A crowd of about 500 people turned up last night at Bukit Kiara to join the first-ever firefly walk organised by the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS).

“We were very pleased with the turnout; it was well above our expectations.

“This shows that the general public is conscious about their surroundings and what they can find in Bukit Kiara, which will hopefully help us to save it,” MNS president Henry Goh told Malaysiakini.

The aim of the event, held in conjunction with local community organisation Friends of Bukit Kiara, was to highlight the importance of conserving the popular recreational site.

This is in light of a current campaign by the residents of Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) and park users from nearby housing estates against a planned development project on the Taman Rimba Kiara public park site.

The walk, which took about an hour 15 minutes to complete, started at the entrance to the Bukit Kiara tarmac trail at 8pm.

Before the event began, the crowd was briefed on how the walk would be conducted, with attendees to be divided into groups of 20 to enter the trail.

MNS wetlands programme manager Sonny Wong then briefly described MNS’ discovery of the fireflies this year.

“Based on live sightings and the fireflies’ flash patterns, we have found an estimated six genera in Bukit Kiara,” Wong said.

Prior to the event, social media had been abuzz with the news that Bukit Kiara harboured the world’s largest firefly, of the Lamprigera genus (photo).

This was confirmed by MNS, which stated that “the world’s biggest firefly has been spotted and verified by MNS officers” in Bukit Kiara.

The Bukit Kiara tarmac trail, which is open at night, had its lights turned off especially for the event.

Additionally, attendees were given red plastic bags to cover their torches and phones, so that the lights would not disturb the insects.

During the walk, a number of different types of fireflies in their adult and larvae forms, as well as another type of bioluminescent beetle called the star-worm, were spotted in the bushes and grass lining the paths. 

Many families joined in the event, with young children being guided by their parents along the pitch-black route.

Event attendee Sam Choon Kook, a retired professor of genetics from Universiti Malaya, observed, “I wasn’t even aware there were fireflies here. I walk up Bukit Kiara all the time, and I’ve never seen one before.”

She commended MNS for organising the night walk, which “allowed one to see the luminescent species available in Bukit Kiara”.

“There is a vast diversity of flora and fauna in our jungles. It would be such a crime not to preserve them. We owe it to future generations to make sure that this biodiversity remains,” Sam added.