Sungai Yak Yah Firefly Tour

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When we were told that we’ll be going to Awana Kijal, Golf, Beach & Spa Resort, Terengganu for a weekend getaway with a bunch of other awesome Nuffnangers courtesy of Genting, never did it cross my mind that firefly watching will be one of the activities planned for us.

How shallow was I for not knowing that we have one of the most magnificent firefly sanctuary right here in Sungai Yak Yah, Kuala Terengganu.

We are lucky as May to July are the BEST month to catch fireflies. Okay, so it’s still April now but we were told they are already aplenty waiting for us!

We assembled at 8.30pm. The journey from Awana Kijal, Golf, Beach & Spa Resort to Sungai Yak Yah takes approximately 20 minutes and the first thing that fascinates us upon arrival is how beautiful the stars are tonight. The sky is overflowing with glittering diamonds and I must say that I’ve never seen so many stars in my entire life!

I had to ask why don’t we have such beautiful skyline in KL and was told that the level of pollution in the Klang Valley has reduced the visibility of the stars hence we are seeing much lesser stars in the city :(

Thank goodness We brought Ethan’s life-jacket all the way from KL as we were unsure if they have his size here for the water sports.

Before we proceed for the fireflies watching, here’s

Do’s and Don’ts during Firefly watching:

• Do not use insect repellent. I stuck some repellent stickers on Ethan only to be told by En Ghani Kelip-Kelip that it will chase those fireflies away so we quickly got rid of it.
• Do not bother to bring your camera as you won’t be able to catch any pictures as strictly no flash photography is allowed. The reason being the fireflies will stop flashing when they sensed brightness around them.
• Do sit back,relax and enjoy the trip. Let the magical sight of the fireflies ignite your senses. It is magically magnificent…

Darling, Ethan and I all geared up in life-jackets ready to board the boat.

Boarding the boat, one at a time. You won’t want to rock the boat and ending up in the river would you? ^_^

We were overwhelmed at how magically beautiful those fireflies are! They are too beautiful to describe in words, you’ve just got to see them to feel it.

Try as I might, I was unable to capture any pictures of the plentiful fireflies! No flash photography is allowed and even armed with DSLR won’t get you any pic but I got this:

I manage to take picture of that single firefly that landed on Ethan’s hand!

What I love about Yak Yah firefly sanctuary as opposed to the one in Kuala Selangor is that over here, the river is narrower hence you actually see fireflies on BOTH your left and your right.

Another factor is that the boatman stops by the berembang, putat or bebaru growth for us to DANCE with fireflies! By dancing I meant we get to catch them with our hands and watch them glow within our grasp!

That is easily the most magical moment of this trip so far!

I can’t recall if this berembang, putat or bebaru >_<

Our guide, the famous En Ghani Kelip-Kelip. He is THE guy to look for should you want to take the firefly tour or turtle watching.

It was a magnificent 30 min boat ride. I wish it won’t end but..

RM50 per adult and RM25 per kid, this is definitely a MUST DO if you visit Kuala Terengganu.

One for the album with some of the Nuffnang bloggers ^_^