Orangutangs

Trip Start May 15, 2006
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Trip End Nov 2007


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Flag of Malaysia  ,
Monday, February 19, 2007

Our next stop in Sabah was Sepilok to see orangutans. There is an orangutan rehabilitation centre there where they rescue orphaned or injured orangutans and rehabilitate them into the wild. The semi wild orangutans are fed twice a day at feeding platforms in the forest and one of these is open to the public. I was so excited about going there and it really was special. We saw about 7 orangutans, from really cute small ones to a big male. I loved watching them , they are so much better than monkeys! They hung around for about an hour eating their bananas and making funny faces. Even tho there were quite a few people there we saw them really close up and we'd got there as soon as the centre opened and we staked out a spot right at the front. One little fellow scampered past on the walkway about 2 feet away from us.

I'd booked accomodation in Sepilok cos we thought it might be busy for the Chinese NY holidays, however, the room didn't quite live up to the photos on their website! It was really grim so we only stayed one night and after we saw the orangatans we headed to Sandakan, a town 25kms away. On the way we went to a memorial park on the site of a POW camp which had a really good museum all about the POWs and the death marches it was really moving and interesting but slightly marred by the flyer we were given advertising a trek retracing the route of the death marches! We got a much nicer room in Sandakan, one of my favourite places we've ever stayed, the owner was really friendly and helpful, he even lent us an alarm clock. We also borrowed Finding Nemo which we settled down to watch to get us excited about our forthcoming visit to Sipidan.
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