Day 4... searching for nature in any form

 

Today I wanted to find the greenest place I could within the city... that led me on the map to the Bird park and Butterfly park, set in an area of greenery outside of the city. The journey there seemed to be straightforward and I navigated the Grab and the LRT like a pro. I hopped off at KL Sentral and prepared for the long walk to the parks. It was (again) very hot and I had neglected to fill my water bottle right up but ploughed onwards, through the busy streets  and to the west of KL centre. I reached the outskirts of the parks after around 30 minutes walking, having passed some places I recognised from my first day in KL. Then I branched off and was faced with another hill. Up I went along the road which was significantly less busy than many of the roads here. Near the top, I spotted a sign for stonehenge... and as I rounded the bend, there it was, in close to all it's glory... albeit a lot smaller and a lot newer.

A few photos of the world's smallest stonehenge and then onwards down the hill to where I could hear in the distance the birds calling. As I walked downwards I heard the tell tale rustling and crashing of bushes that is a certain giveaway for monkeys being in the vicinity. And lo and behold... there they were. 3 or 4 of them jumping around. Always a nice sight to see. 

The bird park was quite expensive for Malaysia but enticing visitors in was the promise of the largest walk in Aviary in? the world. 

And it was pretty big, the netting stretching down the hill. In I went and was immediately greeted by egrets, peacocks and storks. I wondered round, enjoying seeing the birds being able to fly up high. The Pelicans were cool and enormous up close and the parrots had lovely bright colours. Most of the birds looked in good condition with only one parrot missing some feathers.

It was a nice little place but didn't take long to walk around. I sat in the cafe with a cold drink and a bag of crisps, enjoying the sounds of the birds, when suddenly an egret (I think that's what it was) flew onto my table, scrapped on it, and then just stood there, watching me. I may have tossed him a piece of my crisp and delighted in watching him peck away at it. He then stood there for another 10 or 15 minutes and allowed me to take some nice close up photos of him.

Then out of the bird park and down the hill further to the butterfly park. Significantly cheaper I was Ushered through the doors and came out into a garden paradise. There were waterfalls and stunning plants everywhere. And of course there were butterflies but due to their nature, they didn't often stay still and submit to a photo... most inconvenient! 

Once again, it didn't take long to wander around and then indoors were lots of mounted specimens. Unfortunately near them were also lots of terrarium with different types of insects, a few frogs and even a snake. The snake was possibly the absolute worst one to have in a small vivarium, the paradise flying snake which in the wild literally glides from treetop to treetop. No hope for it to do that then here! Many of the beetles were on their backs dead, there was one vivarium with probably over 100 scorpions squashed in, a few were clearly alive but I couldn't tell how many of the others were. All in all it was a sad sight and I rushed through. Once out, I went to the desk and asked them to get someone to check on the insects as many looked dead. They said they would but I wasn't sure that I believed them. 

I left with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. 

I was also knackered and one of my ankles had swelled up after a mosquito bite and was a bit achey. So I grabbed  a Grab and headed back into KL. Frankly I had had enough of the city, the noise, the crowds and wanted to get back to the peace and quiet of where Maria and Tom lived... besides I was taking them out to dinner tonight as a thank you for having me. 

I did stop in KL to do a bit of souvenir shopping as I planned not to come back tomorrow, instead seeking cleaner greener pastures. 

Dinner was in a local restaurant and the food was good and cheap. I tried chicken with rice and a butter sauce. It tasted pretty good. 

After dinner I decided to go and look for monitor lizards in the canal again.... more out of hope than certainty. Myself and Tom strolled along, me scouring the banks for any sign of movement. One thing was out and about and that was the mosquitos and they were diving in and taking chunks out of me as usual. 

I think we are out of luck said Tom as we neared the end of the circuit.... 

and just as he said that, I spotted a wake in the water. Duck or..... 

I walked closer to the bank and there in the water near the opposite bank was the unmistakable shape of a large lizard. Clearly a monitor, I could see it's forked tongue flicking in and out and the long whip like tail snaking back and forth propelling it silently and elegantly through the water. Gotcha! 

I crept as close as I could, ignoring the crickets and the mosquitos in the longer grass near the bank... it was worth it. Unfortunately due to its lower profile in the water and the fact that it was getting dark a few blurry photos and one reasonable video later and my week had been made! 

It was long, probably 5ft maybe more from nose to tail tip. A majestic animal with no need for fear as it it right at the top of the food chain... minus the humans. I have seen a couple of Savannah monitors in Uganda but this was my first wild water monitor. Another box ticked. It reminds me of those eye spy books you have as kids for long car journeys... ticking off all the stuff you have seen. 

The day had been rounded off nicely and it was time to go back and elevate my foot. More hiking tomorrow 😁