Mangrove trip

The entire northeast of Langkawi is occupied by the magnificent Kilim Karst Geoforest Park. It is one of three large protected areas in Langkawi. This area is visited on the popular „Mangrove Tour“. Most trips start in the morning. It is better to go on a private trip in the afternoon, when there are significantly fewer people. Here you will see beautiful karst rocks and caves, eagles and monkeys. There are also fish farms where you can have lunch and maybe even feed a stingray.
Port in Tanjung Rhu
There are several entrances to the protected area. We used the westernmost one in Tanjung Rhu. You can get here as part of an organized trip or by taxi. Expect that the journey here will take over half an hour from Pantai Cenang. Since we were here in the afternoon, almost all the ships were already in the port.

In a wide bay
First, it sails through wide waters. Beautiful views of the local hummocky formations await you from the region. You can also see the first fishing houses, where they keep fish in submerged cages.

Moole and mangroves
The local rocks are between 50–200 meters above sea level. The lower floor is occupied by a mangrove forest.

Kilim Karst Geoforest Cruise
The ship basically sails through such a channel, which gradually narrows.

Feeding the eagles
One of the attractions on this trip is the so-called eagle feeding. There are quite a few of them here.

Views from the boat
The cruise is really beautiful – mangroves, rocks and an animal here and there

Mangoes
A mangrove forest with its impressive roots

Cruising through the gorge
We were here at low tide, so the focal point of the whole trip was whether we would sail through the gorge. It was a close call, but it was done.

Crocodile Cave
Another of the smaller local attractions is the Crocodile Cave, where you can even swim in at low tide.

Kilim Karst landscape
A view of the typical local landscape. Beauty!

Fishing farms and restaurants
We arrive at the places where there is a break for all local trips. There are several fishing floating farms and restaurants. Here you can view a wide variety of fish or eat at very reasonable prices.

The second bay
Beyond the fishing farms, the landscape widens again into the second bay

Entrance to the Bat Cave
The trip continues to Kampung Kilim, where there is another grand entrance to this beautiful area. We continue even further to the famous Bat Cave

Bat Cave
The Bat Cave is relatively small, but still interesting. There is no electricity here, so you have to use a mobile phone or a flashlight to light it. If you shine the light directly above you, you will see literally hundreds of bats.

Photo spot
From the bat cave, we return along the same route almost to the fishing farms. Just in front of them, it turns into another channel that will take us to the open sea. Here is an inscription on a rock and there is such a mass photo shoot

The way back across the sea
At the sign, we were given a choice whether we wanted to return by the same route or a shortcut across the sea. So we chose the sea to have more new views. The road leads past a number of deserted beaches. It's quite an adrenaline rush when you sail around the northern part and you get to the western windward part, so the boat literally jumps over huge waves before reaching the big bay where we started the cruise. A really great trip.
