Sunday, April 10, 2016

Monday April 4 – Day 10 – Monkeys and Apes

Today was another day filled with the thrill of sharing the world with wild animals. We left Selingan Island after breakfast around 7:00 a.m. and sped back across the ocean like a lightening bolt. 






We walked back up to the Sandakan Hotel, picked up our bags, loaded up in the bus, and set out for Sepilok and the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. The centre was founded in 1964 as the first official project to rescue orphaned baby orangutans from logging sites, plantations, illegal hunting, and being kept as pets. The apes are trained to survive in the wild and are released as soon as they are able to do so.  About 60 to 80 orangutans live free in the forest surrounding the centre.





Feeding time was at 10:00 a.m. and as soon as their keeper walked out with a basket of food they came swinging from all over the jungle to partake. 

We also viewed the nursery area where the younger orangutans learn to be outside and play on a large climbing frame. The orangutans provided hours of entertainment with their trapeze and high wire antics, their squabbling amongst themselves, and they all seemed to like having an audience and discreetly checked over their shoulders to make sure we were still watching and laughing!!



After the orangutans we went “next door” to the Sun Bear Conservation Centre. I had never heard of these tiny bears and apparently they are little known. They are the smallest bear species and the best tree-climbers!! They used to be found throughout Asia including Vietnam, China, and India, but now their numbers are diminished due mainly to deforestation, hunting, and the pet trade. The babies make adorable pets, but they grow into fierce adults and people don’t know how to handle them, so they cage them, abandon them, or otherwise treat them badly. There are about 37 rescued bears in the centre. The mission of the centre is to rescue the bears and prepare them to return to the forest, and to increase awareness of sun bears internationally.

The little black, nocturnal bears with beige muzzles and horseshoe shape on their chests were hard to spot among the forest trees and underbelly. They have very long tongues and love honey!! Desperate to get at the honey, they tear open the tree trunks thus creating nests for other jungle dwellers such as hornbills.




We are so lucky to be able to see so many animals on this trip. Most of them have been “endangered” and it really makes you realize the destruction man is causing to our planet. But I suppose that is our history and who knows whether we will be able to stop the process, reduce the process, or simply be aware that at one time the earth was different.

Having watched so many animals fill their stomachs, we turned our mind to eating in the brand new restaurant just outside both of the organutan and sun-bear centres. According to one of our group, an orangutan got out of the centre and was happily running around the car park at the restaurant before being chased back in by the staff from the centre!!

After lunch we got into a taxi and drove 45 minutes out of Sepilok, through the palm tree plantation to the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary. Once again, this was started in an effort to provide a safe haven for the proboscis monkey whose hunting grounds in the forest were being ripped down to make way for the hundreds of acres of palm plantations. The proboscis money is unique to Borneo and the sanctuary provided first rate viewing platforms for these characterful monkeys. When feeding, there was no doubt that the alpha male and his immediate family had precedence!! He was the first to take his food, and chased any intruders away until his harem was satiated. The young monkeys are very active, the older ones, especially the males, tend to “snooze”. The monkeys mixed in amongst us, and we were able to take pictures with them. They could also be a little dangerous: I was standing on the wooden walkway when the alpha male decided to swing up there and gallop along the walkway. He literally whizzed past missing me by only inches. My attention was over the rails to the other monkeys and I got a heck of a fright when I felt the power of his body behind me!!










I almost forgot the hornbills that visited us at this last sanctuary. They perched in a tree and gave us a beautiful view and insight into the antics of this beautiful bird.




We left the sanctuary around 4:00 p.m. when the military arrived with their hard hats and guns. No idea what that was about. Maybe just a routine patrol. But, we don’t like guns, and thought it a good time to move on!!


On the way back to the hotel in the taxi Laura and I asked our driver if he would stop for let us take a picture of the vast area of palm tree plantations. It stretches as far as the eye can see in every direction. We didn’t get the best pictures, but I think you can get the jist!



It was about 5:00 p.m. when we got back to the hotel – just time for a shower, then off to dinner, then bed and a great night’s sleep despite the hydro interruptions which turned off the air conditioners every time the generator stopped. Here are some pictures to show how beautiful the grounds of our hotel - The Sepilok Jungle Resort - were!






We all agreed we had had an exhilarating day filled with antics of apes, monkeys and sun-bears.


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