Kuala Selangor Fireflies

Situated more than 60km away from KL city, Kuala Selangor is famous for its seafood and one of the most special tourist attraction in Malaysia, Kampung Kuantan.

What makes Kampung Kuantan so special is not some fancy theme parks or huge shopping malls, it's because of fireflies, lots of fireflies.


At first I don't understand why so many people traveled from different places just to see fireflies, it's just an insect with a glowing ass. People told me that it'll be a nice scene in the night with lots of glowing fireflies, so being curious I went to the place and try to figure out why people wanted to see fireflies' glow-in-the-dark asses so much.


The Kampung Kuantan is actually a small jetty beside a mangrove swamps which is categorized as a forest reserve by the government.



I think the place is sponsored or supported by Tenaga Nasional Berhad because upon entrance there were many signboards with the company's logo on it.


A RM10 ticket entitle you for a boat ride around the swamps in the night to see fireflies. I bought my ticket and line up together with a lot of people.

The line was going forward very very slow as the boats are powered by men with paddles instead of motors, this is to prevent disturbance to the fireflies on the mangrove trees caused by the water waves and sound from the motorboats.


I waited for more than an hour because some Malaysians acted like Malaysians. And Malaysians are notorious for cutting the queue, popular tactics include acting like you know someone in front of the line and cut queue, once they got a spot in front they'll call over all their family members including the grandpas, grandmas, uncles, aunties, brothers, sisters, children, mother in laws, father in laws and many more to join them in front.

And if you ask them properly not to cut queue, the whole family will look at you as if you are some kind of moron from Mars.


While I queue I noticed that there were some signboards warning visitors not to disturb the fireflies by doing something like flashing the torchlights, using flash cameras or catching fireflies.



One particular signboard caught my eyes, written on it was a fine of RM1,000 will be imposed for catching fireflies, the fine is even higher than littering. Looks like the government is serious in protecting this place.

After a long wait I finally got my life jacket and got on the boat, the boat was a small sampan to be precise.


The man maneuvering the boat was actually a fisherman who work in the night for extra income. He controlled the boat quietly through the swamps by using two wood paddles, no loud noise or big waves in the water, really professional, if it was me I would have created a tsunami.

The boat glided smoothly through some of the mangrove trees where lots of fireflies lit up the whole tree like a Christmas tree.

It was a nice scene to behold. The light weren't exactly as bright as light bulbs but in total darkness it's like stars in the night sky.

At first I thought there were only a few trees with fireflies but I was wrong, the entire area was full of fireflies, sometimes you can see some fireflies flying around the trees.

It was really a special scenery, you don't get to see these large amount of fireflies lighting up in other places.

I tried to take some photos (without flash one ok) to share it here but failed because it was too dark.

Nice photos, I know...

I think it's time for me to buy more Toto so that I can win RM1 million and buy a proper SLR camera.