Kuala Sepetang Charcoal Factory is an old-fashioned charcoal factory that bakes local mangrove logs in kilns. I had messaged the owner on Whatsapp about a tour (as I did not know how many people would be there – more than I expected) and it turned out the guy who gave me and another couple a tour in English was the owner. Apparently, gas only heats the outside of food but many restaurants/hawkers will use charcoal as it cooks the inside of noodles, satay, biscuits etc plus helps the food to taste better (e.g. char kuey teow etc). The charcoal can also be used as an air freshener and they collect/bottle the liquid as a health remedy (e.g. keep mosquitoes away etc). They will fill the kilns with 24 tons of logs to bake for 24 days to get all the sea water out (as the logs are heavy with seawater) and then it takes another 8 days for the logs to cool to yield 10 tons of charcoal. The factory was built around 1950 as the first largescale charcoal factory in the area. The surrounding 40,000-hectare Matang Mangrove Forest was gazetted as a Permanent Forest Reserve in 1906. Today, it is recognized as the best managed sustainable mangrove ecosystem in the world. This mangrove reserve contains rich and diverse wildlife that provide nature lovers to visit and explore its wetlands and resources. Near to this reserve are silvicultural programmes of the Rhizophora, Lenggadai and Seaward berus forests carried out professionally by the Perak State Forestry Department. This is also regarded as the breeding grounds for numerous species of marine crustaceans including crabs, shrimps, lobsters, horseshoe crabs and prawns as well as fishes and shellfishes. Like all mangrove swamps, the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve has been proven to act as a natural barrier against tsunamis. Undoubtedly, it is an important site for coastal migratory water birds and a portion of migrant forest birds. https://www.facebook.com/KualaSepetangCharcoalFactory/ Jalan Taiping – Kuala Sepetang, Kuala Sepetang, 34650 Kuala Sepetang, Perak
+60 12-573 9563
