Watch The Birdie

A first visit to the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park after all these years. A real great place for the family and for those who loves photography, a great place to put your skills to the test. It is always a challenges trying to photograph a bird.

Located at the Kuala Lumpur Lake Gardens, the KL Bird Park is about 20.9 acres and is considered to be the largest walk-in free-flight aviary in the world.

No wonder everyone was panting away after spending almost two hours walking from one corner to the other. While it was tiring, it was worthwhile, especially after getting the opportunity to view some of the most exotic birds up close.

It is said that there are about 3,000 birds of approximately 200 species of local and foreign birds, including this chick and duckling.

Yup. I will testify to that. There were definitely local and foreign birds visiting the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park when I was there...*wink* *wink*

Birds Of A Feather

This is the first time I have stepped into the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park although I was living in KL for quite some time. For a first timer to the park, I was truly impressed with the wide collection of birds here, from the smallest of birds to the largest of them all. It was an eye opener no doubt.

However, I have to admit that bird is not one of my strongest passion, which explains why I had difficulty in identifying these feathered beings. Even owls have many sub-species. As far as I know, they are just owls and all owls look the same to me.

This is indeed a big park and as such, you really had to do a lot of walking to enjoy the surroundings. As most of these birds roam freely in the park, it can be quite a challenge trying to approach them, let alone trying to capture them on film. Despite these challenges, it was nevertheless a worthwhile experience.

Beauty and grace. Those are the two words that I think best describe the birds here. No matter where you look, you are bound to find something beautiful to look at. And I was refering to the feathered birds...not the other form of birds.

Bukit Melawati - Monkey & I

Bukit Melawati in Kuala Selangor is where the Royal Mausoleum is located where you will find the final resting place of Selangor's first three Sultans. However, it was unfortunate that the gates to the mausoleum were locked when we were there.

This is without doubt the main attraction of Bukit Melawati...the Silver Leaf Monkey or Langur (Presbytis cristata) or commonly known by its local name of Lotong Kelabu (not to be mistaken with the local delicacy called Lontong).

They are simply everywhere and the sight of visitors will only bring the entire group out of hiding. Unlike at zoos, there is no restriction about feeding this monkey. Other than peanuts (you just can't separate monkeys from peanuts), they also feed on long beans. You can always purchase these items here as there are several hawkers selling them.

It can really be a real feeding frenzy when the entire group of monkey try to outdo each other for the food. The best thing is that, they are really tame and they can virtually eat out of your hands. How's that for a monkey?

Which brings me to one question. Are the monkeys enjoying themselves looking at us humans behaving like monkeys...or are we enjoying ourselves looking at the monkeys behaving like...well...monkeys...?

Bukit Melawati Lighthouse

The Altingsburg light house, located at the peak of Bukit Melawati, Kuala Selangor, was built by the British in 1907. It is one of the attractions located at the top of the hill, other than the mighty fortress built by Sultan Ibrahim in the 17th century to safeguard the State from the Dutch following the conquest of Melaka by the Dutch.

However, today, not much of the fortress could be seen other than foundation stones and wall apart from the 68 cannons originally used for the defence of the hill.