Advertisement
Published: October 18th 2010
It is customary in Malaysia to refer to a place according to the distance it is located from a larger town. Sepilok is Malay for “14” meaning it is 14 miles out of Sandakan, Sabah’s 2nd city (which by the way seems to have a lot more character than KK...). Sepilok consists of a few private houses, some lodges and B&Bs, the rainforest discovery centre, a research station, a couple of shops and of course the orang-utan rehabilitation centre. We are staying at Sepilok Resthouse, a lovely wooden building next to the entrance to the centre. The surroundings are tranquil and picturesque and sitting on the balcony on our first evening, listening to the sounds of the jungle I felt very privileged to be here.
The first few days were filled with lectures about the project, about our tasks and about dos and don’ts. Unfortunately we are not under any circumstances allowed to take pictures neither of the baby orang-utans nor of our workplace. It’s a shame, but we really have to abide by the rules. So any of the orang-utan pictures I’m going to post on here will be of platform A, which is open to the public.
Here near-rehabilitated and the occasional wild orang-utan return up to twice a day for some food, often joined by greedy, squabbling macaques.
We will be divided in groups of 3 and take turns to work in 4 blocks of 9 days, each at different sites. I’ve worked as a volunteer on several other projects before, but this is the first one where I feel we are really needed. The workload is huge and during the weeks when there are no volunteers the centre sometimes struggles to cope.
And then, finally, the day arrived when we got introduced to our little charges. Over the past few months I’d often tried to imagine what it would be like to hold the hand of an orang-utan. But I was not prepared for the warm, soft feel of the pink, human-like palm when a little orang-utan gently took my hand. And words cannot describe how I felt at that moment...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.114s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 13; qc: 69; dbt: 0.0788s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Linda
non-member comment
Finally
...Hi Juliane, hope you are keeping well.....So, you have finally made it to the Orang-utans! How wonderful for you....and of course all of the other helpers. I love reading your blogs...I cannot imagine the feeling you must be experiencing right now but am sure it is that of a Mother holding her new baby...giving all the love and protection you can. It is wonderful that there are people like you and of course all the other volunteers around the world who are able to help and of course want to help. I know you will now be extra busy with your work ....so 'til next time.......stay well, good luck ...and of course enjoy every precious moment.......Love and Hugs....Linda & family xxxx