A Walk To Remember | Black Sand Beach Langkawi

© 2010 Wazari Wazir | Black Sand Beach Jetty Langkawi

A little bit history about Black Sand Beach Langkawi :

The Black Sand Beach Of Langkawi is a major tourist attraction of the region. Visitors are awed by the black sands and the legends behind this occurrence are highly interesting as well. It narrates of a mythical giant eagle, Garuda, who kidnaps a Chinese princess with an intention to seek her favors. The princess’ heart however laid with her fiancé, a roman prince. The prince waged a deadly war against Garuda and sought out his beloved at Langkawi. It is believed that the remnants of this war can be seen on the black sands of this beach.

Other tales narrate of killer eddies and whirlpools becoming the watery graves of unsuspecting sailors blackening the shores of this beach. Yet another legend speaks of a fisherman having incurred the wrath of a mermaid whose ring he stole. The mermaid’s curse having charred the land, the beach is said to retain the color as a sad reminder of the man’s wrongdoing.

The black sand beach is called Pantai Pasir Hitam by the natives. Some geologists believe that the sand is rich in cassiterite, a stannous oxide and hence the color. However the exact reasoning behind the blackened soil has not yet been ascertained. Winter is the ideal season to visit this beach as the black sands gleam and sparkle giving the bay a truly breathtaking appearance. The Pantai Pasir Hitam is one of the oldest fishing hamlets of Langkawi and exudes an irresistible olde worlde charm. Black Sand Beach Motel offers excellent accommodation facilities to those visiting this beach. Fishing is famous on theses shores and the beach is through and through a tourist spot replete with souvenir shops and eateries.

Excerpt from Asiarooms

The Black Sand Beach are on the left side of this picture, it is just a small part of the beach that is black but not pure black, it’s more like a mixture of black sand and normal sand. I did not take the photograph of that black sand because for me it is not that interesting because it is not really black. I’ve been to this place once in 2001 and a lot has changes here, but thank God, the jetty where I take a photograph my son and my wife walking is still there. The reason why I came here is not to see the Black Sand Beach but because I’ve in mind to take my family photograph here.

I have to say personally, there is nothing much to see here, to those of you who are on short visit to Langkawi, I would not recommend you to come here, maybe just a short stop from your visit to Langkawi Craft Complex because the Black Sand Beach is located not far from the complex to the right if you come from The Datai Langkawi.

This place is not kept clean, I mean the area where the Black Sand Beach is, it’s like abandon area even though it is one of Langkawi attraction, when I come here in 2001, it’s more like a normal fishing village, there was a lot of boat but now only few can be seen on the right side of this picture, just a small boat, maybe most of this people start a tourism related industry than going to the sea. There was a lot of shops here also, selling foods and other souvenir. You can stop by here and have a few snacks before continue your journey, Langkawi is not that big but to really enjoy it, maybe there three night will be more than enough unless you want to be peaceful for a week doing nothing but to enjoy the beaches.

Nevertheless it is a memorable walk because I’ve been walking and taking picture here during film days in 2001 with my colleague. It was more colorful and lively then, than now, I mean around tis jetty, there were no shops back then but this area is full with colorful boats and children playing around. It was drizzle when I came here, you can see from the jetty that the  plank is wet and it look great in black and white because when the plank is wet, the colors become deep or when I turn it into black and white, the black is rich, solid.

The exposure was a little bit tricky here because if I want to exposed for the background, I mean the sea, the jetty will become too dark and when I exposed for the jetty the background, the sky and the sea will become too bright, in the end I choose to focus mire on the jetty than the sea or sky. In This particular situation can be overcome easily if we have ND or GD Graduated Density filter where part of that filter will cover the area of the sky and you will get a better exposure for the jetty and for the background but since I’m not a landscape photographer, I don’t have that filters in my bag.

The purpose I come here is just for a quick shot, just to look the change that taking place here, the Black Sand Beach is not what drives me here but this jetty where I once  walk.