Our Rainforest Home

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After a restful night at the hostel we were transferred to Matang Wildlife Centre. As we travelled along the roads we saw local houses and we were surrounded by mountains covered in a mass of lush vegetation. After a brief stop to pick up provisions for the week we arrived at our new home - a wooden chalet on stilts with a veranda at the front - basic but comfortable & a lovely cooling cold shower!

We are sharing our accommodation with two other volunteers - everyone is very friendly! The work is very hard - reconstructing the sunbear den, building play equipment for the orangutans who then promptly destroy our efforts by unscrewing the bolts or pulling the rope apart! Of course then there is the daily cleaning and maintenance of the enclosures followed by environmental enrichment. However our work has been rewarded with a cuddle from the new baby orphan orangutan called 'Gus' - who is absolutely gorgeous. (He was smuggled from Indonesia for the pet trade - but has luckily been rescued by the wildlife centre).

The orangutans are extremely intelligent and playful - we can spend hours watching them! Some are too dangerous for any interaction, and of course the interaction is kept to a minimum to allow for rehabilitation and release into the wild in the future where possible. One of the released orangutans (Gante) returned today for a stock up on food provisions, normally when the food availability is limited in the jungle.

The centre also has many other animals which have been rescued for various reasons. We have fallen in love with the leopard cats & gibbons - who are very amusing. I'm sure it will be an enriching experience.

Everyone cools down in the evening with a swim in the local river, which has a Jacuzzi area - where the water currents flow quickly bubbling across the rocks! Apparently there have been some tortoises released in the river - but no sightings yet. There is also an escapee crocodile somewhere... Borneo is a lovely country - and one of the volunteers is already considering relocating here!

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Photos

River Bathing
most evenings - refreshing after a hard days work!

Comments

[Joanna Taylor]

Your Rainforest Home
A home for the animals and a really wonderful experience for the humans too! We love to picture it all, especially baby Gus, a truly intelligent and cuddly friend! We wondered who went swimming??? We hope escapee crocodiles are not encountered in the jacuzzi!!!