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Author: wilis
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Photographs are copyright of Wilis
Introduction
Langkawi is located in the southern part of Andaman sea near the border between Thailand and Malaysia. Although well-known for its beach resorts, it was not exactly the sand and the sea that we’re after. The name Langkawi means Eagle Island in Malaysia, and that was our objective for this trip, the kites and eagles of Langkawi.
I believe there’s one place in the world where a particular species of bird is found in abundant and relatively easy to approach. In Langkawi, it is the place for the Brahminy Kites, and to a lesser extent, the white-bellied sea-eagles. Within 100 sq km of Kilim Nature Park there are reportedly 400-500 of kites and eagles.
Although the air ticket is rather pricey, the short distance from Singapore (1hr 15min) made it an ideal weekend getaway destination for our party of 3 (Remo, Jay and Wilis). Other than the kites, eagles and brown-winged kingfisher, Langkawi is not really a must visit place for birders, which explains the lack of trip reports to this place.
We flew Silk Air from Singapore, and the rest was free & easy with booking done through the internet or upon arrival.
Kilim jetty
Cost in Summary
- Air Ticket: Silk Air incl tax SGD$355/pax;
- Car rental: I believe it is one of the cheapest place in the world to rent a car and do not require prior booking as one can be hired direct at the airport. Nissan Spectra RM160 for 3 days (RM53/day);
- Accomodation: Langkasuka Beach Resort (RM200+), Berjaya Langkawi (almost free compliment of Remo);
- Boat rental: RM120-RM150 per hour. The boat can take 8 tourists, but suitable for max 4 photogs only. This is the most expensive part of the trip, which came to RM1,000 total damage.
In total, we spent approx $600 per pax all inclusive on this 3D/2N trip.
Remo and Jay with our Nissan Spectra rental car
Boats for rent at Kilim Jetty
Our itinerary
Day 1
a) Arrival by Silkair at 10am. Car rental at the airport and went to Gunung Raya to explore the place. At 880m, it is the highest ‘mountain’ in Langkawi. Commonly found birds on our visit: Dollarbirds (more than 50 birds), Great Hornbills, Oriental Pied Hornbills, Blue throated bee-eaters.
b) The leaf monkeys are also commonly seen.
c) Toll fee to enter the place: RM0.5 for a car.
d) In late afternoon we went for the Brahminy Kites near Tanjung Rhu Jetty. Surprise encounter on the way back was a Blue-winged Pitta by the roadside.
Day 2
Thanks to fellow NPX photographer who has been at the place days before us, there are actually 2 places to catch the boat. One is at Tanjung Rhu with mostly Brahminy Kites and a handful of WBSEs, and the other one is near Kilim Jetty. The WBSEs are more common found around the mangrove near Kilim Jetty.
3 hours boating in the morning at Kilim Jetty where we also encountered the Brown-winged Kingfishers , and 1 hour boating in the afternoon back at Tanjung Rhu.
Day 3
2 more hours were spent chasing Brahminy Kites at Kilim Jetty and we have had enough of kites for this trip.
Before our flight back to Singapore at 8.45pm, we spent the afternoon driving around the paddyfields and once again had a quick visit to Gunung Raya.
Lenses to Bring
For the eagle feeding sessions, useful range would be 300-400mm. For me personally most of my shots were taken with 300mm + 1.4xtc. Longer lenses such as 500mm or 600mm is only useful when you bird other areas.
Eagle Feeding
The close-up shots you see on this report were not the results of hours spent staking out the eagles and kites hunting ground, but rather they were assisted by chicken skin and entrails fed by the boat operators.
The kites and eagles are so used to this feeding method that they simply hang around and wait for food. As our boat neared the feeding ground, our boatman would rev the boat’s noisy engine to signal to the birds that food is coming and soon 20-30 eagles will take to the sky circling and waiting to pounce on the entrails release into the water.
While such feeding activities have been around for many years, condoned by the local authority and being marketed aggressively as the must see attraction in Langkawi, certain nature groups have been raising concerns that such feeding activities should cease as the birds being are systematically stripped of their dignity and made to beg and perform for their food. The wonderful sight of seeing these majestic birds hunt for their fish is now being replaced with one where they scavenge for chicken entrails. Unconfirmed report have said the lack of nutrients from feeding on chicken entrails have resulted in loss and broken plumage and un-hatched eggs breaking up prematurely.
Our boatman highlighted that the kites do go after live fish in between the chicken entrails snack which we witnessed as well. Considering there were only about 30-40 kites at this place 20 years back before the commercial feeding began to a population of 400 currently, we wonder without the feedings such a small area at Kilim would be able to sustain such high number of kites/ eagles.
End of the day, pros and cons of this eagle feeding is really beyond the scope of this article. One thing is for sure, after the trip we have had enough of Brahminy Kites and White-bellied Sea-eagles for one year...
some shots from the trip..
___________________above article, photographs contributed and copyright of Wilis
