Fishes in Sungai Melaka


When Malaysians think about rivers or lakes in the country, they often think about murky brown waters and an unpleasant stench unfortunately. That’s why we were all pleasantly surprised to see a crystal clear river in Melaka that had netizens dubbing it “Kampung Maldives” some time back. More recently, our Sungai Melaka has been rectifying its reputation when photos of a huge number of fishes swimming in its now emerald-coloured waters surfaced online. It’s a sight that definitely doesn’t come by often in a river that runs through a busy town.


Sungai Melaka looks clean and picturesque now


A couple of images were shared on Twitter by user @anthraxxxx on the night of 19th November. He uploaded 2 pictures that showed throngs of fishes swimming in Sungai Melaka with the caption, “Sungai Melaka this morning”. The tweet has since gone viral with over 4,000 retweets and close to 16,000 likes at the time of writing.

fishes in sungai melaka
Image credit: @anthraxxxx

The river also bears a huge contrast to its usual muddy waters, as it now looks clean and picturesque instead. This may be attributed to the positive result of CMCO that limited human activity in what was once a touristy town.

fishes in sungai melaka
Image credit: @anthraxxxx


Netizens share gorgeous photos and videos of Sungai Melaka


The idyllic sight of Sungai Melaka caught many by surprise as netizens chimed in with their own photos and videos of the river, too.

@Lelakigeeknew replied to the tweet with his own video showing a panoramic shot of the river, the surroundings, and the fishes. His caption translated from Malay read, “It’s calming to look at the fishes in this beautiful morning”.

@lelakigeeknew tweetImage credit: @Lelakigeeknew

sungai melaka gif

In fact, a check on the Sungai Melaka location tag on Instagram further confirmed that the river has indeed been looking gorgeous for quite some time with its blue hues and clear waters.

sungai melaka picture on instagram
Image credit: @muhamadzulfadhlie


Sungai Melaka clears up after MCO


To say that the pandemic is destructive to our health, livelihoods, and well-being is an understatement. But on the other side of that coin, we’ve witnessed nature thriving from the lack of human impact.

For instance, when air pollution in Malaysia drastically decreased during MCO, Malaysians managed to catch the sights of iconic landmarks from miles away as our skies cleared up. Maybe this is the reminder we all need to be more responsible and considerate of our environment in the future, by practising ethical and green habits from this moment onwards.

For more breath-taking natural phenomena in Malaysia, check these stories out:


Cover image adapted from: @hazeenatayeb and @anthraxxxx

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