Where You Can Be with The Animals: 7 Popular Sites in Malaysia Revealed!

The Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary is the best place in the world to see proboscis monkeys. Visitors can take photos of the monkeys up close during mealtimes. The proboscis monkeys have surprisingly large noses, and the older they are, the longer the noses get. When they are excited, the big noses stand up or throb up and down, which looks quite funny. Visitors are allowed to feed the proboscis monkeys here, but they must be guided by an English-speaking guide and only feed the monkeys fruits and vegetables during two scheduled sessions per day at different locations, the first of which is at 14:30 and the second at 16:00. Visitors may watch fireflies in the evening at the Sanctuary, during the meal that is included with the package, and may also see them at sunset.

Kuara Selangor village is a 1.5-hour drive away from Kuala Lumpur and is ranked as the third largest firefly colony in the world. There are two firefly parks, Kampung Kuantan Village and Bukit Berlin Firefly Resort where many visitors come to watch the fireflies. The two firefly parks each have their unique characteristics. The Kampung Kuantan Firefly Park uses manual canoes that have a maximum of 4 people per boat. The Bukit Berlin Firefly Park uses electric boats, which carry 10 passengers each. Visitors join a day tour (that costs 190 MYR/person) from Kuala Lumpur to see the fireflies, and leave Kuala Lumpur at 3:00 pm. The tour includes visiting the Batu Caves, and seeing the monkeys at Monkey Mountain. Day trips are available at local travel agencies and local hotels in Kuala Lumpur.

The boat tour of the mangroves is practically a must if one is around Kota Kinabalu. There are three mangroves to choose from: Weston, Klias, and Kawa. The mangroves are similar to each other with the difference being that the Weston River is wider and is the most frequently visited one. There are three things to see in the mangroves: proboscis monkeys, fireflies, and sunsets. Proboscis monkeys are special creatures in Sabah, which are almost extinct and worth seeing. Kota Kinabalu also has one of the world's three largest firefly colonies, where fireflies gather together on the trees, which look like Christmas trees. The mangrove trip usually takes half a day with a departure in the afternoon and return in the evening: first, it starts with the proboscis monkey watching, then the sunset, and finally viewing the fireflies around 8 p.m. and a return to Kota Kinabalu at 9 o'clock.

Orangutans are the shyest apes in the world. The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center inSandakan is one of the world's four largest orangutan conservation areas. It is about 25 kilometers from the city of Sandakan, deep in the pleasant tropical rainforest. The orangutans live in a completely independent life, and are not held in by any fences. Orangutans are not easy to spot. They only come out at feeding time. There are viewing galleries for visitors to watch the orangutans eat. The general feeding time is 11:00 am and 2 pm, and they are hardly to be seen if visitors miss these time slots. There is an information center in the Rehabilitation Center that provides background information in regards to the orangutans. There is a question and answer wall with some questions written on it. The answers are to be found written on the reverse side of small ‘doors’ set into this wall. The last question is "What is the biggest threat currently faced by the orangutans?" When the “door” corresponding to this question is opened, the visitor is confronted with a mirror, revealing his or her own image.

Visitors travel down the Kinabatangan River to visit the rainforest and look out for rare wild animals. This river is older than the Amazon River and the longest river in Sabah, measuring 560 kilometers, where visitors can take boats to traverse the vast rainforest and wetlands and observer wild animals up close. The Lower Basin of the Kinabatangan River has the largest wildlife habitat area in Southeast Asia, which includes pygmy elephants, crocodiles, proboscis monkeys, many kinds of rare birds, and more. Local guides usually carry books with information relating to birds when on bird watching expeditions with visitors. Group travel is required tovisit the Kinabatangan River. These trips are usually two days and one night or three days and two nights. In addition to the river tour, visitors also explore Gomantong Cave, which is theworld's top producer of edible bird's nests. In the evening, the guide will also take you on a night jungle walk to see sleeping birds and animal behavior during the night.

The only place where visitors can see both Green Turtles and Hawksbill Sea Turtles in Sabah is the "Turtle Islands National Park", which is Asia's most important sea turtle spawning and breeding site. Watching sea turtles spawning at night is a special treat of travel in this locality.Turtles lay their eggs at night and this can only be seen on the island. However, there are only 20 rooms on the island, with a limit of 50 visitors per night. With its popularity, accommodations usually need to be booked 2-3 months in advance, so that one can visit the island. This is typically included in a 2 day and 1-night tour that departs in the morning from Sandakan to the Turtle Islands. Visitors may rest at noon or go snorkeling where there are clown fishes (like “Nemo”). Then, the tour departs to turtle watch at 19:30, and stays overnight on the island with a return trip to Sandakan early in the next morning.

Sungai Kilim Nature Park in Langkawi offers a day trip to the mangroves by boat. Wild animals such as macaques and crabs can be seen along the way with an extensive program including mangroves, bat cave exploration, eagle feeding, a visit to sea farms, and more. Visitors take speedboats through the mangroves the rainforest, which affords them with the opportunity to see the wild animals up close. The bat cave is at the riverside of the Kilim River. The cave isdark and requires a flashlight to illuminate the top of the cave. There are more than 1,000 bats in the cave. Eagle feeding is the most popular activity in the mangroves. The river is home to a large number of the red-brown old eagles, they hover over the forests, and sometimes swoop down to prey in the river. It is a spectacular scene. In contrast, marine farms are less exciting, but here one can learn about local fish farming.