Cherating Firefly

We did two activities here. The first day we did a kayaking tour. It cost 120myr for 3x ppl with 2x sharing and 1x solo kayaking. A bit misleading as they call it a tour, but it's essentially just kayak rental. You are left to explore on your own for 1hr and then after you get someway up the river, the guide will find you and tell u to start going back to get to the pier at the finish point (2hrs total). Water is dirty and smelly at the start but as you get away from town, this goes away.  We saw turtles, kingfishers, monkeys, some birds I don't know the name of and enjoyed the nature of the mangroves. Our 2nd activity was the firefly tour. After a short talk from Hafiz who is very enthusiastic about the firefly's we had to drive to another location (3 mins away) due to the high tide. It's very hard to capture on the film but there are tons of fireflies and the 1hr tour goes past very quick. At first, I thought Hafiz was exaggerating when he said he can summon them to the boat but it was true! Beautiful sights. If anything you want to come when the moon is not so full and bright so you can enjoy the light of the fireflies even more. There are crocodiles in this river so be careful, we heard some fisherman saying they saw some as we left for the tour. The boats unfortunately release lots of fumes which detracts from the experience a bit.

Poorly managed by the appointed booking agent. Our booking was not available despite paying full amount. Fortunately we called the number available at the counter upon arrival. Sadly the agent also asked us to pay adult rate for the turtle release and at the location we found out it's half the price for kids. Hope the sanctuary management take action against the booking agent. Anyway kudos to the sanctuary management to accommodate us and the visit to the attractions was good. However we hope Mr. Hafiz could train the other guides to be good as him.Our boat rider doesn't explain anything and don't even move nearer to the trees. Kids started to complain as they were watching Mr. Hafiz doing a good job in another boat. We wished we could ride with him.

Our experience was ok as we got in the boat with Hafiz as the guide. Expected to see more fireflies. The other boat was not so lucky as their guide did basically nothing. We heard a lady complaining loudly later at the counter about having to wait for Hafiz and his flashlights. Two boats with only one tour guide with the needed flashlights is a bad idea. Also, we were told air pollution is a problem but the boats used diesel powered engines, contributing to the air pollution...and sound pollution to a perfectly peaceful and beautiful night.

Wonderful experience. Mr Hafiz is so passionate with the firefly and he doing his magic to attract firefly with his flashlight. We are quite lucky to sit on Mr Hafiz’s boat, firefly fly around like magical and we manage to catch for few times :)

Terrible experience. Booked a turtle watch session at 9pm only to later find out : 1) Cherating Fireflies Sanctuary is not the main guide 2) The watch session is located at another location 3) The main guide is not responsive when asked about the watch location 4) NO where on Cherating Fireflies Sanctuary’s booking website mentioned that this activity start time is NOT DEFINITE. So you can be waiting all night for mama turtles. It wont be a problem as long as IT IS CLEARLY STATED on their website. 5) NO proper guide was given regarding what to wear. Apparently white apparel is not advisable due to the turtle’s light sensitivity Please Cherating Firefly Sanctuary, state these important details on your website. RM 80 is not a little amount and are important information especially for first timers. Don’t exploit tourists. Also for those taking part, please ABIDE by the briefing rules. DO NOT TURN ON YOUR PHONE FLASH LIGHT, or you’ll scare the turtles.