Dr. Louisa Shobhini Ponnampalam is a Malaysian cetacean (whales, dolphins, porpoises) ecologist who began her education in marine science at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hawaii. She then went on to pursue her Ph.D. on a prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship at the University Marine Biological Station in Millport, Scotland, researching small dolphins in the Sea of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Her research work on cetaceans has also taken her to the Bering Sea, across the North Pacific Ocean, the Red Sea, South China Sea, Sulu-Sulawesi Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, and more recently, the waters around the Langkawi Archipelago.Her true passion lies in increasing the scientific knowledge of…

Ms. Chooi-Khim Phon LNF 2012 Personality Profile Butterfly Researcher & Scientist Chooi-Khim Phon is a researcher at the Entomology Branch of the Forest Research Institute Malaysia where she has been working on butterfly diversity and conservation. She has a Masters degree from Universiti Sains Malaysia and is currently pursuing her PhD with the University of Malaya on the conservation biology of Malaysian birdwing butterflies. She has authored a number of scientific and popular articles on butterflies.

Graeme Guy LNF 2012 Personality Profile Wildlife Photographer Graeme Guy was born in Wellington, New Zealand and educated in the Hutt Valley. He practised as a pharmacist in Dunedin, Napier and Hamilton after obtaining a degree in pharmacy. He later obtained a BSc and MSc(Hons) from Waikato University in Hamilton before completing a PhD in Biochemistry in Adelaide, Australia in 1982. After a 5 year stint in Birmingham, U.K. he moved to Singapore where he was a Professor and Principal Investigator at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology from 1988 and is an author of over 100 scientific papers. Nature photography has always been an interest but was taken…

Eco Walk a key event of the Langkawi Nature Festival is to be an exciting and meaningful walk for anyone wanting to participate in the conservation of Langkawi’s natural heritage and to ‘Keep Langkawi Wild”. This Eco Walk is open to anyone both local and foreign guests who are keen to get their walking shoes on and hike for conservation of Langkawi’s Natural Heritage.

The Wildlife Photography workshop featured world renowned Wildlife Photographer Graeme Guy who conducted both an indoor and an outdoor practical photography session with nature photographers based mainly in Langkawi. The Instructor touched on his previous photography expeditions as well as gave an overview of the different technical aspects of photography. An outdoor session at the Andaman was also conducted to further enhance the skills of the participants of the workshop.

The Bird Count was headed by renowned amateur Ornithologist Irshad Mobarak and covered choice locations like Gunung Raya, Bon Ton and other habitats on Langkawi . A total of 74 species of birds were counted on that day. The count was certainly significant to boost further interest in birding and hopefully it will spur on further interest on the subject.

The nature talks were hosted by The Andaman A Luxury Collection Resort in the afternoon of the first day. Participants of the nature talks were very privileged to have butterfly expert and scientist Dr. Laurence G Kirton from FRIM and Marine Mammals expert Dr. Louisa S. Ponnampalam representing MareCet speak on various issues pertaining to the science and conservation of butterflies and marine mammals on Langkawi.