Fireflies in Kampot

I have fond childhood memories of catching fireflies on summer nights in Pennsylvania.  We even kept special firefly jars in our kitchen, with air holes punched into the lid in a vain attempt to capture and save their magical light.  As I recall, the trapped fireflies rarely survived the night.

While in Kampot, Cambodia this weekend, we learned that a popular activity is an evening firefly boat tour on the Kampong Bay River.  Intrigued by this idea, we reserved a boat and set off after sunset.  I don't think I've ever ridden a boat in such darkness.  Our own boat did not have its lights on.  Once we left the dock and passed a few river resorts, there was no more manmade light around us - only the dim, ambient light of the cloud-covered moon.  I prayed that the boat captain knew the river well enough not to run us aground!

We rode in the darkness for perhaps 10 minutes.  Occasionally we saw a single firefly flit by.  Then in the distance, we saw a couple firefly flickers.  The boat captain turned toward them and then cut the engine to let us drift closer.  I strained my eyes, seeing only a handful of firefly lights.  But when I relaxed, I could see a cloud of little lights ahead of us.  It was a bit like one of those optical illusion pictures where you have to let your eyes unfocus to see the image!  The captain pulled us right up to a small tree that was aglow with twinkling fireflies.  He reached up to a branch and caught one for me.  It was smaller than its North American cousin, but otherwise very similar to the fireflies in my memories.

We sat there for awhile, watching the fireflies twinkle and flit around, and catching ones that got close to us.  Curiously, the fireflies were all gathered on this one tree, despite the forest of trees that were on the shore.  The captain explained that the fireflies move trees every night, but always cluster together like this.  Just before leaving, he grabbed a low branch and shook it above us, creating a sprinkle of twinkling lights falling all around us.  It was like our own alive Christmas light show!  Magical indeed!