Sabah In All Her Wild Glory


Advertisement
Published: May 28th 2008
Edit Blog Post

THE LOVERS OF BANANAS......

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center is one of the world's best-
known rehabilitation centers for orphaned or abandoned orang utan.
The aim of this center has always been to return orphaned, injured or
displaced orang utan back into the wild. Young orang utans deprived
of their mothers lack the ability to find food, build nests or even
climb trees properly. At the rehabilitation center, they spend time
learning the skills essential to living in the jungle. Once they are
ready, they are moved to an "outdoor nursery" where their dependence
on the food and emotional support is gradually decreased while their
freedom is increased. Visitors can witness part of this process by
twice-daily feedings on platforms a hundred or so feet away.

The above information was primarily taken from a brochure I picked up
at the Rehabilitation Center. Only once before, a number of years
ago, have I experienced something like this, in the other Bornean
Malaysian state of Sarawak. I had the fortunate experience to spend
some time at this Sabah reserve and watched one of these "feedings."
I think I was quite lucky the day I went, as I must have seen a dozen
or more of these little critters, as well as a couple dozen macaques
interspersed amongst the primates. Some travelers I talk to see only
a couple orang utan -- or none at all! The entry ticket even states
"Sightings of Orang Utan Not Guaranteed." I tell ya -- I was
impressed. I got to the viewing platform 30 minutes before feeding
time, and I'll be damned...there was a little orang utan sitting
patiently, waiting for his banana breakfast. It didn't take long for others to
join him, coming out of the jungle one by one, swinging on the
provided ropes to the platform high up in a tree. Many of the little
primates stopped on the rope, directly in front of us, dangling on
all fours or twos, depending on their mood, I suspect. Others would
come along on the rope and find a way to pass the sedentary orang
utans, either crossing directly over them, or picking their way
around them carefully. No one got territorial, no one minded being
"passed up." It's just the primate way, I suppose. Patience,
understanding and sharing. We humans can stand to learn a few things
from these guys!

Feeding time was crazy mayhem, with two reserve workers appearing on
the platform of dozens of waiting apes, big buckets of bananas in
hand. They threw some of the bananas towards the orang utan and
macaques and others took it upon themselves to plunge their furry
little hands into the buckets and grab what they wanted. It was such
a wonderful experience to see these primates with their amazing near-
human mannerisms taking part in something we all have to do to
survive -- eat! They peeled their own bananas and threw the peels on the
platform. Many snagged the bananas and went for higher ground, eating
in peace and away from the cheeky, thieving macaques. When they were
finished stuffing their faces they high-tailed it back into the
jungle, disappearing from
sight. Many were to come back for the afternoon feeding, but not every
orang utan shows up for the twice-daily feedings as they learn in time
to fend for themselves in the wild. All in all, a fabulous morning at
the rehabilitation center was had.


FINDING NEMO.....

Heading south to Semporna.......

Semporna is an unattractive, dirty old fishing town but the gateway
to world-renowned diving! I have wanted to do some diving here in
South East Asia for the past few years (it's more affordable than in
the west plus has some amazing dive sights praised by divers and
oceanographers the world over), but have always made excuses for
myself. I got my open water certification 17 years ago and haven't
dived since! Slightly apprehensive, I went to Semporna anyway, and
after a quick refresher course, I was good to go, thanks to a
competent and patient Dive Master!

I dove in some of the most crystal clear waters and on reefs with
some of the most colorful coral and fish I have ever come across.
Rated one of the world's top dive sites, Sipadan has it all! Rising
nearly 2000 feet (600 meters) from the seabed below, Sipadan offers
spectacular wall dives and even an underwater coral garden. More than
3000 species of fish and hundreds of coral species have been found
here and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw half that in the nine
dives I did. I saw "pelagic" fish in the way of white tip, grey and
leopard sharks, manta rays and moray eels, thousands of barracuda
circling in tornado-like fashion above us (what a sight!), and huge
schools of both bumphead parrot fish and jackfish. The immensity of
different color and size fish was astounding. Turtles are NOT a rare
site, and on one dive alone I saw nearly 50 of the laid back reptiles
(green as well as hawksbill). There was even a "cleaning station"
where the turtles actually Q up waiting their turn to get "cleaned"
by little fishies! Nature is truly amazing sometimes.

The muck diving, or macro diving (exotic small marine life, which can
be equally exciting to discover as the large fish), in the Sipadans is
also second to none. I logged cuttlefish, stonefish, scorpionfish,
crocodilefish, harlequin ghost pipefish, gobies, lobsters, the
colorful sea slugs called nudibranches, and even an octopus! I saw so
much more I can't even mention everything here. Diving ain't cheap
(but far less in this part of the world than in the West!) so I only
spent a few days here, but you can rest assured every once in awhile
on this trip I will be checking out some new dive spots. I highly
doubt too many other places are going to compare, though. This was
definitely a choice place to dive, especially after so many years of
NOT going! Now I'm hooked! Anyone out there have a favorite (and
affordable) place to dive in the world?

MY 4WD TRIP FROM HELL.....NEXT INSTALLMENT.


Advertisement



Tot: 0.137s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 15; qc: 56; dbt: 0.072s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb