17-November-2006
Tenggol Island is beautiful - in every sense of the word. Crystal clear water laps upon its soft and sandy shores, fading to emerald green and royal blue horizon. Leaves of every shade of green frame the bluest skies imaginable.
While enjoying its natural wonders, our crew from Virtual Malaysia, had come here to do more than that. Virtual Malaysia has always been supportive of the preservation of our environment and eco-system. Here, in Tenggol, we were going to put our words into action by organising a beach clean-up to help conserve its beauty.
In our first foray, we snorkelled and dived picking up plastic bags of different colours, instant noodle packages and bits of string made of synthetic fibre, none of which were biodegradable. All in all, more than two bags of rubbish were collected from the beach surrounds.
The next day, a shore clean-up on a massive scale began, bringing thirty Virtual Malaysia staff members together. We were split into two groups, each covering half of the shore. There was a cluster of rocks on my half. Anis was tugging on something in between the rocks that turned out to be a huge piece of buried rubber.
What it really was remains a mystery. It could have been a rubber dinghy, a wave breaker or something cast aside by much bigger boats. Whatever it was, it had been broken up by the elements, with a piece ending up wedged tight under the rocks, and a most unwelcome visitor on the beach.It was a tough job cutting up that huge piece of rubber and disposing of it.
From a distance I could see Raihana and Ali pulling tattered plastic bags from the sand. Combing the beaches, we collected over twenty bags of paper, plastic, rubber, aluminium cans, cigarette butts, old rope, fishing lines and glass bits from the shores of Tenggol Island. It was both surprising and alarming how much rubbish everyone was able to accumulate that morning. The thoughtlessness of those who littered is a sad indictment of the people’s attitude and responsibility to the environment that we all share.
Virtual Malaysia’s trip to Tenggol Island saw a strengthening of bonds, not only between each other, but also between every one of us with the splendour of nature.
At the very heart of it, we had fun. The sort of fun some of us never expected to experience. Many may say that it is because we are such a fun-loving company, but I believe that a lot of it also has to do with the bewitching charms of Tenggol
Island itself. More than one soul was awestruck by its sheer beauty, from the moment the boat floated to its waters. The kind of limpid clear waters that you only dream about and usually never get the opportunity to experience. Beautiful. Pristine. Clean.
I’d like to think that I saved a turtle that day. Or that I help prevent the break-up of precious coral. Or I allowed even just one of those colourful reef fish to see its cousins without hindrance, sentiments that was shared by the whole group. Our team at Virtual Malaysia hopes that with this small gesture, more people will step up and do their bit for Mother Nature as she does need our helping hand.
Source/See more : http://www.virtualmalaysia.com/community/travel_experience/
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