IRSHAD MOBARAK

Irshad is a Malaysian who at a very young age was instilled with a love for nature by his father.

Originally trained as a banker and working in Kuala Lumpur in a major banking institution. After five years of banking, realizing that banking was not his cup of tea, he resigned and bummed for three years along the beaches and islands of Malaysia. After reconnecting with nature, he realized that conservation was his true calling.

He arrived in Langkawi fifteen years ago, fell in love with its natural beauty and came to realize that conservation and education was the only way to insure it's protection in the future. There has been no turning back since then.

Being involved in a weekly radio show, assisting and appearing in several television documentaries including national geographic (title: Hutan : Mysteries of the Malaysian rainforest.). The most recent a short documentary–ad that was aired on discovery channel (title: The wedding ceremony of the White Bellied Sea Eagle). This documentary-ad won an international award for best script. A second documentary-ad was recently shown on CNN. He also attended a short stint at the British Museum of Natural History under the tutelage of Prof. Bernard D’Abrera.

Irshad conducts regular interpretive tours for the Datai Hotel. His tours are informative and entertaining. “What I hope to achieve on my walks is to show to the people that the forest is a living community of interactive and interdependent relationships. Not unlike our own relationships in our cities in our homes and among our families and friends. If we can instill in the hearts of people the wonders  of the natural world first hand then we  have friends of nature for life. And when they leave for home I hope to have inspired them to make positive adjustments to help mother nature in any way they can".

Irshad's mission is to promote and facilitate knowledge, conservation and stewardship of the rainforest through education, proactive conservation and research programs and belives in these basic principles: