I awoke early today in order to catch my 7am Malaysian Flight to the other side of Sabah (Sandakan). The major reason for coming to Borneo was to see the Orung Utans and today provided me with an opportunity for doing so.
For 200 Ringitt ($75), I scored a return flight from Kota Kinabulu to Sandakan. Fortunately, given the small size of Sabah, one way flights are only 40 minutes making a one day side trip to Sepilok manageable.
Sepilok, a 25 minute taxi ride from Sandakan's airport is the venue of the state's Orung Utan Rehabilitation Centre. This centre is probably the world's best-known rehabilitation centre. The aim of the centre has always been to return orphaned, injured or displaced Orangutans back to the wild. Many orphans have successfully undergone the process of rehabilitation and have been released into the Kabili-Sepilok Forest, a virgin jungle reserve.
The rehabilitation process starts as soon as an Orangutan is admitted to the centre. All animals are given a thorough health examination on arrival, followed by a quarantine period to eliminate the possibility of any diseases being transmitted. Young Orangutans deprived of their mothers lack the ability to find food, build nests or even climb properly. They spend time in the nursery learning the skills essential to jungle life. Once ready, they move to the outdoor nursery where their dependence on the food and emotional support is gradually decreased whilst their freedom is increased.
At 10am and 3pm, I witnessed the Orangutans' natural forest diet being supplemented with milk and fruit.
Over time, most animals achieve total independence and become integrated into Sepilok wild Orangutan populations.
I thoroughly enjoyed this experience. I think it's definitely made my trip to Borneo worth it seeing these amazing animals eat, play, perform trickes, mimic human behaviour, and share an equal fascination with myself and the other tourists.
It was, however, a little frustrating in that the park closed between 11am and 2pm for Muslim prayer. Luckily, I met Erica from Iowa, USA, who was staying with a couple of girlfriends in a hotel nearby. I spent the next 3 hours at this stunning, but cheap hostel with a huge garden/lake (Sepilok Jungle Resort). Erica and I returned to the park at 2pm for the second lot of feeding at 3pm which was much better than the morning's feeding. Feeding time is the one and only time that I would suggest visiting hte park.
I managed to score an earlier flight back to Kota Kinabulu at 5.30pm. In hindisght, I'm glad to have spent two blocks of time at Sepilok but most tourists would get the benefit by spending half a day at the park and half a day doing something else unique to Sandakan. But given some recent trouble in Sandakan, I wouldn't suggest staying there.
The hostel I'm staying at is a lot more social than previous hostels so I'm enjoying the hostelling experience a lot more. It is fantastic having an air-conditioned room which is making sleeping so easy.
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