Orang Utans and Sun Bears at Sepilok

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On our second day at Sepilok we left the guest house at 6am to see what birds were about at day break. As we walked out of the building we were very excited to spot an orang utan on the roof. It then proceeded to come over and peer at us over the edge of the roof. Just another example of the hotel being an excellent place to see wildlife!

After a very uneventful bird spotting trip we headed off to the Sepilok Orang Utah Rehabilitation Centre for the 10 o'clock feed. The feeding platform is quite a long way from the visitor centre and reached by raised walkways. The feeding platform itself has two platforms with a number of ropes coming to it from several directions. We unfortunately only saw a juvenile who soon left and then a mother with her baby and she pretty much kept here back turned to us whilst she ate although her baby did appear and face us briefly. We did return for the 3 o'clock feeding too when there were many more people as a cruise ship had docked at Sandakan. A troupe of about a dozen Macaque monkeys appeared and then about half a dozen Orang Utah's turned up, two of them arriving via the rope that passed over the crowd's heads which caused great excitement. The monkeys and Orang Utans seemed OK in each others company and at one point it looked as if four of them were enjoying a picnic together although mostly the monkeys picked up some food and then disappeared up a tree with it.

The Sepilok Orang Utah Rehabilitation Centre rehabilitates orphaned and traumatised or injured Orang Utans back into the wild which can take up to 10 years. With the orphans this includes lots of emotional and physical comfort when they are young and also teaching them the basics like climbing.

Today we also visited the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre which is run by an NGO organisation and has only been open for a month. They have 27 bears at the centre and also intend to release them into the wild. Apparently because the cubs are cute many are kept as pets but end up caged in poor and cramped conditions when they grow and become too much of a handful. They are small, only growing to the size of, say, a labrador dog. We saw a couple of bears on the ground and then one climbed high into a tree andourt proceeded to pull away at the bark to get at some termites to eat.

All of our visits today were within walking distance of or guest house which really was great.

I decided today I need to upgrade my camera with a better zoom, but I should have done that before this trip!

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Photos

mother and baby Orang Utan
At Sepilok

Macaque monkeys
With their food taken from the feeding platform. Don't they look like a pair of likely lads

sun bear
Photo taken by Peter with a much better camera than mine!!

Wild Urang Otan sneaking into where he should not be
He was encouraged to leave by the staff at this place

canopy walkway at Rainforest Discovery Centre
25 metres above the ground and far more sturdy than the one at Kew Gardens