Blogs from Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary, Sabah, Malaysia, Asia

Today I went to 2 different sanctuaries for Monkeys. In the morning I went to the Probiscus monkey reserve. These monkeys are highly endangered as their habitat is being destroyed due to the ongoing farming for palm oil. Palm Oil is Malaysia's biggest export and Borneo (50% is under Malaysia rule) is no exception to this. Palm Oil plantations do not give off air and the monkeys cannot feed off the plants. So lucrative is Palm oil production that farmers will burn, shoot and kill anything that’s gets in the way of this. Sadly this rule applies to the both the Orangutan and Probiscus Monkeys. The Probiscus Monkeys sanctuary is set deep in the mangroves where there is lots of other interesting wildlife such as snakes, spiders, crabs, mudslingers and loads of other stuff. I was ... read more

After flying from Phnom Penh to Kuala Lumpur we finally reached Kota Kinabulu. We headed to our hostel, Masada Backapackers and were taken to our very cool room with rice fields canvas on the walls. the place had a great homely feel and even had a toaster and tea and coffee machines so we could make a piece of toast whenever we fancied :) we spent the evening with two british guys and a german and conversed till early hours of the morning on the balcony. the next morning we were taken to an island by our german buddy and spent hours on the lovely beach and in the sunshine! mel even got a free massage. the speed boat ride back to the city was cool too and the driver hit top speed! that evening we ... read more

We reached Sepilok after a 6 hour bus journey from Kota Kinabulu. what awaited us next was something truly out of a movie! we were very lucky to have an English guy with us on the bus from our previous hostel because after realising our phones wouldnt work and we could not contact our jungle hut for our pickup the only way was to walk through the jungle- IN THE DARK...not to mention with our backpacks. so we got our torches out, looked out for signs, listened to some very creepy noises and started walking. we managed 1 and a half km until mel decided we needed a pit stop and flagged a car! it just so happened to be the car from our jungle hut who were on the search to find us!! that experience ... read more

Our 24 hour stay in the nature town of Sandakan Sabah Borneo was quite eventful. Before we had a chance to get acquainted with the wooden paths joining the buildings of the Sepilok Jungle Resort, we were caught in a torrential downpour that was so loud we had to yell in each others ears like we were in a noisy bar. Since the wooden walkways over the river and jungle were not covered we booked it back to our room. We got completely soaked but it was so fun! Especially when the lighting lit up the sky exposing the jungle. Orangutan in Malay means ‘man of the forest.’ The word man was used because orangutans share 96% of their DNA with humans. The Sepilok Sanctuary offers a lot of information about orangutans and their battle with ... read more

Borneo! The past 2 weeks in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo) have been our best yet. We are now extremely tired and have spent far too much money but it has been completely worth it! From the depths of the ocean  to the highest peak we have seen some incredible sights and some amazing wildlife, it really has been unbelievable! We have so much to tell you and so many pictures to show, so we will split Borneo into 3 separate blogs: 1. Orangutans and the mighty jungle 2. Sipadan diving 3. Mt Kinabalu  ......... Enjoy! Orangutans!!!!!! The first stop on our route was Sandakan, a town on the east coast close to Sepilok where the Orangutan rehabilitation centre is situated. The town itself didn't have that much going on but it did have an amazing seafood restaurant ... read more

Just in time to see the wild Orang Utans getting fed. Everyday at 10am & 3pm. Well, there was only one, they got out of a cage, (someone confimed that to me the next day) and send him up on the platform, so the tourist won´t be dissapointet. Of course I was, I didn´t like this kind of show. So we decidet to do a little jungle walk in the park. It was quit difficult, because it was very wet and muddy. But we still wanted to do it, it´s only 1100m. While walking in front of my parents, I felt something on my femoral (Oberschenkel). It was a Leech (Blutegel)! I snipped it away and told my parents, so they´ve been warned. But only acouple of meters later they´ve had enough, my dad had two ... read more