The waiting game...

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Patience is a virtue - or so we are led to believe. Personally I have never been very good at it and after nearly 3 weeks in Borneo I was keen to get started with my work at Sepilok. But I had to wait a little longer. Orang-utans have to be protected from Western viruses, which we might have imported, and that involves us being “quarantined” for at least a week before we start getting in contact with them. Tantalising!! I met up with the other volunteers a week ago - 10 women and one guy; but before anybody is feeling too sorry for or too envious of this one token male I have to add that he’s married to one of the women in the group...

We spent a couple of days in KK - what can I say... However, getting to know 10 new faces was enough to fend off any feelings of boredom which might otherwise have sneaked up on me. But there are only so many sundowners you can have at the marina and only so many photos you can take of the markets. So when we finally left KK for the Rasa Ria Resort I was quite glad.

The resort is large and very luxurious - in other words not exactly the place I would choose to come on holiday to. But it is connected to Sepilok and the area of jungle that belongs to the resort is currently home to four juvenile “ex-Sepilok” orang-utans who are slowly being re-introduced into the wild. During our time as volunteers we’ll be working here for a few days to look after them, but then we’ll be “staff” and won’t be allowed to use any of the facilities. So being “on the other side” as all-inclusive guests for a couple of days was quite a nice treat before work started in earnest...

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Photos

swordfish
one of the landmarks in KK

clock tower
one of the few historical buildings in KK

small proboscis
I took part in a little excursion to the Garam River and saw for the first time Proboscis monkeys, which are only found in Borneo

Reg having fun
Reg is one of the orang-utans at Rasa Ria. He is four years old and full of mischief...