang fisherman village. Enroot for lunch stop at your own expenses. (Travel duration around 2.30 - 3 Hrs driving per way)

Tour Itinerary:

11 am: Meet & Greet at Kuala Lumpur Hotel & Transfer to Kuala Sepatang

Kuala Sepetang is a coastal town located in Perak, Malaysia. Just about 60 minutes or 72 km/45 miles to the north-west of Ipoh city to Kuala Sepetang. It is a thriving fishing village, and the main jumping-off point to the river mouth community of Kuala Sangga, which is a Chinese fishing community at the river mouth which specializes in fish breeding in cages. The Port Weld railway station was located at the centre of town. The whole railway line from here to Taiping, which was the first railway line in the Peninsular, is now dismantled, and now only the ticketing booth and the Port Weld railway signboard remain.

Kuala Gula Bird Sanctuary

A few kilometres at the northern tip of the Matang mangrove forest lies a large wetland swamp where local and migratory birds flourish. Go see the endangered storks, egrets, herons, kingfishers, bulbuls, doves, woodpeckers, magpies, sunbirds, tailorbirds, swifts, sparrows, kites and migratory birds from the northern hemisphere.

The Kuala Gula Bird Sanctuary is among the well-established bird sanctuaries in the Asian region. It was established in the early 1970’s with the main objective is to protect and conserve the migratory as well as resident bird species.

There are more than 160 species of birds found in the Kuala Gula Bird Sanctuary comprising at least 48 species of migratory birds and 118 species of resident or local birds. The migratory birds such as the Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata), Common Redshank (Tringa totanus), Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia), Mongolian Plovers (Charadrius mongolus), Pacific Goldenplover (Pluvialis fulva).

The 40,000-hectare Matang Mangrove Forest was gazetted as a Permanent Forest Reserve in 1906. Today, it is recognized as the best managed sustainable mangrove ecosystem in the world. This mangrove reserve contains rich and diverse wildlife that provide nature lovers to visit and explore its wetlands and resources. Near to this reserve are silvicultural programmes of the Rhizophora, Lenggadai and Seaward berus forests carried out professionally by the Perak State Forestry Department. This is also regarded as the breeding grounds for numerous species of marine crustaceans including crabs, shrimps, lobsters, horseshoe crabs and prawns as well as fishes and shellfishes.

The Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve has been proven to act as a natural barrier against tsunamis. Undoubtedly, it is an important site for coastal migratory water birds and a portion of migrant forest birds. As many as 43,000 to 85,000 birds may be seen using the forest during the migration.

The charcoal factory in Matang (Kuala Sepetang) is located right in the middle of a spectacular mangrove forest since 1940. Mangrove forest is an important part of the ecosystems around the world and in Malaysia there is fortunately quite some left. It all start with harvesting the mangrove trees. The trees need a certain size which is reached after 30 years. When an area is harvested, new trees are planted and that area is not touched then for 30 years.

Do you ever wonder how and what are needed to make charcoal? It is a good time for you to learn additional knowledge. The charcoal factory is owned by Mr. Chuah, who obtained a very good feedback on internet because of his ability to share his story and passion on charcoal. Every single process in a charcoal factory is manually done by human power. Charcoal production is a long process and involved lots of man power.

4.00 pm: Tour to the fisherman village. Guest will know about their houses, boats and their way of life. Stop over a fish farm to see fish, puffer fish, horse shoe crab and archer fish.

6.00 pm: Diner at Kuala Sepetang Seafood Restaurant

7.30 pm: Slide show about fireflies.

8.00 pm: Night time boat rides to see the fireflies. One of the simple natural wonders of mangrove forests, these flashing insects amaze visitors with their

9.00 pm: End of trip & back to Kuala Lumpur.(You will reach arounf midnight 12am to your hotel at Kuala Lumpur)