The island of Borneo is made up of three different countries – Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. The Malaysia part where I’m spending time has two states Sabah and Seriwak. I’m in Sabah. So after that little geography lesson (all new to me until today!) I’ll get on with telling you what I’m up to….
After a long day of airports I finally reach Kota Kinabalu and the Shangri La resort. It’s a huge 5 star resort which I’m looking forward to exploring in the morning. After enjoying breakfast at the biggest buffet I’ve ever seen, I take a walk around the resort and suss out the pools and beach.. it’s very fancy!
No time to dawdle around though it’s off to the airport again for a 55 minute flight to Sandakan which is where the orangutans are. The flight is easy and I’m picked up by a local nature enthusiast called Kenneth. We head straight to the Rainforest Discovery Centre. There’s lots of information about the island and its flora and fauna at the Centre and I’m the only person there so it’s very relaxing and mellow. Kenneth tells me lots about the state of Sabah and shows me photos of what I might see, then we take a walk around the gardens and see the various plants and trees. Climbing up to the trees we do a canopy walk and see what’s around up there. Kenneth is big into his birds and has brought a telescope with him so we check out what’s flying around.
After our Rainforest Discovery visit I get dropped off at the Sepilok Nature resort where I’m staying overnight. It looks amazing but I don’t have much time to explore if I’m going to make the night walk at the orangutan rehabilitation center next door. So I drop my bags, do a quick bug re-spray and head off to meet the ranger who’ll walk us around the reserve. Just as we are starting our walk I see my first orangutan climbing on the office building. Beddy, the ranger, tells us that this is an orangutan who was released back into the wild some time ago but still likes to stay close by. He’ll likely sleep up there tonight.
Just before it gets dark is the best time to see flying squirrels. They’re nocturnal animals so you won’t see them by day. I’m not sure I knew there was such a thing but sure enough after gazing upward long enough we see a squirrel run along the branch of a tree and then fly between trees. I wasn’t quick enough to catch it on film but the photo below shows the trees where we saw them. We saw three in total which apparently was very lucky as it can be a rare sight.
Carrying on with our night walk the ranger brings us into an area that is usually off limits to the public. It’s the nursery where the young orangutans who are being looked after are currently sleeping. They are indoors so we don’t get to see them but one was misbehaving earlier and wouldn’t go inside so she’s left outside to find her own bed! Her name is Chiquita:
(She’s the one I posted the video on Facebook with..here it is again for the few of you who aren’t on FB)
By day when you visit the park you’re not allowed to have a bag or bring water, only your camera in your hand. Because we are with the ranger I have my bag around me and Chiquita really wants to get her hands on it so she keeps inching her way closer to me:
After spending quite a while with Chiquita it’s getting dark so we move on and see what else we can find. We come across two wild orangutans getting ready to go asleep. I never realized that they make nests in a tree and that’s where they spend the night, in fact the orangutan is the largest arboreal (spends majority of its time in a tree) animal and it’s the second largest ape (the biggest of course being the gorilla and yes they are on my list to see).
Now that it’s dark we use our torches and spot all kinds of insects and spiders.. it reminds me of being in the Amazon over nine years ago but I’m so much less jumpy now and don’t even scream when I walk into a cobweb… screaming on the inside, screaming on the inside!!
Our walk has lasted nearly two hours and Beddy suggests coming back at 6am to see the orangutans wake up and come down from their nests. I’m in! Just enough time to eat a local meal at the resort and enjoy the amazing one night in my cabin. The Sepilok Nature Resort is on the edge of the rehab Centre separated only by a small lake. It’s gorgeous and the rooms are modern but authentic. I wish I had a couple more nights here.
5:50am I’m up, dressed, quick mouthful of tea and off on my two minute walk to the reserve. The orangutans we saw last night are just up and moving around the trees to get some breakfast. After watching them for a while overhead and avoiding them peeing on us I head back for my own breakfast (which is delish btw). Kenneth collects me at 8:45 and can’t believe how much I’ve seen since he dropped me off last night. We head back into the reserve, spotting a huge snake in a tree on the way in and get to watch a video about how the reserve came to be. An English woman called Barbara Harrison set it up In 1964 in conjunction with the Sabah authorities and has been running it ever since. There was a great piece of footage where one of the helpers rescued an orangutan and I spotted him in the park and had a chat with him and a photo of course!
Once inside, we go to the nursery to see the newer orangutans playing and learning how to climb and get food:
Next it’s off to the sun bear reserve which is literally next door. Sun bears are the smallest of all bears and are in danger of extinction. There is no estimate for how many are actually in the world today. They love honey and are also known as honey bears but apparently Winnie the Pooh is not one.
At first it’s hard to spot them but you have to be patient and after a little while I see movement among the trees and low and behold there’s a little black bear:
One of the key characteristics of the sun bear is the ring around their neck which is a bright yellow cover. Every bears is individual like a fingerprint. It takes a while for one of them to look up so I can get a good look at it but luckily enough one obliges:
After lunch we head back to the sun bear reserve to see what else is going on. Because the reserves are right beside each other a lot of times you’ll see orangutans over at the sun bear section. We had a bit of a run in with Wilma who wanted to get up close and personal with us. She was posing and making funny faces at us:
She actually jumped down and started walking toward us and the ranger told us we’d have to move on quickly… we all moved a little bit but continued to watch her:
The guy in the photo was the only person that side of her…. there was about eight of us on this side. Next thing she does a backwards tumble and starts moving toward the guy in the photo – he legged it looking terrified…. it was so funny. The ranger let a roar at her to get back in the trees and she eventually did.
It’s hard to walk away but we say goodbye to Wilma and head over to the sun bear enclosure where the ranger tells us they’re about to get food. It’s perfect timing as three young ones are here for some coconut. It’s very amusing seeing how they manage the coconuts.. they bash them for a while, pull off the outer skin and eventually get some milk:
Our final stop before we leave the reserve is back to the orangutans for the 3pm feed. We’re there early and see a few macacs climb up onto the feeding platform, see there’s nothing there yet and climb back down. They have good memories and know that food will soon be there. Just before 3pm an orangutan arrives anticipating the ranger arriving with a feed:
The macacs are back and want in on the action…. they are very cautious with the big orangutan there but are brave enough to grab some food:
Our day has come to an end and I feel very lucky with all that I’ve seen. The guide and driver, who I’ve had great fun with all day, drop me to the airport for the short flight back to Kota Kinabalu.
odohertyelaine 
I am so jealous it looks amazing
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