Fireflies Watching

Fireflies Watching

Kuala Selangor is a small coastal village northwest of Kuala Lumpur. The village is renowned for the great attraction alongside the Selangor River that runs through the village. On this river you can spot the famous fireflies (Kelip-Kelip in Bahasa Melayu) during evenings/nights.

The fireflies all are found on the mangrove tree species called berembang. It is said that this is one of the biggest firefly colonies in the world. If you want to check out the fireflies yourself, you should head out to Kampung Kuantan (9 km from Kuala Selangor) in the beginning of the evening.

There you can arrange an eco-friendly rowing boat; a local boatman (guide) will escort you. There are opening hours to take into account; you can visit the attraction between 8.00 pm and 10.30 pm daily (except for rainy days).

About the fireflies

Fireflies are also known 'Lightning Bugs' and they shine brightly at the night to attract a suitable partner. Apparently, they are able to shine during the day too but humans then cannot see it. They are only seen at night in and along the 'Berembang' trees along the Selangor River.

They could not spot any in the palm trees or any other trees for that matter. Often their flashing becomes sychronised, the overall effect is just like the twinkling lights of a Christmas tree. A trip along the river banks at the Selangor River at night is truly magnificient, and definitely a great attraction that should not be missed.

Daily firefly tour

The Fireflies Park Resort operates the privately run fireflies tour in Bukit Belimbing. Every night people can do this fun tour; tickets costs RM15 per person for a 30/45 minute ride. The tours usually start around 7pm (in any case at least until full sundown). The last tour is usually around 10pm, but the day we went there the last boat went out at 8.30pm already. In order not to disturb the fireflies you are not allowed to take any pictures; the few nightly pictures on this website were not made by us.

They do however give a nice impression on the tour. They did make a small movie (no lights whatsoever) but this was very dark too; too dark to shoot some nice footage. The only thing to advise is to check out the fireflies yourself as it is only a 40 minute drive from Kuala Lumpur city center.