Cherating is an area that often receives heavy rain throughout the year starting from October to April. It is located in the district of Kuantan, Pahang, but the nearest town is Bandar Chukai, Kemaman which takes only 5 to 8 minutes, compared to Bandar Kuantan which is about 35 minutes by car. Cherating is famous for its beaches including Chendor Beach. One of the attractions in Cherating is the leatherback turtle breeding site and the Chendor turtle sanctuary. If the rainy season arrives, many restaurants and hotels will close. Vacationing in Cherating will certainly be a wonderful moment because there are various activities that can be done besides visiting interesting places around Cherating.
Interestingly, Cherating is the first Club Med location in Asia. While spending the night and relaxing at this Club Med, various activities can also be done. There are also various choices of hotels by the beach such as Royale Chulan Cherating, Holiday Villa Beach Cherating Resort, Legend Cherating Beach Resort, Cherating Bayview Resort, Cherating Bay View Resort, Tanjung Inn Resort, Cherating Cottage and many more. The popular activities among tourists are windsurfing, kite surfing and surfboard games because the wave and wind factor here is stronger and suitable with these activities. Although the roar of the waves is quite strong, this beach area is very sloping. In the area around Cherating Beach, there are many signs and shop lots that offer various interesting activities that can be done such as mangrove tour, fishing trip, fireflies tour and so on.
Cherating also has a cultural village making traditional handicrafts and selling textiles. Visitors can get handicraft items here as souvenirs. If you’re on vacation with your family, make sure you don’t miss a visit to the Cherating Turtle Sanctuary & Information Center located in front of the Club Med Cherating Beach Resort entrance. This sanctuary is small in size and located in a building that only takes about 10-15 minutes to visit. There are various information and infographics related to the world of turtles displayed here. In fact, there are also several species of turtles, including newly hatched turtles, labi – labi and tuntung in the pool outside the building. Among the species of turtles here are leatherback turtles, green turtles, Hawks-bill turtles and Olive Ridley turtles. There are also interesting programs for visitors such as visiting the turtle egg hatching site, seeing the release of baby turtles into the sea and also a turtle watching program at night. There is no entrance fee, but visitors only need to register at the counter.
Besides Cherating Turtle Sanctuary, there is another sanctuary located on Chendor Beach and bordering the State of Terengganu. Here visitors have the opportunity to experience holding baby turtles and see the baby turtles heading to the beach and swimming in the ocean. Visitors will also be given a lot of useful information in educating citizens to understand the importance of these animals in the aquatic ecosystem in our country.
Visitors can also do various other activities around the Cherating River such as seeing fireflies at night and it is very popular during the rainy or monsoon season. In this season, fireflies will lay their eggs in the wet part of the cliff after the rainy season, making these fireflies more abundant than in the normal season. There are several operators that provide firefly viewing packages around the Cherating River.
Cherating also has a small island rich in marine life and coral reefs making it one of the preferred locations for snorkeling and scuba diving activities. It is also the location for free swimming activities organized by most professional swimming clubs from all over Malaysia. This small island known as Pulau Ular is only about 1.3km from the mainland. If you take a boat, it only takes about 10 minutes. This island is also a location for fishing fish and squid. It is also often a camping location for fans of more adventurous activities.
The Cherating River is also rich in mangrove forests found in the surrounding area and very interesting for tourists to explore. Visitors can see the beauty of the mangrove forest and wildlife here by taking a boat provided by several operators here. The trip down the mangrove forest in Sungai Chendering is really fun. Hiking and photography activities are highly recommended to visitors because they have the opportunity to see mangrove trees, animals and other creatures such as spider crabs, monkeys, lizards, snakes, forest birds and so on.
If you are visiting with your family, don’t miss the opportunity to bring your children to the Kemaman Zoo, which is only less than 15 km from Cherating Beach. Surely the children will be excited to see various species of exotic animals such as crocodiles, tigers, peacocks, elephants, tapirs and various other exotic reptiles found here.
For a foodhunter, you can try various delicious foods around Cherating. You can visit Kampung Geliga which is not far from Cherating and popular with local menu such as sata, otak – otak, pulut lepa, fish pie, lekor crackers and many more. If you are around Cherating itself, you can try nipah crab maggi which is very popular.
Don’t forget to get a souvenir to take home. Limbong Art offers a wide selection of souvenirs consisting of batik clothes, hats, scarves, t-shirts and many more. Batik clothing patterns are the design by the owner of Limbong Art himself.
Surely you can already plan various activities if you want to vacation in Cherating after reading this article. Don’t miss the opportunity to visit the interesting places here while relieve stress after tired work.
