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Published: April 5th 2008
Orangutan chill
This guy is chilled out!27th & 28th March - Monkeying Around!
Today we had planned a trip over to Sandakan in order to visit the Orangutan sanctuary at Sepilok. Rising at 5AM the day began with a mad panic as we tried to remember where the flight tickets were! Eventually they materialised and we set off to the airport at great pace!
After the half hour flight we touched down and caught a bus over to the sanctuary in order to arrive for the Orangutans feeding time. As we made our way through the dense rainforest towards the feeding platform the calls of many types of animal could be heard echoing through the trees. The Orangutans are amazing! Stepping up onto the wooden platform we were able to view them swinging from the ropes and lazing around on the tree house waiting to be fed. These Orangutans are undergoing rehabilitation after being found kept as pets by local people. Having lost their mothers, the young orphans are then taken to the sanctuary to be intergrated back amongst other Orangutans, with the ultimate goal of rereleasing them into the rainforest. Unfortuantely, their habitats are also greatly under threat from deforestation which, despite numerous campaigns
Getaway
Running off with some bannanas in the West, continues at an alarming rate. The characteristics of the Orangutans are so similar to that of humans (genetically they are 96.4% identical) which makes them so interesting to watch.
After a short while several of the sanctuary volunteers made their way onto the platform with fruits to feed the Orangutans. They explained that Orangutans who are newly introduced into the scheme come here everyday to feed, however, as time goes on they gradually find food elsewhere until they stop coming altogether. This is part of the rehabilitation.
After the Orangutans had been fed the Macak monkeys made an appearance, picking up any scraps left. They became more intrigued by us on the platform and eventually joined. A little unnerving! On the way out they also lined the walkway which was also quite threatening as they can become very agressive.
After a very satisfying morning we ate at a traditional English tea house over the harbour before catching our flight back to Kota Kinabalu.
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