Basil Gelpke was born September 10, 1962 in Basel, Switzerland. After his studies in Social Anthropology, Economics and in the production of scientific films Basil soon became fascinated by all kinds of moving images. He is Managing Director of his production house Lava Production AG, www.lavatv.com

In addition to the main events; Birdrace, Photography Competition and Workshops there will be plenty of other activities to keep all members of the family busy.

THE WINNER LANGKAWI BIRDING & FOTOFEST 2011 Photography competition People’s Choice Award Mohd Azizul Zulzaha

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…

A Gala Dinner and Prize Giving Ceremony was held for the event at The Andaman A Luxury Collection Resort Langkawi on the final day. The ceremony began with A Tribute to the late Mr Tse Choo Tsien our last year speaker who passed away not long ago by Mr Kim from Penarak Nature Institute. Three speeches from Mr. Irshad Mobarak, Ms. Anne Scott (General Manager of the Andaman A Luxury Collection Resort Langkawi) and Mr. Azmil Munif Bukhari (LADA) respectively. This was followed by a dinner, cultural dance and a slideshow presentation. The prize giving ceremony for each of the categories were presented by the end of that evening.

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.