Cheeky monkeys!

Trip Start Nov 25, 2004
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55
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Trip End Jan 26, 2005


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Saturday, March 19, 2005

One down, 2 to go and our next stop was to Sandakan and the Orang-utan sanctuary at Sepilok! We arrived late afternoon and headed up to an observation point to watch the sunset over the bay...up more steps!!!! What's that all about! There's not actually that much to do in Sandakan so again we just soaked up the atmosphere, enjoyed good food and moved on the next morning to visit the Memorial Park. This place is based on the former site of a POW camp during WWII where hundreds of Australian and British troops were held captive by the Japanese and forced on death marches across Sabah. Very moving place and a part of our history that we didn't know much about!

And then the bit we'd been waiting for...the lovely, cuddly orang-utans! We checked in at the Jungle Resort set (funnily enough!) in a jungle type setting with a restaurant on stilts. We managed to make it just in time for the afternoon feeding (Smeds got particularly excited when the bananas came out!) and watched 3 orang-utans bounding around Banana!! Smeds was jealous
Banana!! Smeds was jealous
 ! It's such a great thing to watch and some of their mannerisms are so human-like its unbelievable - it's a really good programme they've got going on as well. Basically most of the orang-utans there are orphans and are rehabilitated with the ultimate aim being to release them back into the wild! Their whole habitat there is natural and set in rainforest! Excellent! We loved it so much we went back in the morning and watched the morning feed which actually turned out to be even better with one particular orang-utan who loved the limelight (no it wasn't Paul) and kept us amused with a wide repertoire of balancing acts! Very amusing! The highlight had to be when a mummy and her baby came swinging along as well...just as we filled our memory card!!! Genius! All in all, a great experience!!
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