a very interesting to know how the mangrove trees are use during the early years. The charcoal manufacturing and people living style of this town in the early days.
a very interesting to know how the mangrove trees are use during the early years. The charcoal manufacturing and people living style of this town in the early days.
Visited this place again with the family on June 10th. This time the park charged RM5 per head and RM2 for the car. We parked at the right side of the main resting hut. When my daughter alighted from the car with her ipad, immediately a group of monkeys approached her in a menacing manner. When she tried to shoo them away, a few were showing their fangs. Luckily I took out my walking stick, with the help of a Malay guy (who was resting at the hut), we managed to move away safely. According to that kind-hearted man, since many visitors with kids started feeding these primates, this family of nearly 20 monkeys have gathered daily at the same location, waiting to be feed or grabbed anything which look like food. We chose the left entrance instead. More broken planks than last year, and the saddest thing was, the landmark tree (more than 80 year old) had been chopped down, and there were more than 20 logs, all cleanly chainsawed, awaiting to be sent to charcoal factory? And most of the signboards were gone. We spent less than 20 minutes here. What a disappointing outing. Reminders: for new visitor, park your car facing the washroom; walk in a big group with walking sticks; carry a back pack instead of plastic bag; and never feed the monkeys.
My better half and I visited this forest reserve yesterday. It is located about 500 meters from the Kuala Sepetang town, formerly known as Port Weld. It is about 16 km from Taiping.
This mangrove forest reserve was gazetted as a Permanent Forest Reserve in 1906. It has more than 30 species of mangrove trees and is the habitat of many species of wildlife. It is the breeding ground for various types of fishes and crustaceans like prawns and crabs. It is also the home of several types of birds like the white-bellied sea eagle and kingfishers. Many migratory birds from the northern hemisphere also stop here on their way to Australia.
We found the place quite well-maintained. We enjoyed the refreshing walk along the 1.6km long wooden boardwalk above the muddy mangrove floor. The atmosphere was cool and the air was fresh and invigorating. However, it was very disappointing to see plastic bottles and polystyrene boxes trapped among the roots of the trees. Visitors must refrain from throwing their rubbish in the forest reserve and the workers there should try to remove these environment unfriendly discards. It would also be great if the workers can remove all the sawn pieces of the trees from the mangrove floor. As it is now, these pieces of wood do spoil the natural beauty of the place.
There are several chalets, activity platforms and a jetty in the forest reserve. The parking area is vast. However, the personnel manning the main gate collected entrance fees from visitors and cars entering the forest reserve and no receipts were issued. We are not sure if this collection is sanctioned by the authorities.
We arranged our booking over the phone as I had found a number for Khairul on the kualasepetang.com website whilst doing some research. As far as I could find, this was the only way to pre-book so hesitantly went ahead. No pre-payment necessary, but it was a bit more costly as there were only 2 of us to split the cost between. However, it was totally worth it-to see these amazing creatures in the wild and to be shown by someone local, who truly has a passion for these wonderful little creatures, and the environment around. Despite my reservations to begin with, the tour was very well organised and we were met at the toll plaza and shown the way to go. It is amazing how close you are to amazing wildlife when only a few minutes before were on a very busy motorway!
As far as the amount of fireflies is concerned (I know a number of reviews i read commented on low numbers in other places) the were trees full - twinkling away, whilst Khairul told us all about them!
A wonderful way to spend an evening - and even better to support local people with a great attitude to the environment :)
Beautiful area with lots of wildlife. You can see monkeys and eagles and of course the mangrove trees. We took a boat excursion out to the area where the eagles feed and really enjoyed it.
Good for a walk but poor in wildlife including birds. I would not recommend it for birders. Neverthless it has good chalets although there are no food outlets within the park.