Oct 28 2008
Where Are The Fireflies In Kuala Selangor?
Recently I went to Kuala Selangor to watch fireflies. We rode on the boat and travel along the river to see them on the river banks. There are two famous places there, Kampung Kuantan which is on the upstream of the river, and Kampung Bukit Belimbing on the downstream.
These fireflies are little insects which emit light on their abdomen. They emit light for mating purpose. But I read that one type of female fireflies use the light to attract male fireflies to them and eat them up!
I was there in Kuala Selangor in 2004, now again in 2008. There were not many fireflies four years ago. But to my surprise, there are even less now! What happened? I don’t know. Four years ago I saw people catching them while watching. Or maybe that place is no longer an ideal habitat for the fireflies.
While waiting on the jetty, I could see a photo showing hundreds of fireflies beaming their light. I don’t know when the photo was taken, and for how long exposure time it was taken. But I’m sure people would have an expectation of watching so many fireflies by the river.
Unfortunately, this was not the case. If you want to see how satisfied the customers are after visiting a place, look at their faces when they come out. Do you see a lot of smiles? Do you think they will go out telling their friends to come? Sorry to say but watching fireflies is a one-time business only.
What will happen if the day comes there is no more firefly in Kuala Selangor? Less tourists will go there. There is even a firefly resort built near the jetty to accomodate tourists coming for fireflies. Do they have to close shop then?
Well, hopefully they could do something to preserve the fireflies. Otherwise Kuala Selangor will no longer be on the tourists’ map for fireflies. But if the “extinction” is expected sooner or later, then perhaps it’s time to change business model not to depend so much on fireflies any more.
Sometimes, we may need to proactively “disrupt” our business first, before it is disrupted by others.
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Which one you went and visit? Kg Kuantan or Belimbing? the latter have more
Hi Jarod, long time no see. Wish you fine
I went to Kampung Bukit Belimbing. Did you go too?
Hi Ricky,
I also went to Kuala Selangor in 2008, but I seriously saw trees full of fireflies! Maybe you went in the wrong season or something? There were so many, that in the beginning we thought it was fake!
Cheers!
Hi Ricky,
I’ve been to Kuala Selangor, Kampung Kuantan to watch the fireflies last weekends and i also saw many trees full of fireflies. It just like a X’mas tree. Last weekened by the time i been there was not that crowded with visitors, hence the ‘pakcik sampan’ do some sharing with us. According to him, the number of fireflies aren’t decreased by time and just we should be there on the right time. The time that he meant was on lunar calendar/islamic calendar, day 1-8 or 18-24 at 745pm will be the best time for fireflies watch. This is because, if it is full moon night and we hardly see the fireflies in some distance away since the moon too bright. When comes to raining day, it’s a good time because the water level will rise and all the fireflies will gather on top of the tree and we are more closer to the top of tree .With the increasing water level, more reflection of fireflies light from the water and this would enchanced the beauty of the fireflies. I don’t know how true is it but in my mind, for sure i will be there again for the right time.
(PS: We don’t be able to capture those beauty of fireflies with our camera because the male fireflies flash 3 times in a second and female a time in second. So, just keep the camera to enjoy the fireflies and stars watching along the river)
Thanks all for sharing
I’m glad that we have many interesting places for tourists right here in Malaysia, including Kuala Selangor for its fireflies. Especially now in such bad economy, domestic tourism is going to be a boost!