Tag Archives: orangutan

Where to see Orangutan, Proboscis Monkey, Sunbear, Pygmy Elephant and Hornbill of Borneo

Does Sabah have anything extraordinary on world map? Foreigners would not know your favourite celebrity in Malaysia. But when you mention the word “Borneo”, they would reply, “Oh I know, that’s where orangutan lives!” Orangutan is a superstar in animal kingdom and is featured as much as Kangaroo and Panda in nature channels.

Superstars of Borneo: Orangutan, Proboscis Monkey, Pygmy Elephant, Sunbear and Hornbill

However, orangutan, a.k.a. Man of the Forest, isn’t the only wonder in our 140-million-year-old Borneo rainforest (Amazon is only 60 million). Come and meet the “Borneo version” of Playboy, Teddy Bear, Mini Jumbo and Love Bird, which are Proboscis Monkey, Sunbear, Pygmy Elephant and Hornbill respectively, the other four iconic wildlife rule the third largest island on earth. Allow me briefly introduce these charismatic and must-see animals of Borneo:-

1. Orangutan – Man of the Forest

say Hi to your cousin (just kidding), orangutan, is one of our closest relative, as their DNA is 97% resemble to human. If you look at their eyes and expression, you know they are thinking animal. Orangutan probably inspired the making of first King Kong movie, and you may have seen orangutan in movies such as Maurice in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and King Louie in Jungle Book.

Orangutan is only found in Borneo and Sumatra

Orangutan is smarter than Chimpanzee. They know how to use tools, memorizing the fruiting season of different fruit and pass on this knowledge to their offspring. Orangutan is the only great ape of Asia. So please stop calling orangutan a monkey, that’s an insult to them lol.

2. Proboscis Monkey – Playboy of Borneo

This peculiar long-nosed monkey has an amusing nickname, i.e. Orang Belanda (means Dutch Man in Malay language) because of its big nose and beer belly (don’t be offended ok, if you are from Netherlands). Though you would think the long, pendulous nose of adult males is funny, the female monkey think it’s sexy. And strong male proboscis monkey has dozen of wives.

Never feed Proboscis Monkey with banana. Their digestion system is meant for breaking down mangrove leaves. Anything sweet will ferment and create lot of gas in their stomach, and that could cause death.

3. Pygmy Elephant – Mini Elephant

Pygmy Elephant is the smallest elephant on earth and only a thousand of them left in Sabah, so they are critically endangered and far rarer than African elephant (with a population of 350,000+ and always reported as “in worrying status” by world media).

Pygmy elephant is the most endangered elephant species

Pygmy Elephant looks like Asian Elephant, but both species separated from each other around three million years ago, and Pygmy Elephant evolves into a smaller subspecies that has longer tail and round baby face. Pygmy Elephants love durian and they swallow it as a whole.

4. Bornean Sun Bear – Teddy Bear of Borneo

About the size of a dog, Bornean Sun Bear is the world’s tiniest bear. The baby bear is so adorable and cuddly that some people keep it as pet illegally. For such a beautiful creature, you might imagine that they live a fairytale life in a candy house filled with cookies.

Instead, they live in danger every day. Poachers shoot them without hesitation, for their highly priced gallbladder. And their cute baby bears would be kept as pet, but will be abandoned eventually after they grow too big to be handled. Never live in the wild since young, these bears won’t survive.

5. Hornbills – Love Birds of Borneo

Hornbills are monogamous and a symbol of fidelity. I always see them flying in pair. There are 8 species of hornbills in Borneo, each with interesting characteristics. For example, Helmeted Hornbill is called Burung Tebang Mentua (Chop Mother-in-law in Malay language) by locals because of its long eerie call that sounds like evil laughter.

During hatching period, female hornbill seals herself inside a tree hole, leaving a slit for feeding by her “husband”. The male can come back and forth as many as 70 times a day to feed. This goes on for months until the chick hatched. If this is not love, what it is then.

Best Place to See Them All?

You can see these “big 5” wildlife in only 2 days in Sandakan, the gateway to wildlife sanctuary of Borneo. Sepilok and Kinabatangan will be your best destinations for wildlife sighting in Borneo. For tour and accommodation, I stayed in the lodges of Nasalis Larvatus Tours which are rated as 4+ stars by TripAdvisor.

1. Sepilok

Sepilok is a a virgin forest reserve about 26 KM away from Sandakan City and highly accessible by public transport. Tourists love this place because they can see Orangutan, Sunbear and probably Hornbill in one trip. The following are three parks that are adjacent to one another in Sepilok.

1) Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC)

Founded in 1964, SORC is the most popular tourist attraction in Sandakan. Orphan orangutan is sent here for survival skill training such as climbing and food hunting. They will be released to the wild after they “graduate” from this orangutan school. The best time to see them is during the feeding time at 10am and 3pm daily. The Centre also has a hall where you can see cute baby orangutan playing in nursery.

Feeding time at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre

2) Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC)

Located just next to SORC, BSBCC houses and rehabiliates over 40 bears rescued from illegal zoo and pet owners. BSBCC won the Best Nature Attraction in Sabah Tourism Awards 2017 and its founder Dr. Wong is named as one of the CNN Heroes in 2017.

The bears roam in a confined forested area for tourists to observe them from a rised platform. You will be amazed by their tree climbing skill and playful behavior. Some staffs are around to share the story of each bear. Their sad stories could make you cry, but sun bear gets far less attention than Polar Bear and Panda.

3) Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC)

RDC is a beautiful forest park with tall tropical trees, lake, nature trails and exhibition hall. You can walk on their 15-Metre high sturdy walkway to see everything at canopy level.

Canopy walkway of Rainforest Discovery Centre

This place is also an ideal bird-watching location where you would find hornbill, kingfishers, pitta, and Bornean Bristlehead, the superstar endemic bird of Borneo. If you are a tree hugger, check out the Sepilok Giant, an estimated 800-1,000 years old Ironwood tree in the park.

Nature Lodge Sepilok

For accommodation, I spent a night in Nature Lodge Sepilok (GPS: 5.875559, 117.950068, see Location Map) in Sepilok and able to make a day trip to all 3 parks near the lodge.

Below are some photos of Nature Lodge Sepilok.

Nature Lodge Sepilok is a family friendly accommodation

The lodge is constructed in smaller scale to give more privacy and tranquility to tourists. They don’t want a big lodge with hundred of noisy tourists.

The room is nice and clean with air-conditioning. It is as comfy as a 3-star hotel room. The pictures above shall give you an idea.

The open bathroom of Nature Lodge Sepilok

And the toilet and bathroom is a little surprise. It’s a backyard garden with bath and toilet area partly concealed by plant. There is no tall building around, so don’t worry about your privacy. In fact, taking bath and doing my business in semi-open area is oddly satisfying. One of my friends found bird nest in her bathroom.

Cute & friendly cats at Nature Lodge Sepilok

Every time I walked around the lodge, I always ended up with cat fur all over me. The cats there are so cute and friendly.

Breakfast at Mango Garden Cafe of Nature Lodge Sepilok

The food in Mango Garden Cafe of Nature Lodge Sepilok is delicious and rich in variety. They even look yummy in photos. Every meal time is a happy time for me.

Delicious food in Mango Garden Cafe of Nature Lodge Sepilok

By the way, you can buy almost every necessity in their shop, e.g. raincoat, soft drink, instant noodle, snack, toiletries, sunblock lotion, insect repellent, drinking water.

Nature Lodge Sepilok is really a great place for a relax and leisure vacation. For booking, you can reach them at: www.insabah.com or Phone: +60 16-8302038

2. Kinabatangan River

Let’s keep it short, Kinabatangan River is simply the best place to see orangutan, proboscis monkey, pygmy elephant and hornbills in the wild. You need a bit of luck to see pygmy elephant and orangutan though, as they are always on the move (please note this is not a zoo).

Kinabatangan River is the longest river of Sabah

No matter what, I can assure that you won’t be disappointed with your trip in Kinabatangan, because there are so many other amazing wildlife to look at.

Nature Lodge Kinabatangan

Seeing wildlife in their natural habitat is a more exciting experience, so I visited Kinabatangan and stayed in Nature Lodge Kinabatangan (GPS: 5.494785, 118.204908, see Location Map) at Bilit Village, which is in upstream of Kinabatangan.

We stopped at Kedai Kopi Santa of Kinabatangan Town for lunch. Their Soto (Beef soup) is one of the best in Sandakan.

It took about 2 hours of road trip from Sandakan City to Bilit. The Lodge is located about 30 Metres away from the Kinabatangan River.

Nature Lodge Kinabatangan is a highly ranked accommodation in Tripadvisor

After we checked into our room, we started our sunset river cruise and saw a baby crocodile on the river bank right away.

Kinabatangan River is one of the best bird-watching sites in Borneo

There were many birds along the river. I saw Purple Heron (many!), Little Heron flying next to our boat, Black & Red Broadbill, Lesser Adjutant (known as Burung Botak locally, means Bald Bird), Rhinocerous Hornbill, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Brahminy kite, and Oriental Darter (Snake Bird).

Then we saw a group of Long-tailed macaques in commotion. They stood up looking at a pile of log, probably there was a monitor lizard or crocodile hiding in there. The highlight is a few herds of proboscis monkey on the trees.

Sunset river cruise at Kinabatangan River

After the interesting river cruise, we had our buffet dinner in the lodge. We enjoyed some fresh vegetables planted in their garden.

Buffet dinner at dining hall of Nature Lodge Kinabatangan

The activity didn’t stop there. We went for a night walk in the forest around 8pm. If this adventure is too much for you, you may stay back at the lodge to join some fun activities such as local dance.

With the help of our guide, we spotted a few nocturnal animals in the dark. A jewel-color kingfisher slept like a fluffy ball on a twig, so cute. A researcher put up a white sheet to attract insects with light. We went busybody there and checked out the bug. Near the end we saw a number of big flying foxes foraging on a cotton tree. It’s quite a thrilling experience.

Nature Lodge Kinabatangan is in the forest of Kinabatangan

After day long of playing, I went back to my lodge to rest. The lodge is inside the rainforest. It’s a special feeling to sleep in a forest, so peaceful and quiet, almost like a therapy.

They also have dormitory if you prefer backpacker style accommodation.

Reading room in Nature Lodge Kinabatangan

My room is quite spacious and comfortable. I love big space as it makes me more relaxing, so I’m really happy with my room, and it has air-conditioner.

The next day we waked up around 6am for a morning river cruise. Though it’s really early and I was sleepy, the sighting was very rewarding. The morning was cool and refreshing with a bit of mist on the river.

We spotted an Orangutan on top of a Durian tree

We were so lucky to see an orangutan waked up from his nest high up on a durian tree. Another trophy is Storm’s stork, which has only around 200 left in the world, and Kinabatangan is their stronghold.

River cruise is the best way for wildlife sighting at Kinabatangan

Wild Proboscis Monkey is quite common here. You can easily see about 20 of them here.

Group of wild Proboscis Monkey in Kinabatangan

If you love to experience this safari trip, you may contact Nature Lodge Kinabatangan via the following channels:
Website: naturelodgekinabatangan.com
Facebook: NatureLodgeKinabatangan
Phone: +60 88-230 534
E-mail: sales@nasalislarvatustours.com

Both Nature Lodge Sepilok and Nature Lodge Kinabatangan are operated by Nasalis Larvatus Tours, a licensed travel agent of Malaysia.

Flight to Sandakan

You can fly to Sandakan City by Malaysia Airlines or AirAsia from Kota Kinabalu City (KK)(50 min flight) or Kuala Lumpur (KL)(2 hours 50 min). Flight is available every day. If you book at the good time, you can get really cheap round-trip ticket like about MYR200 for KK-Sandakan and MYR400 for KL-Sandakan flight. You can use Google Flights to check the fare prices from all airlines. Nasalis Larvatus Tours also can pick you up at Sandakan airport.

Famous Spring Noodle and Century Egg Dumpling of Sandakan

By the way, Sandakan is the second largest city of Sabah and also a foodie paradise, do try some yummy local food such as spring noodle when you visit Sandakan!

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Orangutan of Borneo (Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center)

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Imagine a baby orangutan loses its mother due to deforestation and illegal poaching. This orphaned orangutan is traumatized and in distress. Without help, its chance of survival is slim. The population of Bornean orangutan has been dwindling by 50% in the past 60 years. Currently, only 45,000-50,000 orangutans left on Borneo and 6,000 on Sumatra. In Sabah, there are about 10,000 orangutans in the wild.

Being more intelligent than chimpanzee, orangutan has emotion and feeling like human too.

The name “Orangutan” was derived from the Malay word Orang Hutan, which means the “Man of the Forest”. Orangutan is the only ape of Asia and found only in Sumatra and Borneo. Though orangutans won’t give you an eye-roll if you mistakenly call them monkey, people would laugh at you as apes have no tail. I won’t object if you say orangutan is my “cousin” because orangutan is the most human-like primate and its DNA is 97% similar to ours. And orangutans know what is love.

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center of Borneo

Orangutan is endangered and a fully protected wildlife in Malaysia. Harming orangutan or keeping it as pet is against the law, offender will face a mandatory prison sentence of six months to five years and/or fine up to RM50,000.

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center

However, law protection isn’t enough, we need a long-term conservation project, so Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center was established in 1964 to train orphaned orangutans to become self-reliant in the rainforest when they grow up. The Center is also the first orangutan sanctuary in the world to dedicate itself to the rehabilitation of orangutans.

Orangutan photo booth at the entrance

For over 50 years, 758 orphaned baby orangutans, who are the victims of logging, plantations and illegal pet trade, are rescued and brought to this Center. About 81.6% of them are successfully rehabilitated and 66% of these orangutans were released to protected forest reserves such as Tabin. (The released orangutan will be monitored for week, to ensure it can survive on its own.)

Viewing platform to see orangutan feeding in Sepilok

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center is Not a zoo, the orangutans here aren’t treated as pet either, so expect no animal show and touching of orangutan. The Center is located within the protected Kabili-Sepilok Virgin Forest Reserve, which covers an area of 4,294 Hectares (43 KM²) and serves as a natural classroom for orangutans.

Most Bornean orangutans in Sepilok are Pongo pygmaeus morio species

A baby orangutan stays with its mother for 7 to 10 years. During these vital stage, the mother will teach her young everything it needs to know to survive. Young orangutans, which are not parented, don’t have the ability to find food, build nest and climb. The Center takes the role as their mother to turn them into wild orangutans.

Orangutan Feeding

The best time to see orangutans is during the feeding time at 10am and 3pm every day. The food is meant to be “supplement” to orangutans, before they can live fully independent in the forest.

Layout map of Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center

Visitors leaving their bags in the lockers

Visitors are not allowed to carry their bag, food / drink and insect repellent (poisonous to orangutan if they get ahold of it) to the forest. Orangutans and monkey are highly curious and won’t hesitate to rob any object they find alluring. Visitors can store and lock their bags (for free) in locker of visitor building. Still, you must remain vigilant because your smartphone or shiny jewellery could be a target.

Boardwalk to orangutan feeding platform

After ticket checkpoint, visitors need to walk about 200 Meters on a raised wooden boardwalk that leads to the orangutan feeding platform. The walk takes about 10 minutes, so you better move earlier to be on time for the feeding (at 10am or 3pm). Along the way, you will see many towering tropical trees, the perfect habitat for orangutans.

Rangers keep aggressive macaques at bay

Don’t get excited if you see wild orangutan or macaque on the boardwalk. Never look into the eyes of macaque, as this is perceived as a challenge and provokes them. Whatever the tourism posters show you, adult orangutan is not cute. They can grow up to 1.4 Meter tall and weight up to 100 Kg. You really shouldn’t upset this beast which is 3 times stronger than human. Usually these fellows will leave you alone, otherwise you can turn back calmly and ask for help from rangers who station nearby.

Orangutan “apartment” on the tree. How many nests do you spot?

Orangutans make nests for bedtime every day by breaking and folding branches in the treetops. Just look up and I’m sure you will see some orangutan nests near the boardwalk. Sometimes you would see hornbill and eagle flying over the tree canopy.

Tourists waiting for orangutan

The Center is visited by an average of about 80,000 tourists annually. You will see hundred of orangutan fans waiting eagerly to see orangutan the first time at the viewing platform. It’s important to keep quiet to avoid scaring the orangutan away. Normally, you will see 4 or more orangutans come for the free food. However, during fruiting season, you would possibly see none. This might disappoint you, but you should feel happy that they can find enough food on their own.

Female macaque with sexy buttock

Sometimes it’s the naughty pig-tailed macaque that does the opening. The big red buttock of female macaque would stir up the crowd, “OMG, look at her butt!” “Ew.. That’s gross.” In fact, the swollen hip is a sign of ready to mate. To male monkey, she is as hot as Nicki Minaj LOL.

Baby orangutan coming for feeding

Orangutan is very good climber but clumsy in walking. There are a few long ropes that are used by orangutans to approach the feeding platform about 15 Meters away from tourists. At some points, someone would notice the movement of swaying ropes and blurts out “it’s on the way!”

The feeding time is at 10am and 3pm every day

One by one, these beautiful reddish-brown creatures swing along the ropes and land on the feeding platform. Most of them are juvenile above 5 years old. If you are lucky, you would see mother orangutan carrying her baby for extra diet there.

This orangutan seems content

They are given bananas and milk most of the time, sometimes sugar-cane, watermelon, vegetables, etc. The Center deliberately repeats the similar menu every day, a tactic to make orangutans bored of the monotonous food and more motivated to forage for other fruits in the jungle.

Orangutans enjoying food

Orangutan is a solitary and quiet animal. Most of them focus on eating, and occasionally playing or arguing with their mates. One or two greedy orangutans would stuff 4 or 5 bananas in their mouth, grab another bunch in their feet then go away.

Orangutans wouldn’t come back to feeding platform once they are totally independent in the forest

Every orangutan there has a name, for example, Mimi, Mariko, Kam Chung and Rosa, and they all have unique faces and personalities. Some are introvert, some are hyperactive and some are bully. Orangutans reach maturity at 7 – 10 years of age and can live up to 40 years old.

Orangutan always acts funny at feeding platform

The crowd is so awed by the playful and adorable orangutans. One orangutan couple even practiced mating after meal. You can watch the following video for the hilarious moments:

By the age of 10, orangutans will learn to identify more than 200 different food plants. They keep a memory map of location of different fruit trees and their fruiting time, and they would not visit feeding platform anymore. The rehabilitation costs about RM8,000 (≈USD$2,200) per orangutan per year (include toy)!

Cheeky macaques wait for their share

The feeding usually ends after 30 minutes. After all orangutans left, the pig-tailed macaques would have a family picnic at the platform to finish the leftover.

After the orangutan feeding, you can proceed to the Outdoor Nursery, or turn back to watch a 30-min video (in English) on orangutan conservation, which is played at 8:30am, 11am, 12pm, and 3:30pm in the Visitor Information Center.

Ticket (Conservation Fee)

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center is open to public every day (include weekends and holiday), so any visitor can walk in and buy a ticket to enter. No prior booking or application is required. The ticketing counter is open at 9am-11am and 2pm-3:30pm. The following are the ticket fees, which they call Conservation Fees (prices in RM, as of Aug 2015):

	Malaysian	Foreigner
Adult (above 17 years old)	RM5	RM30 (≈USD$8.50)
17 & below	RM2	RM15 (≈USD$4)
Camera & Video Cam	Personal: RM10 per unit (≈USD$2.80)
Camera & Video Cam	Commercial: Professional Filming / Photography (with 400mm lens and above). RM1,000-RM10,000 (ask the Center)

The ticket is valid for the whole day, and you can use it for entering feeding area and Outdoor Nursery. If you are crazy about orangutan, you can go at two feeding times with the same ticket on the same day.

Outdoor Nursery

Open in Oct 2014, the new Outdoor Nursery Building is an excellent addition to the Center. It is connected to feeding platform with 300-Meter boardwalk. Just follow the crowd and signage after the orangutan feeding and you will reach the building, it’s quite a long way though.

Entrance of Outdoor Nursery Building. There are left (air-conditioned) and right halls (fan only).

You don’t need to buy another ticket to enter Outdoor Nursery, a double-value to your tour. In the past, to avoid human contact and stressing the orphaned orangutans, Outdoor Nursery was a no-entry zone to tourists. Now visitors could sit comfortably in a hall to watch baby orangutans in action. We love them but we don’t want them to be so attached and used to human.

Outdoor Nursery in Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center

Outdoor Nursery is a play school for baby orangutans 5 to 7 years old to learn to climb. Orangutan is arboreal animal that spends most of its time on trees searching for food and building nest, so climbing skill is crucial for its survival. The Center won’t stop (actually they encourage this) young ape from exploring the forest on its own.

Training baby orangutans in Outdoor Nursery

Same as juvenile orangutans, baby orangutans are also naughty and playful. Everyone laughed when they saw the orangutans fooled around with their trainers. In the video below, you will see a mischievous orangutan grabbed and pulled the hair of a volunteer:

The glass works like an one-way mirror. Orangutans can’t see the people behind.

The Outdoor Nursery has large indoor halls with about 100 seats. Visitors can overlook the play area through the large window, but the orangutans outside can’t see us. They still can hear us if we are too noisy.

Orangutans gather at Outdoor Nursery

The baby orangutans are so cute, but each of them has a sad story. Most of them were admitted to the Center in malnourished, traumatized or injured condition, after they lost their mother. Under good care for some time, they will be paired up with an older orangutan to help them to develop the survival skills. This buddy system is used to replace a mother’s teaching and it works quite well.

Baby orangutans undergo training in Outdoor Nursery

You can be part of the conservation effort to prevent this charismatic ape from extinction. You may Adopt an Orangutan, which starts from a contribution of RM200 (USD$70) per year. They will send you the update and photos of your adopted “cousin” every 6 months. You also can work as a volunteer at the Center for an once-in-a-lifetime experience with orangutan.

How to get there

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center is located 25 KM to the west of Sandakan City (see Location Map). Public transport to Sepilok is available readily and the journey takes about 45 to 50 minutes one way.

By Bus

The following is the departure time of regular shuttle between Sandakan and Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center. The bus fare costs RM4 (≈USD$1) per person one way:
Sandakan City → Sepilok: 9am, 11:30am, 2pm, 5pm
Sepilok → Sandakan City: 6:30am, 10:30am, 12:30pm, 4pm
Tel: +60 12-8067067, +60 17-8632684

Or you can take the mini-bus (route: Batu 14) near to the bus terminal of Nak Hotel in Sandakan.

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center

By Taxi

You can hire a taxi for a return trip for about RM100 per car (≈USD$28)(negotiable). There is also a taxi stand in car park of Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center.

Facilities

Overall, the Center has adequate amenities for tourists as it is one of the most developed destinations in Sabah.

Toilet

The public toilet of Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center is probably the best in Sabah. It’s air-conditioned and handicapped-friendly. Visitors don’t need to pay any entry fee.

Toilets in Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center

Cafeteria

In the Center, there is a Sepilok Cafeteria where you can buy food (e.g. sandwiches, fried rice, noodle, omelettes), snacks and drink. It’s convenient but the place is quite crowded, you can expect a long queue to cashier counter during busy hours.

Sepilok Cafeteria

If you want great food and not in a hurry, I strongly recommend Lindung, which is only a 5 minutes walk away from the Center (see Location Map). They have nice restaurant, art gallery and exhibition.

There is also a small souvenir shop (in front of ticketing counter) in visitor building. The Center is managed by Sabah Wildlife Department, which is reachable by phone (Tel: +60 89-633587) and e-mail (sorcsylvia@gmail.com, ppous64@gmail.com).

Accommodations

There are many other things you can explore and do at Sepilok, for example, Rainforest Discovery Center, Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center, bird-watching, jungle trekking, so you may like to spend a few days there. Below are a few accommodations that are only a 10 or 15 minutes walk away from Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center:

1. Sepilok Jungle Resort

I stayed there before. The accommodation is quite affordable and very popular among tourists. This resort has 45 air-conditioned rooms and 15 fan rooms ranging from dormitory, standard, family to deluxe room with balcony. Though the rooms and facilities are a bit old, the nice swimming pool, lake and garden make it up.

Rates: RM38 per person – 190.80 per room (≈USD$10-50) (Online Booking available)
Website: www.sepilokjungleresort.com
Facebook: fb.com/SepilokJungleResort
E-mail: info@sepilokjungleresort.com
Tel: +60 89-533031, +60 89-533051
GPS Coordinate: 5.866024, 117.951640 (see Location Map)

2. Sepilok Forest Edge Resort

It’s about 700 Meters away from Sepilok Oran Utan Rehabilitation Center. The resort comprises of stylish Malay design chalets around green surrounding and hills with nice view. It has long house accommodation for budget travellers, as well as standard, family and superior chalets.

Rates: RM40 per bed – RM590 per chalet (≈USD$11-168) (Online Booking available)
Tel: +60 89-533190, +60 89-533245, +60 13-8859890
Website: www.sepilokforestedgeresort.com
E-mail: sepilokforestedge@gmail.com
GPS Coordinate: 5.867155, 117.950294 (see Location Map)

3. Sepilok Nature Resort

Sepilok Nature Resort has fully air-conditioned twin bed chalets feature beautiful lake or jungle view verandah and private bathrooms with hot water. The accommodation fees for Double / Twin Room start from RM265 (≈USD$75)

Website: sepilok.com
E-mail: mail@sepilok.com
Tel: +60 89-673999, +60 89-674999
GPS Coordinate: 5.867229, 117.949029 (see Location Map)

Click Here to see more photos of orangutans

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Orangutan in the Swamp

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Orangutan is a rainforest animal and it dislikes water, so I was surprised to see an orangutan foraging in swampy area of Kinabatangan last month. Actually this is not the first time it is found wandering in nypa forest, so I’m sure it wasn’t lost.

Pic: the coconut-like Nypa (Nipah) swamp

Nypa (or Nipah) palm swamp exists for over 70 millions years and it is one of the oldest forest types in the world. A large and well-preserved area of Nypa palm swamp grows around Abai, along the downriver of Kinabatangan River.

Nypa forest is a swampy area with brackish water. Nobody wants to walk in Nypa forest, as its ground is muddy. Also, the number of mosquitoes there can suck your blood dry. Due to the semi-saline water and seasonal flood, very few plant and fruit species can flourish there. In short, Nypa swamp is a hostile environment to most animals. Egret, heron and wild boar go there sometimes, but they never call it home.

It was a quiet morning. I was on a birdwatching tour with friends in mangrove and nypa zones of Kinabatangan wetland. Our small boat entered a tributary of Kinabatangan River and cruised slowly in dense forest of Nypa palm. Instead of bird’s chirping, we heard loud noise of rustling leaves. We looked at the direction of the sound and saw the palm leaves shaked violently. There was something moving inside, and it was big.

The beast was moving slowly behind the Nypa palm along the river. We couldn’t see it, so we just followed the rustling leaves, hoping that it would show up near the river. After 10 minutes, our patience paid off and we saw it passed by a small opening between trees, for a few seconds. Affirmative, it’s an orangutan.

This orangutan stopped a few times to fall the palm trees. The palm is as big as my arm, and this orangutan could shake, bend then broke it easily. After crackling sounds of broken branch, there would be a long moment of silence, but we still could hear that it was munching something crunchy.

Our tour guide knew what it was eating. This orangutan was searching for the juicy core of the young Nypa palm. This is not the first time he sees orangutan in Nypa swamp, and he believes this is not the only orangutan active here. Behind the Nypa swamp is a forested land, probably where the orangutan lives. Most of the time this orangutan was staying quite far behind the trees. It was only one time I could peep through the tree gaps and photographed it.

The orangutan noticed us but not quite bothered about our presence. It just continued its food journey, almost breaking all the branches it grabbed. As mentioned, Nypa swamp is muddy and orangutan hates water, so it was climbing from tree to tree, to avoid getting wet in mud. Orangutan is smart. If it has to enter the water, it knows how to use stick to test the depth of water. Someone even saw orangutan eating fish. Probably orangutan knows how to fish too, LOL.

You can tell this orangutan is an adult by looking at its cheek pads called flanges. Unlike other primates, orangutan is a solitary animal and spends most of the time alone.

Below are more photos for your viewing pleasure. Such unusual scene and behavior are not something we see every day.

Normal tourists seldom visit this area so we have the cool view all for ourselves. 🙂

We saw other damaged Nypa palm next to the river and believed these are done by orangutan.

No doubt it was an interesting encounter. However, I’m very curious that why orangutan hunts for food in Nypa palm. Is it because orangutan can’t find enough food in rainforest nearby, or it loves the taste of Nypa palm? I wonder..

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Orangutan making nest

Jackie, orangutan who owns a house

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Jackie is a superstar of Poring. Everyone in Poring knows her. She is the most “human-like” orangutan that I’ve ever seen.

The “house” of Jackie really makes me laugh. There is a hammock for her and Jackie sleeps in this house after 7pm every day. She is not locked inside a cage so she is free to leave anytime, but she has called Poring Hot Springs her home for over 2 decade (I wonder if she had tried the hot sulphur bath, haha).

A friendly staff told me that I can see Jackie between 2pm to 4pm around Orchid Garden. I saw her the 1st time near Tropical Garden and she was drinking a big bottle of something like milk coffee. According to the tour guide, she was moody that day so every tourist kept a distance from her.

Jackie didn’t finish the drink in one go. She just lazed there and enjoyed sipping her drink slowly. She didn’t show any sign of stress when we walked closer to her. Obviously, she is very used to human. In fact, she grows up with human.

According to the staff, Jackie was found injured on her head in a nearby village 24 years ago. Her mother was missing so Jackie became an orphan orangutan. The villager sent her to Poring so Sabah Parks could take care of her. Normally, we send orphan orangutan to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, where orphan orangutan is kept and trained. Probably the facility was not ready that time, so Jackie ends up staying with human until today.

Jackie is free to move around. Sometimes she goes into the forest nearby. She always come back home in the afternoon. She looks fat but still quite agile in her movement.

Next day I saw her again in Orchid Garden. This time she was drinking fruit juice. Jackie takes fruit as well as rice. The staffs say she always tries to imitate human behavior, so they try to avoid smoking in front of her, LOL.

97% of orangutan gene is similar to human. Jackie looks like a gentle old lady. When she is moody, she would grab your hand and don’t let go, then the staff has to force her to free you. But she never causes any major problem in the park. Anyway, I would advise you to keep a distance with this babe which is 3 times stronger than human.

Above: Jackie eating betel nut

You may watch the following 1-min-20-sec video of Jackie:

Update (21 Mar 2013): Jackie has been transferred to Lok Kawi Wildlife Park for rehabilitation. She is healthy but severely obese, so she is on strict (healthy) diet and under the care of Sabah Wildlife Department. If she is fit and ready, she will be sent back to the wild (though she really loves to stay close with human).

More Photos

You may check out my photo album for more pictures:

Other articles about Poring Hot Springs Park:

Photos taken in Poring, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Our cousin will extinct one day

Cute Orang-Utan

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Proudly presented to you, the Orang Utan show, at 10am and 3pm daily in Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctaury of Sabah Borneo. The feeding platform is more like a performance stage of orangutan now. Nearly hundred of tourists waiting anxiously for the appearance of Borneo’s superstar, the orang utan. As a “warm-up” opening, the pig-tailed macaques showed up on the platform first. The red and swollen sexy butt of a female macaque caused a hot discussion among the curious crowd.

Click Here to see more photos of Orang Utan >>

Then a male orangutan arrived. When everyone was so excited to see him, he started playing with his little bird in front of the public, as if the people were transparent. “His bird bird was so small…”, some commended. Ok, I will let you decide if this is cute.

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Soon a few younger orangutan came and the feeding started. The last time I saw this was in year 2005. I took some photos with my lousy compact camera. I blogged and shared the photos online. The photos were not good (in fact a disaster), but surprisingly they are one of my most visited photo galleries. I always wanted to come back to take better photos of them, for this 2nd orangutan blog.

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The “show” was a big success. The tourists were pleased with what they saw, though the only thing orangutan did was eat, eat, eat. Haha… if I do a show like this, audiences will throw stones at me. Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary is not a zoo. The orang-utan here was “semi-wild.” Most of them were orphans rescued by the Wildlife Department. Baby orang-utan cannot survive without parents, so they are taught survival skill in this centre. They are released to the wild when they grow up. The sanctuary provides regular feeding, as an alternative food source, for those who haven’t learn to live totally independent in forest. Once they can live on their own, they may not return for feeding anymore.

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Putting orangutan in zoo is not a good option for conservation efforts, as that will change their natural behaviour. The international and local environmental bodies have been pressuring our government and oil palm industry to stop large scale clearing of rainforest, the habitat of orangutan. Having the conservation policy is not enough, if it is not enforced efficiently. Let’s hope and work for a better future for the “Men of Forest” (orang utan).

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The orangutan is a highly intelligent animal. They can memorise different types of fruits, their locations and fruiting seasons. More amazingly, they can pass on this knowledge to their offspring. Like the photos below, the ranger tried to show the orangutan how to break the sugarcane, and they picked up the skill and seemed to know what they were doing.

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There were only 4 or 5 orangutan showed up, though I thought it should be more. Probably some of them were transferred to
Lokkawi Wildlife Park in Lokkawi and Rasa Ria Nature Reserve in Tuaran? Bet they would miss the free banana, sugar-cane and milk in Sepilok.

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Really cuteness overwhelming.. In an hour, we could see so many facial expression. I had them all captured in the photos. Many tourists would not hesitate to hug and kiss them if allowed. Orangutans are adorable but it is illegal to keep this protected animal as pet.

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Please feel free to check out more photos. Remember these photos are copyrighted. You may only use them for non-commercial and non-profit purposes (e.g. personal blog, conservation awareness), as long as you don’t remove the copyright stamp. If you are an environmental organisation, you may contact me to sponsor the photos.

Photos taken in Sepilok, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Revisit Lok Kawi Zoo

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My last visit to Lok Kawi Wildlife Park (Taman Hidupan Liar) was in Mar last year. That time there was no reptile house, sun bear, zebra, animal shows, etc. The place is getting more interesting now. Still, I haven’t seen everything coz of the rain at 3pm. Next time I will come back to check out their elephant ride at Children’s Zoo, and also the Botanical Garden.

We can see crocodiles, lizards, tortoises and snakes in the Reptile House. A few snake got weird names such as Banana Snake (Ular Pisang) and Dog-Toothed Cat Snake. The main attraction is the big long King Cobra. The funniest thing is the crocodile pond looks more like a wishing well. Probably every Malaysian think crocodiles only eat money, like our “Buaya” politicians.

Ah… finally I got a few upclose decent shots of Proboscis Monkeys. Unlike other monkeys, it is very hard to get good picture of Proboscis Monkey, as they are relatively more timid. I have seen them in my trip to Klias and Kinabatangan River, but they flee before I could have a closer look of them.

Last time they didn’t have any male Proboscis Monkey. Not only they got one now, they also two new baby Proboscis Monkeys born in the park.

However, to make the photos look like taken in the wild, I have to avoid the background with cage, fence, and man-make structures. To achieve this, I have to change the shooting angle, composition and depth of field setting. It can be difficult coz the hot weather would make the animals hide under the shaded area. I also need a lot of patient to wait for them to move to the good spot for photography.

Overall, I am quite happy with what I got. Last year a photography society organised a photography contest in this zoo. At that time, I was not confident so I didn’t join. Hopefully they will organise again this year.

This park will be my new favourite place for photo shooting. I also saw some interesting scenes along the way. I just shared them here. For example, the Orangutan below tried to chase away the baby otters during feeding time.

From their leaflet, they say they will build 1.4km forest walk, canopy walk, mountain biking track and the observation pavilion. I can’t wait to try them already. Please let me know if you find that they are completed.

Related Photo Gallery
Lok Kawi Wildlife Park

Photos taken in Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

MySabah.com

Travel guides to Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Tag Archives: orangutan

Where to see Orangutan, Proboscis Monkey, Sunbear, Pygmy Elephant and Hornbill of Borneo

1. Orangutan – Man of the Forest

2. Proboscis Monkey – Playboy of Borneo

3. Pygmy Elephant – Mini Elephant

4. Bornean Sun Bear – Teddy Bear of Borneo

5. Hornbills – Love Birds of Borneo

Best Place to See Them All?

1. Sepilok

1) Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC)

2) Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC)

3) Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC)

Nature Lodge Sepilok

2. Kinabatangan River

Nature Lodge Kinabatangan

Flight to Sandakan

Orangutan of Borneo (Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center)

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center

Orangutan Feeding

Ticket (Conservation Fee)

Outdoor Nursery

How to get there

By Bus

By Taxi

Facilities

Toilet

Cafeteria

Accommodations

1. Sepilok Jungle Resort

2. Sepilok Forest Edge Resort

3. Sepilok Nature Resort

Orangutan in the Swamp

Orangutan making nest

Jackie, orangutan who owns a house

More Photos

Our cousin will extinct one day

Cute Orang-Utan

Revisit Lok Kawi Zoo