Nature Park, Here We Come....!!!!
On January 23rd, me and my colleagues decided to go on a trip to Kuala Selangor's Nature Park for a field survey. The journey took about 1 - 2 hours drive from KL. It appears to me that the town celebrates this park as their landmark, since the park largely being advertised all over town. The vicinity is very quiet and peaceful, although located near town. Next to the Nature Park is the Freshwater Fish Display. The entrance ticket for the Nature Park is fairly cheap, which is just RM4.00 for adult.
Walk in the park...experience the surprises
There are 3 distinct habitat in Nature Park, which is secondary forest, man-made brackish water lake, and mangrove forest. In the secondary forest trail, you will be amazed by variety of tree formations as you walk in. But as a reminder, do bring mosquito repellent with or wear cloth that cover up the skin when you travel along this path because there is a lot of mosquitoes. That is why they called it secondary forest you know, with mosquitoes all over the area.
Dumb monitor lizard...why pick longer trail?
After the secondary forest is the trail leading to the brackish water lake, and you will notice that mosquitoes starts disappearing. The journey is much pleasant because now butterflies flying over you instead of mosquitoes, and you will also see beautiful birds singing songs of various tone back and forth among themselves.
Brackish water lake, one of bird-watching area...
The viewing tower
The view at the top of viewing tower...lake (right), mangrove (left)
Around the lake area, there are stops built such as hut and tower for the visitors. Not only these facilities serve as shelter for the visitors, but also can be used as wildlife watching spot, mainly birds. The lake is actually located adjacent to the mangrove forest and bordered by a road. There are two entrances along the road, which leads the visitors into the mangrove forest.
The pathway into the mangrove forest
Mangrove seedlings soon-ready-to-be-planted
A Long-Tailed-Macaque
Tree-Climbing Crab?
Mud skipper enjoying a mud bath Entering the pathway into the mangrove forest, instantly we saw several species of crabs and mud skippers. Not to be forgotten is the long-tailed-macaque, which is very 'polite' with the visitors in a sense and seems to become primary residence of the mangrove forest. However we did not manage to find any silvered-leaf-monkey anywhere in the park area, which is rather disappointing. The park management regularly organize planting of mangrove trees for the public, which they provides the seedlings ready to be transplanted into the mangrove forest.
The entrance door for pathway that leads to the sea
Young mangrove trees planted along the mangrove forest pathway
Along the U-shaped mangrove forest pathway, there is a junction for another pathway and this juncture leads to the sea. This is where the seedling-transplanting happens. at the very beginning of the pathway, we could see mangrove tree from the species Bruguiera sp., followed by other species such as Rhizophora sp. & Avicennia sp. as we travel further inside.
Viewing point at the end of the path
At the very end of the pathway is a viewing point. It is an open area that overlooks the sea and showing where the starting point of mangrove forest is. It is also a good place for observing seabirds, as they feed during the early morning and late evening. This is the ending point of our survey in the Nature Park of Kuala Selangor.
A rope bridge connecting to trail leading back to the entrance...
The bridge can support 6 person at once...quite strong though
The hitch-hike back from the mangrove forest to the park entrance is very exhausting, unlike the opposite scenario. Along the way back we arrived at a rope bridge, which also leads to a trail directing the park entrance. Unlike the trail we took in earlier part of the journey, this trail is different. This trail has more mosquitoes in it, as well as bends and mud puddles. After a long crossing and fights with the mosquitoes, we finally reach the entrance. Just for advice, do not use this trail if unnecessary.
No comments:
Post a Comment