Day 120-121: Sandakan & Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, Borneo


Advertisement
Malaysia's flag
Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Sandakan
May 28th 2009
Published: May 28th 2009
Edit Blog Post

Tuesday, May 26th


We slept like logs all night and were eventually woken by the continuous religious chanting from a store across the road from our hotel. We dragged our stiff bodies out of bed and after Marije had packed her stuff we went for breakfast. Marije then went to look for a backpackers while we went home to pack the stuff we want to post to New Zealand. Marije found a nice place to stay and we made plans to go visit the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary together the following day.

When we finished our packing we realized with a shock that we had left our small Sony camera on the bus. In our exhaustion, Talita's illness, and the confusion of arriving in a strange city after dark we had left it in the pocket of the seat in front of us! Ahhhhh! We felt soooo stupid! We said a prayer then rushed out to grab a taxi to the bus station in the hopes of finding it. We told the taxi driver what had happened and he offered to try and help us by talking to the bus people. They were all very helpful, phoning around and stuff, but the bus had left this morning for KK and nobody had seen it. We exchanged contact info and they promised to try find it for us. We had no choice but to return to our hotel. We're still praying that our trusty little camera turns up.

We felt depressed about the whole situation. To take our minds off our misfortune we decided to take our ton of laundry to get washed. This turned out to be an exercise in futility. Our hotel gave us directions to the laundromat. When we got there it was nowhere to be found. We asked for directions and another hotel directed us to the harbour area. We walked there but came up empty-handed. We asked directions from yet another hotel and they directed us to another part of the city. Same story. No laundromat. We asked a taxi driver and he suggested we try around the block. Again, no luck. Sweating, tired and annoyed we walked back to our hotel. We'll just wash the clothes ourselves.

After the first batch of washing was done we watched a couple of movies on TV, then went to the supermarket to look for dinner. We found Guinness and the malt drink they used in Melaka to make those wonderful Guinness Malta drinks.

Today's highlights:
1. Friendly people trying to help us get our camera back.
2. Finding the ingredients to make our own Guinness Malta.

Wednesday, May 27th


This morning we met Marije for breakfast, then got on the bus to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, 45mins outside of Sandakan. This sanctuary is one of only four such centres in the world and also the biggest.

Our main motivation for coming to Borneo was to climb Mt. Kinabalu, but we have found that this place is just bursting with awesome adventures to be had. We might be in Borneo longer than we had planned.

We arrived at the centre just before the 10am feeding time. It was really really hot but we endured the heat and the crowds and saw a bunch of Orangutans. In Malay the word Orangutan means "Man of the Forest". Two of these "men" came and walked on the railings right by the crowds. People just swarmed around them and we didn't like that. We backed off and left the area.

We found a short hiking trail on the way to the exit and decided to see where it went. It was nice to hike through the jungle even though we only wore our sandals. We saw a few lizards and a squirrel.

After the trail we went back to the feeding area to see if there were any more Orangutans now that the crowds had left. There was none to be seen. We sat chatting for a while then walked back to the visitor centre.

Just before we reached the exit Marije spotted an Orangutan sitting on the railing next to the path. We slowly approached and saw that it was a female. Later we would learn that her name is Eyos and she was born in 1999. We took some pictures then moved closer. We thought she'd disappear into the jungle but she was content to sit and look at us. We kept a little distance at first, taking tons of photos. When she didn't flee we moved even closer. We were eventually able to stand right next to her and even sit around her. We were mesmerized by being this close to a creature that shares 96.4% of our genes. She was so beautiful and didn't mind us at all. This was such a special treat! We were really spoiled to have such an intimate and private moment with an Orangutan.

We were finally able to tare ourselves away from Eyos and went for lunch. With bellies full of burgers we caught the 2pm bus back to Sandakan where we shared a last few fruit juices with Marije, then said goodbye. She's flying back to KL tonight.

Back in our room we showered, then did some washing and looked through the photos of the day. What an awesome day it's been!

Today's highlights:
1. Finding the right bus to Sepilok.
2. Meeting Eyos close-up (without the crowds and spending a half-hour with her).
3. Burgers for lunch.


Additional photos below
Photos: 16, Displayed: 16


Advertisement

EyosEyos
Eyos

"I should have a manicure soon. These nails are sooo dirty!"
Eyos & MarijeEyos & Marije
Eyos & Marije

chilling in the jungle


4th June 2009

love the photos of the orangutans. I cant wait till we are out there and can enjoy all your are enjoying for ourselves.

Tot: 0.344s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 20; qc: 158; dbt: 0.2106s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.5mb