LANGKAWI ISLAND

Langkawi is a group of 99 oceanic islands located 22 to 54 kilometers off Perlis Coast. The Islands are very popular tourist destination and have recently hosted many international events . Administratively, Langkawi is under the state of Kedah. The Islands have been noted for their excellent fishing, emerald green waters, beaches and stunning landscapes. Their remoteness from the mainland has to a large extent, prevented modern development and industries from dominating the land. 

Hence, other than the low - lying terrain on the main island of Langkawi which has been converted for traditional agriculture over the last 200 years; the rest of the land is still in much pristine condition. Current development  is limited to the marble quarry and recent additions of infrastructures like road, airport runaway extensions, the cable car, resorts and chalets all to cater for mass tourism. Fortunately, traffic density is still low. 

At the moment there is only the Payar Island which is under protection status as a Marine Park, but the forest within Langkawi are under Forest Reserved status. There are also plans in the future by government, to develop Pulau Singa Besar as a geological, wildlife and marine park.

The main island covers an area of 939 square kilometers. The other five large islands are Pulau Dayang  Bunting, Pulau Tuba, Pulau Singa Besar, Pulau Langgun and the rest are small islands and islets. Boating and sailing among these islands provide very scenic impressions as most of them are flanked by grand towering masses of limestone, quartzite and granite outcrops. Except for Langkawi, Dayang Bunting and Tuba,  most other islands are generally inhabited for most of the year. 

The Langkawi Islands consist of four main rock formations, namely:

Limestone is the prominent rock type, rising imposingly from the sea dating back to the Carboniferous era. They are part of the formation found in North Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Thailand, Burma and Indochina. Langkawi is famous for high quality marbles. In the middle of the western central region of Pulau Langkawi is a massif granite intrusion, the highest point at 881 meters above sea level, being Gunung Raya, which is topped by a satellite station. Towards the northwest, there is the aesthetically long serrated quartzite ridge forming five peaks clad with rainforest, which is aptly called Gunung Machinchang which mean “the chopped up mountain” and has the oldest rock formation in Malaysia. There are also isolate pockets of exposed sedimentary rock where fossils have been located. The oldest trace fossil to be ever found in Malaysia was collected from a siltstone bed of Upper Cambrian (about 500 million years old) on the northwest coast. Indeed the Langkawi archipelago is geologically very interesting.

The climatic patterns are similar to the northern mainland with a distinct and pronounced dry season from December to march annually. Two indistinct wet seasons occur during the rest of the year at around April to May and August to October. The daytime temperature is higher during the dry periods. Coupled with the sunshine, Langkawi is an excellent place for water –related activities.

Largely due to the climatic pattern from the rest of Malaysia, and isolation from the Mainland, Langkawi region is floristically and faunistically distinct from the rest of the country. There are therefore, many unique plant and animal species and sub-species that are found only in Langkawi. Due to the prolonged dry spells, there are also many physiological and ecological phenomena that are characteristic of the region. For example, there is an annually recurring flowering season around April when many of the tress and shrubs burst into bloom.

The islands are immensely rich in plant life and there are still many highly diverse and relativity undisturbed habitats. Previous records show the presence of at least 500 vascular plant species belonging to 125 families (Chin, 1973), of which 30 species are endemic. Local traditional medicine practitioners are aware of the rich source of herbal plants. The island is famed for its wild orchid varieties. Unfortunately, there has been some indiscriminate and widespread commercial exploitation in the past which nearly wiped out some of the attractive species such as the slipper orchid Paphiopedalum niveum and the epiphytic Phalaenopsis pulcherrima. 

The vegetation on the island is very much influenced by the geology. The granite central and eastern regions are covered with tall dipterocarp forests, which are still primary, while on the limestone and quartz hills, carbonate-loving specialists dominate. These are not as diverse but nonetheless fascinating in terms of specialized  plants species that are endemic there. Other forest types are those bordering the rocky coast and sandy beaches, mangroves along the river and estuaries, as well as secondary forests bordering agriculture land.

With so many habitats, inclusive of the agricultural areas and forest types it is no wonder that there are over 200 species of land and sea birds. As for mammals, there are no large predators, consisting of 32 species of small mammals that in the absence of predators, flourish there, like the mouse deer of which two species are reported. The butterflies also, are extremely diverse, with over 250 species recorded, with many rare species and sub species.

Caves and sinkhole lakes like the Dayang Bunting Lake are some of the other sensitive habitats on the Islands. Lakes and cave, flora and fauna, such as bats, fish and invebrates, are yet to be fully inventoried.

Offshore, excellent coral reefs fringe many of the islands in crystal clear water for most part of the year. Beach combing along the water’s edge will reveal that there are many coastal zones such as mangroves, rocky coasts, mud flats and fine sandy beaches, each of these zones having different ecological patterns and riches dominated by different species.

Tourism has played a major role in the current development of Langkawi Island. The increasing visitors in recent years have contributed a lot to the socio economy of the islanders. In order to ensure the overall long term environmental and economic sustainability of the Langkawi islands for the tourism industry, a continued effort is needed to gather, compile, and analyze the data or information on all facets related to the environment.