I had a very good day yesterday at Kuala Selangor. This is a little town about two hours out of Kuala Lumpur, and my reason for going there is the mangrove forest nature reserve, Taman Alam. There are a few mammals there (including smooth-coated otters which you have to be lucky to see) and lots of birds. I had last been there in 2006 and then I stayed at the town, but this time was just a day-trip. I had a look on Wikitravel for where the bus leaves from Kuala Lumpur and the directions on there were dead accurate. Basically you go to the Medan Pasar bus stop just near the Masjid Jamek LRT station and catch the number 141. Even the fare was correct on Wikitravel (7.30 Ringgit). The first bus is at 6.30am apparently but I caught the 7am bus and got to the Kuala Selangor bus terminal at about 8.45am. Wikitravel says the buses run every half a hour but on the return trip I was waiting for over an hour and a half for a bus, so I don't know. I thought the last time I was here I had stayed in a hotel just round the corner from the terminal and walked to the nature reserve in the mornings (about a kilometre or two away) but I couldn't see any hotels and I didn't remember the lay-out. I asked a few people and they all said I needed to take a taxi. So eventually I did to save time, and it cost 8 Ringgit. At the turn-off from the highway to the nature reserve there is a little cluster of hotels and restaurants, and as soon as I saw those I remembered what had happened in 2006. I had arrived at the bus terminal after dark and asked around for a hotel, and everyone kept pointing me in the same direction. I ended up walking along the edge of the highway in the dark with all my gear until I reached this point, which turned out to be quite handy because it was just outside the gates (there's just a short road, maybe 500 metres between the highway and gate). Alternatively you can stay inside the park itself for as little as 30 Ringgit, a choice which would obviously give you more scope for wildlife watching. The reserve is open 9am to 6pm, but the otters are most likely to be seen at dawn and dusk as they pass through, and if you are staying inside the park you could also go spot-lighting; I know there are leopard cats there, and I think there are probably pangolins as well.
So, I got to the reserve at about 9.20am, just when they were opening up the ticket counter so good timing really. I stayed until noon, then went out for lunch, and came back in for a few hours before heading off to look for silvered leaf monkeys. The reserve is on the edge of the Selangor River and the Malacca Strait but you can't actually see either of them because of the mangroves. From the entrance there's a track leading to a circular raised dirt track, in the middle of which is a man-made brackish lagoon. There's a couple of watch-towers, and also a raised walkway through mangrove forest which is in bad shape. The sections of wooden railings have mostly collapsed and fallen off, but luckily the walkway itself is made of concrete so will last a long time. I wasn't expecting to see much in the way of new birds here, but my target was milky stork which have been reintroduced here from birds bred at Zoo Negara in Kuala Lumpur. In 2006 there was a huge pre-release aviary (still there now, but derelict) and although I saw a couple of free birds I think, I couldn't count them because they'd only just been released. Now there is a proper wild breeding population so I can count them!
It wasn't long before I saw some milky storks, with a flock of seventeen flying in circles in the sky seen from the first watch-tower. I saw a few others in flight later on and also a lesser adjutant in flight. Lots of other birds all through the forest here as well, including a female koel, ashy tailorbird, ruby-cheeked sunbird and mangrove whistler. There were some water monitors around too naturally, and quite a few many-lined sun skinks.
I was keeping my eyes open for smooth-coated otters, although there wasn't much hope outside of very early morning/late afternoon. In 2006 as I was coming into the park for the first time there was a lady coming out who had just seen a whole family party which was a bit annoying when I ended up not seeing any! I have never seen any species of otter wild before, but I was hoping to see the smooth-coated otters which live at Sungei Buloh in Singapore whenever I get down there, and I'm hoping to still get to Langkawi at some point for small-clawed otters (Junglewalla Tours tell me they see otters on 50% of their mangrove eco-tours which sounds promising). I finished the mangrove walkway (never seems to be many birds in there, but I saw mangrove whistler which was good) and climbed up the is-it-safe-? watchtower just nearby (it is a little rickety and it sways when you're on it which isn't comforting!). An ashy tailorbird was hopping around in the tree next to the tower and I got a good photo of it. A couple of white-rumped munias were feeding in the grass below and a white-breasted waterhen ran across the path. A pack of three dogs then ran along the path so I stayed up in the tower a while longer because I don't trust dogs out on their own! A crested serpent-eagle was soaring around amongst the Brahminy kites and swiftlets. When I came down I went to where the munias had been to see if I could get a closer look but they had gone, then I took the track that ran back towards the entrance. On the outer side of the track (i.e. on the other side from the lagoon) is a creek which is hidden from view most of the time by the long grasses along the edge. Just by the tower, on the junction of the track, is a spot where you can look straight down one section of the creek, which I naturally did to see if there was an otter down there – and there was!!! I was just a little surprised, especially given that the time was quarter to midday. The otter was periscoping (i.e. lifting its head and body straight up out of the water to see things better), then it went behind some of the grasses, then it appeared again, lifting itself high to scope me out. There was a little tree in the way so I took one step sideways to get an open shot and the otter dived with a big splash and then took off up the far bank through the grass (I couldn't see the otter itself, just the grass thrashing wildlly as it escaped). So I didn't see it for long but it is my first wild otter so I am really happy, and I still hope to get better views in Singapore if the otters are still reliable there (fingers crossed). Wildlife-watching is a funny thing, there is so much luck involved. I saw the otter in precisely the one spot where I could see it (as opposed to it being in any other spot where the creek was completely hidden, which was most of its length); if I had spent longer or shorter up the tower I wouldn't have seen it, if I hadn't spent time going to see if the munias were still there I wouldn't have seen it, all sorts of lucky variables come into play. In short, if you are going to Kuala Selangor but you only have one day there, don't give up hope you might see the otters whilst there! (Just as an aside, that otter was number 199 on my life list, so whatever comes next will make the nice round 200).
Apart for the otter other mammals I saw were numerous plantain squirrels and the ubiquitous crab-eating macaques. I didn't see any silvered leaf monkeys in the reserve but I knew they were easy to see just up the road at the top of the hill where people go to feed them. (In the morning most of the leaf monkeys and macaques leave the reserve for the feeding area and then come back in the afternoon). It is just a short walk, and sure enough there were loads of both species of monkeys up there. I've seen silvered leaf monkeys before in several places but I think this is probably the only place on this trip where they're found and I wanted to see them again. I don't really like seeing monkey-feeding areas, it seems almost degrading seeing the monkeys begging for hand-outs. I prefer to see them in the forest, but if they aren't in the forest then what are you going to do? It was interesting seeing the two species feeding together. Macaques are always ready to bare their teeth and threaten to bite if you don't hand over the food; they are the brawlers of the monkey world. The leaf monkeys look much more delicate in comparison with their long legs and skinny body, and their permanently surprised expression suggests they wouldn't hurt a fly. They really were more refined, standing upright with hand held out, then taking bits of food gently. Several had babies with them, which are bright orange in colour (the adults being a dark blackish-grey).
Today I am off to Bukit Fraser for a few days. I've been there before as well so most of the birds won't be new, but I am hoping to see some new mammals (hopefully including slow loris which is almost my nemesis mammal!). This morning while I was plaiting my hair on the little balcony, the koel was calling away as usual. But this time he flew right past the building from one tree to another, and then a female koel flew out of the same tree and landed in a tree directly opposite me, maybe twenty feet away. The male flew back to his original tree, a couple of pink-necked green pigeons flew in the opposite direction and then the female koel followed the pigeons. So I did get to see the local koels properly before I left after all!
I'm surprised he didn't hit you up for some cash for telling you about the tour times. 
