Cherating - Hafiz Firefly Tour (Media Trip 2013)

The whole afternoon of our first day in Cherating was all about turtles, Turtle Sanctuary and releasing baby turtles back to the sea, and both activities were nothing short of fun and informative. Later, after our steamboat dinner which was provided by our kind host, The Legend Resort Cherating, it was time to depart for the must-awaited firefly watch.

Hafiz's Cherating Activities is easy to spot wit that sign

Organized by Hafiz's Cherating Activities, this firefly tour is unlike any other firefly tours you might have been to for here in Cherating, instead of you going to the fireflies, they are the one flying to you. Hard to believe, isn't it? Mr Hafiz, the owner of this tour agency, somehow developed the ability to 'communicate' with these insects and have them come to him.

Mr Hafiz is very enthusiastic about fireflies

Posters on fireflies are all over the walls of the agency

There were about four or five motorboats prepared to take us along the Cherating River, home of these lightning bugs. These fireflies hover around mangrove trees along the riverbanks and their blinking lights gave off the illusion of Christmas. It was so beautiful.

All of us trying to board onto the boats

As the boats were getting nearer to the riverbank, Mr Hafiz took our his red flashlight and on it. At first, nothing happened but slowly, one by one, these fireflies flew towards us. It was total darkness as we were deep along the river and all you would notice is many yellow dots moving and clustering around one red dot. You have to see it to believe it.

All set for the fireflies watch

We are not allow to use flash cameras as it would create light pollution. However, I doubt you can perfectly capture the moment in picture as it is very dark. Most likely, you will see just tiny dots of light in the photos. After some failed attempts in trying to capture it on film, I just gave up and enjoy what in front of me. A wise choice, I must say. After an hour plus on the cruise, we went back to the hotel for supper before calling it a day.

This trip is made possible thanks to the peoples of M-Mode Berhad, Santai Travel, Tourism Malaysia and The Legend Resort Cherating.

*TO BE CONTINUED*

Sharing is caring. A word of advice and a piece of information.

Hafiz's Cherating Activities has 2 nightly trips into the Cherating River to get up close with the fireflies, the first one being at 8.00 p.m. while the second one at 9.30 p.m.. The cruise usually lasts more than an hour and the price for the trip is very affordable, RM 25 for adult and RM 15 for child. You can contact Hafiz at 017-9789256 or 017-9406898 or you can straight go to agency itself (GPS: 4'07'37.64" N 103"23'28 77" E). Other than fireflies watch, there are many more activities you can do such as mangrove river cruise (which we did the following day), snorkeling trip, turtle watching trip, and so on.