Kawang (Sibuti River) Firefly Recce

On the evening of 23rd Dec, 2009, I went to Kawang. It is a small kampong of around ten houses located right at the bank of Satap River, a small distributary of Sibuti River. This small river is lined up all along it's meander with palm trees and occasionally with Berembang (Sonneratia caseolaris, Family Sonneratiaceae).


Berembang Tree.


Berembang fruit.


Berembang Pollen under Microscope.

I met Pak Samat, one of the villager. According to him, a firefly is called “Kelimpapat” in his local language. In their culture, villagers used to eat fireflies once every Thursday night for 40 consecutive weeks to acquire clear mind and heart. This is supposedly to aid the learning process and ease of knowledge acquisition.

When I told him that firefly is poisonous, he replied with "Yes, sure it is. It's the insect's 'poison' that makes the mind and heart clear".

According to Pak Samat, there are numerous display trees along this small river. He suggested that I go to the bridge where the old dam was located. "There are few good display trees there and some are even fruiting", he said.

Since I was not actually prepared to watch the fireflies, I cannot stay until dark. Knowing that some of the display trees can be accessed easily by road, I'l make a point to go back to Kawang Dam one of these days. An ideal nite would be when the moon is at it's darkest phase.