Viator Trip to see Selangor Fireflies

I spend a lot of time travel planning.  I have a few favorite websites.  The main one I use for flights is  Hipmunk.  You put it where you want to go and when, and the site finds flights for you, based not only on price but also on agony factor.  Very handy.  For hotels and attractions, I love TripAdvisor.  Once I have a flight and hotel, then comes Viator.  Viator is a great source for tours and tour guides.  I use it a lot when I travel to other countries, so I thought, "Hey, why not use Viator for here in Kuala Lumpur?"  That is how I found the Fireflies Tour.

In Malaysia, fireflies are a thing.  Along the banks of creeks and river, in the mangrove trees, whole colonies of fireflies live and flicker, looking like a Christmas tree.  I had actually been wanting to see that, since I first read about them in the book, Gift of Rain.

So off we went, to Kuala Selangor. It took about 1 1/2 hours from KL in afternoon traffic, but less than an hour to return.  Once we arrived, our tour began at Bukit Melawati, or Melawati Hill.  People love to see the Macau and Silverleaf monkeys.  I have seen plenty of Macau monkeys and did not get pictures of them, but this is my first time to see the Silverleaf.

The views from the top of the hill are pretty amazing.  All the way to the Malacca Straits.  This area was also the location of a fort in the 18th century, to protect the area from the Dutch.  Hence the cannon.  (Me, Krystal, Brenda, and Allison)

The lighthouse

Lots of people come to see the monkeys in the area.  You can also feed them, but you need to be careful.

Babies are always cute.  This made me glad I dragged my big camera along.

This man was selling food for the monkeys.  Green beans are popular.

Allison was kind enough to pose at the beheading stone.  Legend says that this is where traitors were beheaded.

After the hill, we had a seafood dinner at a riverside restaurant.  The setting sun was too strong for good pictures.  But I have eaten at another restaurant just down the road, as seen in this older blog post.

We left the restaurant at  7:15 and drove over to the nearby jetty, for the firefly boat ride.  You can only see the fireflies after dark, naturally.  Leaving at 7:15 would allow us to be some of the first customers of the evening.  

The best way to see the fireflies is by rowboat.  It allows one to get closer.

Waiting for darkness

Still waiting...

Krystal and Allison

Almost dark enough!

But first we must put on our lovely life jackets.

This is why we came.  To get pictures of the spectacular and magical firefly display....  But flash is not allowed and fireflies did not show up.  All I can say, is book your own tour and see the fireflies for yourself!  It was enchanting!

I did search for images of the Malaysian fireflies on the internet, and didn't have much luck.  It is a hard image to capture.  If you look closely at this picture, you can faintly see the trees with fireflies along the river.

Conclusion:  Our guide for this Viator tour was fine, but not great.  This tour on Viator is $67.50 a person.  The price included pick up from hotel or central location, transportation, dinner, and boat ride.  That might be fine for one or two people, but for a whole family, there are other options.  Check out this site if you want to drive yourself. Or if you want to hire a driver for a reasonable price, call Aziz.  +6016 316 2299.  He has a group of taxis and drivers.  He is very reliable and dependable.  I have used him for taxi rides and for a whole day.  He knows just where to take you to see fireflies.  And monkeys.  It was a fun outing out of the city!