Tolin's 2024 World Cruise blog posts, Day 70 Mar 19, 2024, Langkawi, Malaysia, Discover the Ecosystem of the Mangroves

A place with an ancient geological heritage, countless natural wonders, home to a myriad of flora and fauna, and a vibrant local community of Kilim Village.

Kilim Geoforest Park (or Kilim Karst Geoforest Park as its full name) is one of the three geoforest parks associated with the Langkawi Geopark. The other two are the Machinchang Cambrian Geoforest Park and The Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest Park.

Langkawi Geopark comprises the whole of Langkawi Island, which is one of the districts of Kedah State, Malaysia. Langkawi started as a fishing village until its revelation as a UNESCO Geopark.

Langkawi was endorsed as the 52nd Global Geopark by UNESCO on 1st June 2007, making it the 1st geopark in Malaysia and the South East Asia region. This endorsement was given due to its significant geoheritage features like landscapes, caves sea arches and sea stacks, dropstones, fossil and local community involvement.

Langkawi Geopark is a member of the Asia Pacific Geoparks Network and The Global Geoparks Network (GGN).

A place with an ancient geological heritage, countless natural wonders, home to a myriad of flora and fauna, and a vibrant local community of Kilim Village. Here, we practice a unique ecotourism, with added values of edutourism and geotourism. We uphold the values of Langkawi Geopark, conserve the natural surroundings, care the needs of our guests to make sure they enjoy Kilim’s natural wonders and also its hospitality.

Much of the rocks of Kilim is made up of the Setul Formation, the oldest carbonate rock in the region formed 490-370 million years ago.

With such a geological history, combines with breathtaking landscapes, Kilim Geoforest Park has become an important geosite that attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists per year.

Not so long ago, Kilim was a laid back place where people’s activities are connected mainly to small scale fishing. Today, Kilim can be regarded as the most successful ecotourism destination in Langkawi where economic activities have vastly improved.

The beauty of Kilim lies in its diverse natural geological, biological and cultural resources with high heritage value. These elements have been the pillars for the success of Kilim’s ecotourism.

Among the remarkable features found here are the pristine mangrove and limestone forests, dramatic karstic landscapes and landform and colourful cultures.

Kilim is also unique because it is the only place in Malaysia where one can find a coexistence of coastal karst and mangrove ecosystems.

These unique landscapes provide new experience to tourists who flock this area to observe a wide spectrum of geological heritage diversity, such as various types of rock, beautiful caves, coastal and island karst morphologies, fossils, as well as rich mangrove fauna and flora.

Details: https://kilimgeoforestpark.com/kilim-geoforest-park/

Malaysian flag

The national flag of Malaysia, also known as the Stripes of Glory, is composed of a field of 14 alternating red and white stripes along the fly and a blue canton bearing a crescent and a 14-point star known as the Bintang Persekutuan (Federal Star). The 14 stripes, of equal width, represent the equal status in the federation of the 13 member states and the federal territories, while the 14 points of the star represent the unity among these entities. The crescent represents Islam, the country's state religion; the blue canton symbolizes the unity of the Malaysian people; the yellow of the star and crescent is the royal color of the Malay rulers. It is in the stars and stripes family of flags.

Details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Malaysia

External spout of a bee hive burrowed into the rock cliff

"Cannonball" mango tree roots

Couroupita guianensis, known by a variety of common names including cannonball tree, is a deciduous tree in the flowering plant family Lecythidaceae. It is native to the tropical forests of Central and South America, and it is cultivated in many other tropical areas throughout the world because of its fragrant flowers and large fruits, which are brownish grey. There are potential medicinal uses for many parts of Couroupita guianensis, and the tree has cultural and religious significance in South and Southeast Asia. In Sri Lanka and India, the cannonball tree has been widely misidentified as the Sal tree (Shorea robusta), after its introduction to the island by the British in 1881, and has been included as a common item in Buddhist temples as a result.

Details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couroupita_guianensis

Walking fish

A walking fish, or ambulatory fish, is a fish that is able to travel over land for extended periods of time. Some other modes of non-standard fish locomotion include "walking" along the sea floor, for example, in handfish or frogfish.

Most commonly, walking fish are amphibious fish. Able to spend longer times out of water, these fish may use a number of means of locomotion, including springing, snake-like lateral undulation, and tripod-like walking. The mudskippers are probably the best land-adapted of contemporary fish and are able to spend days moving about out of water and can even climb mangroves, although to only modest heights. The climbing gourami is often specifically referred to as a "walking fish", although it does not actually "walk", but rather moves in a jerky way by supporting itself on the extended edges of its gill plates and pushing itself by its fins and tail. Some reports indicate that it can also climb trees.

Details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_fish

Bats are the only mammal capable of true flight. Bats use flight for capturing prey, breeding, avoiding predators, and long-distance migration. Bat wing morphology is often highly specialized to the needs of the species.

Details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_flight

White bellied sea eagle

The white-bellied sea eagle (Icthyophaga leucogaster), also known as the white-breasted sea eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely related to Sanford's sea eagle of the Solomon Islands, and the two are considered a superspecies. A distinctive bird, the adult white-bellied sea eagle has a white head, breast, under-wing coverts and tail. The upper parts are grey and the black under-wing flight feathers contrast with the white coverts. The tail is short and wedge-shaped as in all Haliaeetinae species. Like many raptors, the female is larger than the male, and can measure up to 35 inches long with a wingspan of up to 7.2 feet, and weigh 9.9 pounds. Immature birds have brown plumage, which is gradually replaced by white until the age of five or six years. The call is a loud goose-like honking.

Resident from India and Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia to Australia on coasts and major waterways, the white-bellied sea eagle breeds and hunts near water, and fish form around half of its diet. Opportunistic, it consumes carrion and a wide variety of animals. Although rated as Least Concern globally, it has declined in parts of southeast Asia such as Thailand, and southeastern Australia. It is ranked as Threatened in Victoria and Vulnerable in South Australia and Tasmania. Human disturbance to its habitat is the main threat, both from direct human activity near nests which impacts on breeding success, and from removal of suitable trees for nesting. The white-bellied sea eagle is revered by indigenous people in many parts of Australia, and is the subject of various folk tales throughout its range.