Collared kingfishers singing in the trees but goes silent as we paddle by. Red, yellow and blue fiddler crabs waving at us from the muddy banks along the river as if dancing and raving in a club. Damien, our kayak guide calls them, crab club but if we want to see them emerge, we must navigate the waters quietly and wave silently.
Quite the opposite of clubbing, you see.
Mangrove kayaking at the Sepang River
With time on my hands, the opportunity to go somewhere a little less-visited in this southern part of the Selangor state particularly the Sepang River, had an obvious appeal. Especially when I have to explore it on a kayak instead of discovering it in mere seconds through a small window in an airplane upon take off.
While I’ve known about kayaking here for quite some time, this trip to escape the city was never just about seeking out the splendid sun-kissed isolation.
This trip was about appreciating the natural environment that mother earth has provided us. And maybe, in some small way I can help preserve it by learning and understanding how the brackish water supports the thriving mangrove forest and its wildlife inhabitants such as fiddler crabs, dusky monkeys (we had no luck spotting them), mudskippers, eagles, and blue collared kingfishers singing in the trees.
My most favourite sighting of all is seeing a group of four wild otters swimming in the river and running along the muddy banks. If you see otters in Sepang River you know that these brackish waters, once polluted due to conventional pig farming practices, has now come back to life. The river also supports the thriving mangrove forests on both sides of the river.
Kayaking the Sepang River has one unbreakable connection with the very first kayaking excursion I did in uni. It included a 2-day kayaking course, and by the third day a group of us kids were paddling from Kuala Ibai to Pulau Kapas, camped one night on Pulau Kapas and paddled back the next day. It was the catalyst to the many future water and hiking adventures in my travel itineraries.
Some of the best memories were white water rafting with mum in Sungai Padas, Sabah and Kaituna River in New Zealand’s north island and later; kayaking Milford Sound in south island. Through the stories and knowledge I gained from these adventures, I developed an immense sense of appreciation toward nature, and the urge to protect it by prioritising responsible travel and exploring with eco tours like Outdoorgate’s mangrove kayaking tour.
As soon as I returned from a month of travel, I scoured the internet for eco excursions to a couple of places in Malaysia I was curious to visit. I found several that I had a particular interest in but most were way up north. Mangrove kayaking at Sepang River with Outdoorgate on the other hand, was the closest to where I live. By close I mean, an hour and eight minutes away.
As I arrived at the jetty, I parked my car and changed from slippers to my Decathlon water shoes. Grabbed my Everything Bag, my waterproof dry bag, and started walking towards the kayak platform. I was first greeted by Lily and Jacky, two lovely resident dogs, and AiVee, one of our kayak guides for the day. Lily the dog, inspects every guests arriving to the platform, she’s the gatekeeper of the platform (or otherwise known as the Grovey House); a rescued floating restaurant discarded on the river back in the day, now restored and turned into Outdoorgate’s kayaking base. After getting to know AiVee and Damien, engaging in small conversations, I later found out that Grovey House’s restoration materials are made with recycled wood and other reusable materials.
Outdoorgate’s Mangrove Kayaking Experience along the Sepang River won me over in a single sentence – environmental awareness through education. Once a month, they run a 10km mangrove kayaking tour allowing more time and enabling kayakers to explore deeper into the mangrove forests. Which was exactly what I was looking for. It gave me the opportunity to recall some basic kayaking skills and a rare chance to spot wild animals like the eagles soaring in the skies in pairs and herons flying about.
Before we set out, I introduced myself to Damien, a qualified Wilderness First Aider and Lifesaver and Reza, a fellow kayaker who just like me, booked this tour solo. It was just us and AiVee, Damien and Joe of the Outdoorgate crew today. Damien then leads us through our warm up session and just before that, a morning briefing about what we can expect from the kayaking session.
The tour starts from 8am and ends at 3pm. It’s slightly longer than other tours on offer with the exception of the Weekend Adventure Tour, which spans over a weekend and starts on Saturdays. Lunch and snacks are also included in all the tours. On this day, AiVee prepared a hearty chicken rice with eggs and cucumber with a bottle of sweet soy sauce, and sachets of Baker’s Cottage chilli for lunch. After 5km of kayaking from Grovey House and passing the Sungai Pelek Jetty, we sought out lunch and paused for a toilet break at a nondescript floating restaurant beside Jeti Pak Lim where two guys who were already hanging out with their fishing rods out, in hopes of catching fish on this casual Sunday.
Jeti Pak Lim is also a place for fishing enthusiasts to come and hang out for RM 7 per rod and fish all day as it is open for 24 hours.
I will be putting together a short guide on mangrove kayaking along the Sepang River soon. Be sure to watch out for it or sign up to my newsletter below to be the first to know when it comes out.
Sepang River and its past
Simply, it’s sheer depth and diversity of flora and fauna that makes it remarkable. Located in the youngest district of the Selangor state, Sepang district, the Sepang River, is home to over 16 species of mangrove flora; all of which plays a critical role in the coastal ecosystem by providing an important habitat to a wide variety of marine and terrestrial species. The mangroves also act as strong holds, protecting shorelines from erosion, and storm damages while storing carbon in their soils.
While kayaking, Damien our expert kayak guide shares with us Sepang River’s storied past. Because of its proximity to Malaysia’s administrative capital, Putrajaya, the Sepang River experienced and witnessed a rapid and large expansion between 1995 to 2015. This resulted in an increased urbanisation and agricultural activities.
The river was once dead. Environmentalists and local communities raised concerns about the damage caused to the mangrove forests by burgeoning conventional pig farming practices that were left unchecked. The river’s transition and recovery has not been perfect – with several road projects that affected the mangroves and the river over the years, Sepang River is never far from serious threats of man-made incursions.
However in the last 12 years or so there has been positive changes. The Sepang Municipal Council, the Institute of Foresters Malaysia, Malaysian Professional Centre and the Selangor Forestry Department have since initiated a tree planting program to plant mangrove trees at the Sungai Sepang Besar Estuary and planting trees by the beach at Pantai Bagan Lalang in Selangor. Their aim is to plant 100 million mangrove trees by 2025. Some pig farmers have since transitioned to dragon fruit plantation too, with the inclusion of agrotourism offerings such as a dragon fruit themed farm-to-table restaurants.
And so embarking on a mangrove kayaking experience on the Sepang River provides the opportunity to see unparallelled types of wildlife in the best way possible: wild, free, in full recovery and protected.
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