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Garang the Orang (utan)
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Well, its now another thing ticked off my "once in a lifetime" list. Today we visited the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, one of only four orangutan sanctuaries in the world. Visitors are allowed to observe two feeding times each day, one at 10am and one at 3pm. We decided to make a whole day of it and stay for both times.
Basically, the sanctuary tries to rehabilitate injured or orphaned orangutans and then releases them back into wild or semi wild environments. There are several feeding platforms in the sanctuary, and as each orangutan gets closer to their "release" time, they are encouraged to use the further away platforms where there will be very little human contact. The feeding platform that visitors are allow to watch is the first platform, where the young and new to the sanctuary orangutans are. There is the most human contact there, but at this stage they are quite used to seeing us as they deal with handlers, carers, vets, etc. every day.
At the morning feeding, we saw about 8 orangutans. And about 50 other tourists trying to take their pictures! The platforms are set up with ropes leading up to and away from them, so that the orangutans can easily get to and from the platform, and also so that the visitors get a good view. All in all its a good set up - you are only about 20 meters away from the orangutans when they are on the ropes. For the afternoon feeding there were only 3 orangutans, but we were happy enough with that because.......
At lunch time we asked if we could go on one of the nature walks. (Normally closed during the staff's lunch breaks). Malcolm headed off for a walk in the woods, but I turned back because it was pretty mucky and I only had on my flip-flops. As I was walking back past the feeding platform, a motion caught my eye. Here was an orangutan just sitting playing with a bit of the frayed end of one of the ropes. She was actually trying to put it on her head and seemd that she was pretending it was long hair! It was so cute! She noticed me, but didn't seem bothered. In fact, she started to show off a little, with smiles and stretches and she swung on the ropes for me. She never went very far without making sure that I was watching her and following along. It was the most amazing experience - there was no one about for nearly an hour as I (and then Malcolm came back and joined me) watched this beautiful animal in their home environment. (Well, as natural as can be anyway) I showed some of the pictures to the staff and they told me that her name is Garang, and she is a 5 year old female that is quite new to the sanctuary. It was the most incredible experience to observe Garang - she sneezed, she stretched, she yawned, she showed off a bit, she smiled - I can really now believe that Orangutans share 96.4% of the same genes as humans. It was a truly wonderful day. We have some really great photos too, that will explain it a lot better than I can and I promise I will upload as soon as I can!
Our next stop on the way is Uncle Tan's - a jungle adventure awaits!
All our love,
K & M
Where I stayed:
Sepilok B&B
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