Eat fresh oysters and check out a cave at Langkawi's Kubang Badak geopark

One of the sites along the Kubang Badak BioGeo Trail in Langkawi. — Photos: MELODY L. GOH

While slowly making our way through the Kubang Badak river, our boatman talked about the mangrove, its history and some conservation works that are taking place there.

He’s not a tour guide – due to a miscommunication, our actual guide could not make it – but he said he would try his best to tell us about the area.

From the information he gave us, it seemed like he really knew his stuff.

We were on a boat exploring the Kubang Badak BioGeo Trail in Langkawi, Kedah. While the Kubang Badak Mangrove Reserve has been around for many years, the trail is a new-ish project that opened up for tourism as an alternative nature attraction to the very popular Kilim Karst Geoforest Park.

There are a few stops along the trail, upon which you can find 13 interesting sites that showcase the “history of humans, culture, geology and biology”, according to the official website. One of the stops led us to some old kilns at Kampung Siam, used back in the day to make charcoal.

“The island used to produce a lot of charcoal to fuel many things. This was way before the use of coal or gas,” said our boatman-guide. The kilns at Kampung Siam, so called because of the large community of Thai migrants who settled there more than a century ago, are said to be about 100 years old.

“The Thai border is just there,” our boatman said later when we were in the open sea, pointing to a few islands in the distance. “It’s easy to get to by boat. You can also swim if you are a really good swimmer, but whether you will arrive in one piece depends on your luck with the weather and sea creatures!”

Another stop took us to the Pinang Cave, said to be a remnant of a sea cave formed nearly 6,000 years ago. The cave is located about 15m above sea level, but you can find oyster and cockle shells, as well as sand all around it. Scientists see these as evidence of sea level changes.

Pinang Cave is inhabited by many creatures including bats, and a really special snake species known as the “bat-eating snake”, or cave racer. Luckily, we did not come across this guy when we walked into the cave.

Unfortunately, the boatman and I accidentally “woke” the bats up with his super bright torchlight – try your best not to do this if you decide to enter the cave. The powerful aroma of bat guano would probably keep most people away, but my strong desire to see bats in their natural habitat blinded (heh) my common sense for a minute, and I slipped up. Sorry, bats.

If you look at the map of Kampung Kubang Badak online, you will see a spot marked “Langkawi Oyster Farm”. This farm is along the biogeo trail, and visitors are welcome to make a stop there – but you need to make reservations (the phone number is on their Google page), especially if you plan to eat some super fresh oysters and mussels.

We did not manage to get a reservation ourselves, but the owner was kind enough to allow us to stop by and check out the farm. If you’re not a fan of raw oysters or mussels, you may want to skip this place because that’s how they are served here, with just some lemon and salt.

Other interesting sites to explore include Tanjung Mendidih, Jemuruk Island, Tanjung Chinchin Deep Slope, Bukit Menora and Tanjung Buta. Each of these geosites comes with its own fascinating stories, so be sure to hire a proper guide before getting on the trail. Otherwise, you can also read all about the sites at the main Kubang Badak jetty, where there are useful information boards posted at the entrance.