Since I had a long week off made a last minute decision to visit the Segari Turtle Conservation Center. Passed the sanctuary a few years back during the first visit to Sitiawan but because of tight schedule it was kept in the 'places to visit' list.
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| Overall journey |
Left the island quite late as there were some chores to be completed. Halfway thought the ride, we had to do a unplanned pit stop at the Buki Merah R&R as the headscarf was being uncooperative with the helmet. Other than that the ride on the highway was a boring expressway ride until the Changkat Jering turnoff.
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| Bukit Merah rest stop |
From here the scenery changed to the old trunk roads riding pass small towns and palm oil estate. It was a lovely ride with a nice cloudy weather. As we were approaching the sanctuary, there was a major road work and the detour made the ride a bit more interesting with a mixture of off road riding.
To get to the sanctuary one will have to look out for signs along the road. I missed a turning as I was navigating through dirt roads and traffic. Did a quick U-turn and was soon back on the correct path. There is a small turn off from the main road and the road turned to gravel path which passes along the oil palm plantation and a duck huge duck farm.
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| Road turn off to the sanctuary |
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| Continue along this path until the end to the sanctuary |
There was some construction going on next to the sanctuary which is an expansion for the sanctuary
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| Vulcan in front of the mural wall |
There is no entrance fee to the sanctuary which is nice. Although we arrived during lunch time, we were still allowed to enter. The entrance is next to the construction site so it can get a bit loud at times but it is still a tranquil place with the strong wind and cloudy skies.
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| Entrance to the sanctuary |
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| Art mural at the main wall after signing in to the place due to Covid |
There are trees with names on it for easier identification and also a few gazebos laid out for visitors to enjoy and relax.
There are also a lot of information signage around the grounds informing visitors about turtle life cycle and life span and the types of species which can be found in Malaysia.
There is an information center and at the front it there is a giant Green Turtle welcoming you.
Inside the information center there were stuffed turtles and skeleton of a green turtle on display as well as other useful information about the turtles.
Green Turtle skeleton and the stuffed turtle on display
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| More mural artwork at the side of the information center |
Near to the Information Center is the nursey tank for baby turtles. They are placed in tanks and seperated by species. The baby turtles are so small and cute swimming all over the place.
The main highlight of the sanctuary would be the Green Turtle's enclosure. They have the biggest area compared to the others as they also have a large numbers as well. Did you know that they make a weird noise when they come up for air? Could have stayed there forever just to see them swim around.
Videos of Green turtles
As can be seen from the photos and videos above, most of the time was spent with the Green Turtles. There is also a Hawksbill turtle enclosure but there are only 2 of them and they are very stationary unlike the Green Turtles.
The next and final enclosure are the Terrapins. They are small and cute especially when they are swimming together.
Baby terrapins
There is also the hatchery which was a restricted area. This is where they relocate the eggs found at the beach nearby and care for them until they hatch. They have a information board in front of the hatchery to inform the visitors of the hatching process.
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| The hatchery |
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| Information on the turtle's hatching process |
After visiting the sanctuary, we went for a stroll along the beach. This is where the workers comb the beach to relocate the eggs for the hatching process. The name of the beach is very fitting. This is called Pantai Panjang which translates to Long beach and that is exactly what it is: a very long stretch of beach.
Pantai panjang video
The longer we stayed the more we didn't want to leave as it was just so nice and relaxing there expecially with breeze and cooling weather but we had to as we were starting to feel hungry and the sky threaten to open. Our next stop is at the town of Sitiawan for their famous onion bagel and their steam peanut pau. On the way to Sitiawan the sky opened but since it was an intermittent rain we decided to forego the rain suit and continued on.
When we reached Cheong Cia, all they had was the red bean biscuit which was a shame. We were really looking forward to having their famous onion bagel as we were starting to feel hungry. Since it is almost 3pm, we decided to just have the biscuit and head over to our next location, Yi See restaurant.
We were lucky that there was not a lot of people at the coffee shop. The place is usually packed before 3pm as that is when their famous peanut pau is ready.
Late but a very filling lunch
When we arrived and parked the bike those who were in the shop stared at us like as though we have 3 heads. More so when we checked-in and went to the nearest empty table. We ordered our paus and was over the moon when they still serve food. We ordered their fried ride and lam mee which was very delicious. Halfway through lunch the sky decided to open up and continued until we left.
We waited until the rain died down awhile and decided to try our luck and head home. We did 2 mistake on the way back. Mistake #1: Not fueling up when needed. The bike was a bit low on fuel but figured we would be able to reach the next petrol stop along the highway which was a mistake. I passed 2 petrol station and was still confident that the bike had enough petrol. Little did I know that the way back was a new highway called W Coast Expressway. Mistake #2: Not following the GPS. The GPS directed us to turn off at Ipoh but we saw a sign saying along the highway which says Penang and we decided to follow the sign instead. We ended up in Beruas and had to do a major detour back to Ipoh and to make matters worse rain was getting heavier.
We had to go through small towns and old trunk roads which made a nice ride if it was not raining and we a full tank of gas. The roads were nice and twisty and there was little to no traffic. The more we ride to the nearest town with petrol the more I was looking at the distance left to empty. During this time, there was this thought at the back of my mind that we would end up at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, having to push the bike all the way to the nearest petrol station which is who knows where and how far. Imagine the relieve when I saw that the Shell petrol station sign is 2km ahead.
Refueled the bike and the rain was still coming down on us but since we were already wet, we did not bother to put on the rainsuit. Headed towards Ipoh but turned off before the town onto the North-South Expressway. On the expressway there was intermittent rain and we decided to have a pit stop to stretch our legs.
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| Final pit stop before heading home |
It was a final push back to Penang as it was getting dark and we were both tired. We did not expect this ride to last 9 hours but overall it was a nice experience and I would gladly do it all over again minus the petrol stop mistake. Lesson learnt: Always stop for petrol when the fuel is low. This is what happened to other explorers and I would have thought to learn from their mistake but I guess I was wrong.
Remember to ride safe, be vigilant and keep the rubber side down
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