Bat Cave (Gua Kelawar) @ Kilim Geoforest Park in Langkawi [Kedah, Malaysia]
First stop of our Natasha Mangrove Nature Tour at Langkawi's ancient Kilim Geoforest Park; the Bat Cave! Unlike the crocodile cave in the same tour, we can indeed see the animals that gave the cave its name.
The nature surrounding us; while mangroves are common in our little red dot, the areas are much smaller and we don't get wide rivers and towering cliffs.
Entry fees of RM 2.00 per adult and RM 1.00 per kid would be collected; not expensive given that it's less than a dollar and would at least help the attraction gain some funds for maintenance.
Tissue was expensive though even for Singapore's standard but i think demand would likely be high depends on your luck. Why did i say so? You would know shortly.
Rules and regulations before stepping further.
You can either go right or left but direction pointed towards the right. Reason being the path is a loop; go in from the right and exit from the left. Don't irritate other visitors by taking the route that's not recommended.
Map for your reference; good to have but can be improved by giving an English translation for the points of attractions. Among all, i only know gua is cave and air is water.
Granite path; the preferred material in the past. Nowadays, many such nature reserves prefer wood as they gel better with the surroundings.
The jetty that we disembarked from earlier.
Informative panels with English translations that i appreciated; do you know that bats are the largest flying mammals and the reason why they sleep upside down is because their legs can't support their body if they walk?
Entrance to the bat cave; please be mindful of the instructions to follow and things to be wary of. For me, i am more concerned about the no-flash rule as the inside is expected to be dark and i didn't have a tripod with me.
Rule of thumb; always bring along a torchlight which i didn't but in this case, the ticketing counter allowed the rental of torchlight at RM 1 each.
Another reminder to not use flash; i can understand why as this might result in a mass exodus of bats from the cave and in their haste, i think we could expect a shower of urine and shit. Guess the aforementioned is the reason why tissues were being sold at such high prices!
Here they are; thousands of them on the ceiling! I am mindful to be as quiet as i could and refrain from shining the torchlight excessively as i would have hated to be disturbed when i am sleeping! We should be understanding and considerate!
I wonder how they managed to build the path in the past as there would surely be some noise; maybe do it at night when the bats are away sourcing for food?
Cave wasn't long and we were out in a matter of minutes! See that column in the middle, which is when stalagmite and stalactite are connected; for that to happen, it takes thousands of years as the growing rate is about one meter every one thousand years!
For a moment, i thought this is a half-buried T-rex fossil.
From another angle, it's more like a frozen serpent that's ready to snap at any intruder! How did this even form in the first place? Answer is unknown.
From entrance of bat cave to exit; it only took us five minutes and that included the time i used for photo-taking! For my travel mates, it's even shorter!
The all too common mangroves; at least coming from a Singaporean where mangroves are concentrated in a few parts like Pulau Ubin, Sungei Buloh etc.
Information again for your reading pleasure; interesting snippets like the air-breathing roots from some species of trees in the mangroves.
Let's continue walking in the midst of greenery!
It's nice to see that the branch was kept and not cut for the convenience of us humans! Anyway, here's a Y-junction; which path should we take? From the map, i noted that i should go to our left.
However, since the right wasn't blocked, i should at least do my due diligence (as someone sharing about the bat cave in his blog) by going a bit further to see if there's anything interesting.
Nothing that interesting except for the picture of the exposed roots that would be a nice setting for a movie on Halloween or with haunting related theme. And the path was closed halfway through.
Another cave; in the past, i found caves intriguing and thought it would be fun to explore them, especially those that have yet to be discovered. Not anymore, unfortunately, after i watched the movie "the descent".
Super low ceiling - to the extent that even shorties like me would be worried i would knock my head if i wasn't careful. Tsk, shorties like us really take it for granted sometimes.
Andy modelling for my blog to show you how short the ceiling is! To give you some perspectives, he is about 175 centimeters tall.
Condition inside was much better; i was expecting bats but there wasn't any. I can only guess it's due to the shorter ceiling which would make them more vulnerable to the touch of curious humans.
The slow forming stalactite. How could something so small become so big?! Time is obviously the answer as we mere humans live an average of about 70-80 years whereas a stalactite forms over a few thousands of years!
Coming to the end of the cave; something on the right caught my attention as it reminded me of my trip to Ipoh in 2013 when we explored the cave temple; Nan Tian Tong Temple [南天洞].
It leads up to another compartment and being the curious yet careful adventurer; i am dying to see what's up there! Would it be an empty space or there's something more.
I didn't venture further due to the sign at the staircase - the mention of snake is a great deterrent for anyone with ophiophobia. No way am i going to risk it!
Looking back with sadness... to be fair, i am also the type who would follow rules and regulations. If there's a sign that says no entry, i would have adhered too. However, i might still ask for exceptions although i would stop immediately whenever snake is in question.
Almost reaching the end of our short stopover at the Bat Cave attraction.
Completing one loop and back to the entry / exit where we returned the torchlight and waited for our young and friendly guide and skipper to return with our boat.
In the meantime, taking photos of the surrounding again.
Back on our boat - we actually booked a private tour as the cost wasn't that high and i would strongly recommend it if you are traveling in bigger groups as the cost would be the same and you can manage your time better!
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