Pulau Burung, A Tourist Destination Like Sweden

PORT DICKSON, Aug 25 (Bernama) -- Who would have thought that behind the beauty of the blue beach and white sand in Port Dickson, there is a small island known as Pulau Burung, which is also one of the sea swamp forests in Negeri Sembilan.

Located next to Pantai Cahaya Negeri, the 1.5 hectare Pulau Burung, once famous for the migration of birds on the island, is now one of the must-see tourist spots if you come to this Army town.

The beauty of Pulau Burung which connects directly between the land and the island, gives an image of being on an island in Gothenburg, Sweden.

In fact, this island is also said to have a 'twin' in West Sumatra at Carocok Painan Beach, which has the same physical appearance as Pulau Burung.

According to Negeri Sembilan Tourism, Arts and Culture Committee chairman, Nicole Tan Lee Koon, this island is unique because it connected to the mainland through a special bridge.

"There is a specially built bridge to get to Pulau Burung, there is no need to use a boat, visitors only need to walk 180 metres to reach the island.

"It is called Pulau Burung because in the past, this island was the focal point of migratory birds that flew in groups to the island, before moving to Tanjung Tuan now," she told Bernama.

The Bukit Kepayang assemblyman added that she did not expect the beauty of Pulau Burung to be nearly the same as the famous island in Sweden.

She said as soon as she was on the bridge in the middle of the sea to the Pulau Burung, she was reminded of crossing one of the islands in Gothenburg Sweden, which she had visited before.

"The condition of the island (in Sweden) is almost the same, there is a special bridge that connects the land and the island, the sea is blue and calm, so it is no wonder why I can imagine being in Sweden when I am here.

"The state of clear sea water, and surrounded by mangrove trees, makes us feel excited to enjoy the beauty of this habitat in the sea," she said.

She said in addition to walking around the island and seeing the mangrove swamps, visitors can also climb the three-story high observation tower to enjoy the whole panorama of Port Dickson's sea.

Through this lookout tower as well, visitors can see the beautiful and expansive view of Pantai Cahaya Negeri.

"This place has the potential to be developed and promoted as one of the tourist spots in Negeri Sembilan.

"In fact, we have a number of allocations to upgrade tourism places in this district, including islands that have high potential to be used as tourist hotspots," she said.

This year, Negeri Sembilan is targeting eight million tourist arrivals to the state, by providing more than 50 tourism events.

Nicole said there are more than 200 tourism products to be promoted including investment tourism, medicine as well as education and health as an effort to attract local and foreign visitors.

-- BERNAMA