Kuala Selangor Nature Park

There were mangrove virgin forest in Kuala Selangor until the 1940s. However, the land was cleared to make salt plans from 1965 to the 1970s. Furthermore, in 1986, the land clearing started to create a marina, prawn farm and golf course. Sand dredging for the project killed wide range of mangrove forest, and the existing secondary forest was created since then. For these reasons, Malayan Nature Society (now the Malaysian Nature Society) and the Asian Wetlands Bureau (now Wetlands International) made a petition to the government of Selangor state, and the land was established as a park by the government on 27 September 1987. Endangered silvered-leaf monkey was adopted as a logo mark of the park. After that, the park have been managed by Malaysian Nature Society under a cooperative arrangement with the Selangor state government. It became the first park to be managed by a NGO in Malaysia.

In 1997, Kuala Selangor Nature Park was recognised as a nature reserve for conservation and ecotourism, and recognised as Important Bird Area (IBA) by Birdlife International.[2]

Mangrove sapling nursery

Visitors can make a reservation to participate in educational activities in Kuala Selangor Nature Park. These activities are generally conducted for a group of more than 20 individuals. Examples: Indoor activities such as nature craft and paper recycling, and outdoor activities such as guided tours, mangrove tree planting, night walk, and bird watching.

• Plants: mangrove trees (13 species such as buta-buta, bakau kurap, and perepat), noni, sea almond, sea hibiscus, and bird lime tree
• Molluscs: mud-creepers, blood cockles, and belitong
• Annelids: peanut worms
• Cnidarians: sea anemones
• Insects: coconut rhinoceros beetle, weaver ants, striped blue crow, and mangrove cricket
• Reptiles: monitor lizard, dog-faced water snake, and reticulated python
• Fishes: mudskippers, red-tipped halfbeak, banded archerfish, and spotted green pufferfish
• Chelicerates: horseshoe crab
• Crustaceans: fiddler crab, mangrove hermit crab, and tree-climbing crabs
• Birds
  • Resident birds (98 species such as pink-necked pigeon, peaceful dove, great egret, grey heron, little heron, milky stork, collared kingfisher, and brahminy kite)
  • Migratory birds (57 species such as Mongolian plover, common redshank, blue-tailed bee-eater, and black-capped kingfisher)
• Mammals: silvered leaf-monkey, long-tailed macaque, plantain squirrel, common palm civet, smooth otter, short-tailed mongoose, leopard cat, and short-nosed fruit bat

Visitors can board the bus from Kuala Lumpur (Selangor Omnibus 100) and it takes about 2 hours to reach the new bus terminal in Kuala Selangor. Visitors have to take a taxi to this park or change buses for old town. Thereafter, walk along the street on the left side of the slope towards Bukit Melawati. It takes about 5 minutes to walk from the bus stop in old town to KSNP.

• Freshwater Fish Park: It is an aquarium next to the KSNP and has about 1500 individuals from 60 species of freshwater fish. Many of them are from Selangor River.
• Bukit Melawati: Visitors can see a whole view of the area, a lighthouse, Selangor kingdom history and remains of fort.
• Kelip-Kelip Kampung Kuantan and Kampung Bukit Belimbing / Firefly Park Resort: It is famous for firefly-watching boat tour.
• Pantai Remis: It has become one of the favourite tourist area of Selangor, especially during weekends. Tourists can see sunset at the beach, kite playing and beach activities.
• Fishing Village: It is located along the Selangor River. There are some seafood restaurants.[4]

• Geography of Malaysia
• Malaysian Nature Society