Fireflies on Koh Lampu

Friday night I was invited to go on a boat tour on the river to see fireflies! Chatcha and her aunt picked me up at 7pm and we headed down to the pier where we met up with some of their other friends and coworkers. The 7 of us climbed aboard a long wooden boat, took a seat on the wooden planks and our tour guide handed each of us a life vest. It was basically a large canoe with an engine, so we sat right at water level.

We pushed off and headed across the river to the shores of Koh Lampu, (pronounced Got Lampu – also known as “Exercise Island”) a great spot during the day for sports, jogging, and watching jet skis fly by. At night you can see houses lit up along both sides of the river, some of them are even on stilts sitting right on the water.

It didn't take long to spot the first mass of fireflies! They grouped together, as if they had carefully chosen 1 tree and all agreed to stay there. It was amazing! The closest way to describe it was like a Christmas tree! The white lights flickered on and off and the whole tree was full of thousands of them! The light of the fireflies was not bright enough that you would have seen it from a distance, so it was perfect to be on a small boat, with no lights, and when we got close the guide cut the engine and pulled out a long ore so he could stop us right up next to them!

Soon we continued down the river and for the next hour and ½ we slowly made our way east, heading towards the Gulf of Thailand. Every couple hundred of feet or so we would spot another tree or two twinkling with lights. He would guide the boat in near the shore and at times they were so close you felt like you could just reach out and catch one of them! They say it is good luck if one lands on you, but none of us had that good of fortune this time!

It takes them over 1 year to mature from larvae to adulthood, and they only live as adults for 2 weeks and then die. During the two weeks is when they are able to light up, and the lights are intended to attract a mate. The males have a brighter light, and smaller bodies so they can fly more quickly than the larger bodied females. We weren't able to take pictures, as the guide warned that any flash would scare them, and realistically flash or no flash you wouldn't be able to capture the essence of it anyways. Maybe with a super nice camera, but we were all happy to keep our electronic devices safely stowed away and simply enjoy the experience. It was truly magical!!!

thankfully google images exists... so i found you guys a picture of what it was like!!!