Unusual/amazing animal/plant phenomena you can visit in South East Asia?
March 11, 2018 6:24 PM Subscribe
This post on "natural phenomena that are worth the trip" has some amazing suggestions. I'm looking for more – but in South East Asia. The weirder the better! (I'll post some I've found online in the explanation)
I'm lucky to have done some remarkable things – I've climbed two glacier-topped volcanoes, visited a remote bird sanctuary and sea kayaked over water thick with jellyfish. The most mind-blowing thing I've ever done is swim with giant whale sharks, just as an alien-esque giant manta ray popped out of the darkness beneath me (only to disappear moments later).
I'll be travelling to South East Asia with my wife in July/August/September. I'd like to add to our itinerary a natural phenomenon that we'll never forget.
Here are some that Google (and Metafilter searches) has helped me find. But, what else is unmissable? We can pretty-much go anywhere. And although we're going in those months, for future viewers of this thread, who may be travelling any time, ignore the dates :)
---
Red Crab Migration on Christmas Island.
Synchronised Fireflies in Malaysia.
The blue fire volcano (Kawah Ijen volcano) in Indonesia
Komodo National Park in Indonesia (not just for the dragons, but also for the snorkelling with Manta Rays)
Jellyfish Lake, Palao
The Kuang Si Waterfall in Laos (not for its wildlife, just for its water).
Some parks/places to visit that are full of stuff to do:
Mulu National Park
Bako National Park
Tu Lan Cave tours
What else should be on there? Bioluminescence, glow worms, star gazing, caving, waterfalls, spawning, mating, migrations....?
I'm lucky to have done some remarkable things – I've climbed two glacier-topped volcanoes, visited a remote bird sanctuary and sea kayaked over water thick with jellyfish. The most mind-blowing thing I've ever done is swim with giant whale sharks, just as an alien-esque giant manta ray popped out of the darkness beneath me (only to disappear moments later).
I'll be travelling to South East Asia with my wife in July/August/September. I'd like to add to our itinerary a natural phenomenon that we'll never forget.
Here are some that Google (and Metafilter searches) has helped me find. But, what else is unmissable? We can pretty-much go anywhere. And although we're going in those months, for future viewers of this thread, who may be travelling any time, ignore the dates :)
---
Red Crab Migration on Christmas Island.
Synchronised Fireflies in Malaysia.
The blue fire volcano (Kawah Ijen volcano) in Indonesia
Komodo National Park in Indonesia (not just for the dragons, but also for the snorkelling with Manta Rays)
Jellyfish Lake, Palao
The Kuang Si Waterfall in Laos (not for its wildlife, just for its water).
Some parks/places to visit that are full of stuff to do:
Mulu National Park
Bako National Park
Tu Lan Cave tours
What else should be on there? Bioluminescence, glow worms, star gazing, caving, waterfalls, spawning, mating, migrations....?
the most magical night swim of my life was in the bioluminescence-filled, bathtub warm water on Ko Samui.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:54 PM on March 11, 2018
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:54 PM on March 11, 2018
I've been to a few of the ones you mention and would like to give a special shoutout to Komodo National Park (Rinca is better than Komodo Island for dragons) - snorkelling with mantas is one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I also really enjoyed the more muted but rather eerie experience of snorkelling through clouds of fairy-like cuttlefish.
You've already got Mulu National Park, but I'll add specifically that its bat exodus is quite a sight, and it does a good line in 'lost world' style valleys accessible only through its very large cave system. Taman Negara is another place in Malaysia with lots to do, though you have to make an effort to get beyond the pre-packaged mass tourism activities and hire your own guide.
The synchronised fireflies are nice, and I take visitors to KL to see them, but not worth going out of the way in my view. If you do go, my own preference is for the small wooden boats you can have to yourself in Kampong Kuantan rather than the bigger boats that leave from the restaurants in Kampong Bukit Belimbing. In either case, there will probably be plenty of other people, many taking selfies.
If you are interested in human behaviour as well, keep an eye out for spectacular sacrifices on Flores and Sumba, both in Indonesia. Flores also has the changing colours of the lakes on the Kelimutu volcano, and the most spectacular 'drift' snorkelling I've ever done off Maumere. If you dive, Barracuda lake on Palawan in the Philippines has a very dramatic thermocline that is worth experiencing.
posted by tavegyl at 9:22 PM on March 11, 2018
You've already got Mulu National Park, but I'll add specifically that its bat exodus is quite a sight, and it does a good line in 'lost world' style valleys accessible only through its very large cave system. Taman Negara is another place in Malaysia with lots to do, though you have to make an effort to get beyond the pre-packaged mass tourism activities and hire your own guide.
The synchronised fireflies are nice, and I take visitors to KL to see them, but not worth going out of the way in my view. If you do go, my own preference is for the small wooden boats you can have to yourself in Kampong Kuantan rather than the bigger boats that leave from the restaurants in Kampong Bukit Belimbing. In either case, there will probably be plenty of other people, many taking selfies.
If you are interested in human behaviour as well, keep an eye out for spectacular sacrifices on Flores and Sumba, both in Indonesia. Flores also has the changing colours of the lakes on the Kelimutu volcano, and the most spectacular 'drift' snorkelling I've ever done off Maumere. If you dive, Barracuda lake on Palawan in the Philippines has a very dramatic thermocline that is worth experiencing.
posted by tavegyl at 9:22 PM on March 11, 2018
The incredible, touch-sensitive "shy plants" we encountered when my family lived in the Philippines seem like they should qualify as an unusual, amazing phenomena, but they were absolutely everywhere, which made them seem like a normal, everyday thing to me at the time.
posted by juliplease at 10:00 PM on March 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by juliplease at 10:00 PM on March 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm sure you're going to stumble on this organically, but make sure you pay special attention to the markets in SE Asia! You'll see a ton of flora that you've never seen before in the western world, or only very rarely, like durian, mangosteen. (Also--the vegetation that you've listed is really cool.)
posted by flyingfork at 11:06 PM on March 11, 2018
posted by flyingfork at 11:06 PM on March 11, 2018
Response by poster: [I'm not sure what html to use to respond to people, so I'm just using an @ symbol, please let me know if there's a better way]
@sudogeek – I swear you've answered several of my questions before. Thanks for the tip! I live in Colombia, so I've been on several coffee plantations. I'd totally forgotten about the civet. Thanks :)
@fingersandtoes – Do you remember which part of Ko Samui? Looks like you got lucky with your bioluminescence experience there!
@tavegyl – thanks for the tips, looks like we might skip the fireflies. And those swimming/snorkeling ideas sound incredible. We'll check them out.
@juliplease – I believe I've seen those in the USA, but only as a kid. We'll look out for them :)
@flyingfork – I live in Bogotá, Colombia, which has the fruits you talk of. Our "pitalla" is the yellow version of the dragon fruit, we have the same miniature mangoes, but I'm looking forward to finding fruits I've never heard of before.
posted by omnigut at 7:41 AM on March 12, 2018
@sudogeek – I swear you've answered several of my questions before. Thanks for the tip! I live in Colombia, so I've been on several coffee plantations. I'd totally forgotten about the civet. Thanks :)
@fingersandtoes – Do you remember which part of Ko Samui? Looks like you got lucky with your bioluminescence experience there!
@tavegyl – thanks for the tips, looks like we might skip the fireflies. And those swimming/snorkeling ideas sound incredible. We'll check them out.
@juliplease – I believe I've seen those in the USA, but only as a kid. We'll look out for them :)
@flyingfork – I live in Bogotá, Colombia, which has the fruits you talk of. Our "pitalla" is the yellow version of the dragon fruit, we have the same miniature mangoes, but I'm looking forward to finding fruits I've never heard of before.
posted by omnigut at 7:41 AM on March 12, 2018
at the time there was just the one stretch of beach on Samui and I haven't been back since so I'm not sure if it's different... it was the west coast of the island I think, all the hotels had beach access at their back, and their front faced a strip of road that had all the tourist businesses (bars, restaurants, tour organizers, tailors) on it. And at night, all these dreadful cars would drive up and down the strip, blaring the most appalling noise, advertising full- and half- and quarter- moon parties. But the beach side at night was deserted and magical. Why was nobody else swimming? Too busy drinking maybe.
Anyway, I wouldn't make a special trip to Samui for this, unless REALLY LOUD bar parties are your bag. The Andaman sea has many wonderful spots where the dinoflagellates congregate and a quick google on "bioluminescence thailand" suggests that plenty of tour operators are standing by to get you to where you can be sure to see it.
posted by fingersandtoes at 1:02 PM on March 12, 2018
Anyway, I wouldn't make a special trip to Samui for this, unless REALLY LOUD bar parties are your bag. The Andaman sea has many wonderful spots where the dinoflagellates congregate and a quick google on "bioluminescence thailand" suggests that plenty of tour operators are standing by to get you to where you can be sure to see it.
posted by fingersandtoes at 1:02 PM on March 12, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sudogeek at 6:55 PM on March 11, 2018