Welcome to the home of the Orangutan, which comes from the Malay words “orang hutan“, meaning “human of the forest“. These amazing human-like creatures roam the rainforest area of Sepilok 26km from the city of Sandakan (Pop 385,000), which has a domestic airport that travellers use to reach this wild area and is in Malaysian Borneo otherwise known as “Sabah”.
There was no time to waste. I landed in Sandakan at 1045 and by 1500 I was watching Orangutans feeding in a sanctuary area known as the “Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre” which looks after injured animals and allows families to see these creatures since they are very hard to spot in the wild whose terrain and distances are impossible for children and the unfit.
Orangutans:
- Measure 1.2m to 1.5m tall and weigh up to 100kg.
- Have seriously long arms, which can span up to 2m.
- Is one of humankind’s closest relatives - we share nearly 97% of the same DNA.
- Spend most of the day up in the trees and sleep in leafy nests high off the ground to avoid their only predators: leopards and humans.
- Eat mostly fruit and leaves plus nuts, bark, insects and bird eggs.
- Give birth about once every eight years. Infants stay with their mother for six to seven years.
- Don’t like to live in groups – males and females spend most of their time alone.
- Are noisy creatures, making loud howls and bellows that can be heard for miles around! It’s usually the males that make these calls so that they can stay out of each other’s territory.
- Live for 50-60 years in sanctuaries and 30-40 years in the wild.
- Are today on the endangered species list but their numbers in Sepilok are stable.
Borneo is also home to a rare species of BEAR called the “Bornean Sun Bear” which is like a Black Bear only smaller and in fact the smallest bear in the world. It also sports an orange half-moon U-shaped crescent on its chest (males and females), which it uses to ward off predators as it stands on its hind legs and moves this crescent up and down !!! I saw these creatures in the “Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre” which is a private facility founded by Dr (Hon) Wong Siew Te, back in 2009 who I had the privilege to meet and interview. There are 42 animals in the centre aged from 3 to 30 human years old. The centre is also swamped by hundreds of “Long-Tailed Macaques” and “Pig-Tailed Macaques” which are ready to steal your mobile phone or purse !!!
Bornean Sun Bears:
- Have no breeding cycle and give birth to only one cub at a time with gestation period of 93 days.
- Grow to a height of 120-150cm only !
- Weigh 30-60kg (Males) and 20-40kg (Females)
- Have a 20-25cm long tongue via evolution to find a eat termites and ants when short of other food.
- Can live up to 38 human years but most will survive 12-18 years due to human interference.
During my time in Sepilok I stayed at an amazing resort in the forest called the “Sepilok Jungle Resort”. While lunching there an older gentleman asked if he could join me and he turned out to be the founder and owner of the resort. I interviewed Datuk John Lim the following morning and his story is simply amazing if not inspiring and hard-to-believe. John came to this area 34 years ago with a wild vision – to build a jungle and to build a resort in it !!! Sounds crazy but it happened. He bought up hilly grassland next to the tropical rainforest that could not be farmed and literally cleared it and single-handedly planted seeds of all the trees to be found in the rain forest. At the same time he designed the resort and even worked in a tree sawmill to fully understand the types of wood he should use in his resort. His time as a police officer endowed him with the necessary discipline to see this huge project to reality and now thousands of people come here to enjoy the forest that he has created including some of the world’s foremost ornithologists and bird-watchers. John definitely deserves an Honourary Doctorate in Botany !!!
The next day I travelled 2.5hrs by car on some fairly crappy roads passed vast fields of cultivated Palms (for oil) to reach a jetty in the village of Bilit which is on the Kinabatangan River. After a short ride in a boat I reached the “Bilit Adventure Lodge”, also designed and built by Datuk John Lim !!! This area is stinking hot and humid – easily the second most after Cameroon in Africa. You are wet with sweat within 5 minutes !!!
The main dining area of the lodge is on the river whilst all the air-conditioned cabins are on stilts and spread throughout the jungle connected by raised walkways – it rains here all the time and the forest floor turned to a leafy sludgy muddy mush !!!
The highlight of my stay here was the sunrise and sunset cruises both upstream and downstream along the Kinabatangan River. This river is very wide and fall of water covering a total length of 560km making the second longest in all of Malaysia. I saw a mountain of wildlife in the two sunrise and two sunset cruises: Proboscis Monkey, Silver Leaf (Langur) Monkey, Long-Tailed Macaque, Pied Hornbill, Black Hornbill, Wrinkled Hornbill, Blue-Eared Kingfisher, Stork Billed Kingfisher, Black and Red Broadbill, Lesser Adjutant, Storm Stork, White Collar Kingfisher and plenty of Equestrian Crocodiles. The Proboscis Monkey is actually an ape and is one of the strangest looking creatures you will ever see with a funny pointy nose, a military-style crew-cut hairdo, long thin legs and a big round belly. The absolute highlight of the stay here was spotting two Orangutans building their nest on our way back to the lodge in the last river cruise which I nearly abandoned due to heavy rain beforehand. I am so glad and lucky that I decided to go – I finally got to see Orangutans IN THE WILD and from the comfort of a boat !!! This lodge not only served up terrific wildlife but excellent food as well – the only downside is that you cannot swim in the river due to the crocs !!!
I completed my stay in Malay Borneo by visiting the city of Sandakan seeing: The Puu Jih Syh Buddhist Temple, St. Michael’s Anglican Church, City Centre, The Central Market and the War Memorial Park. The War Memorial Park is dedicated to the memory of all prisoners in the Japanese POW Camp on this site who died during the Sandakan Death Marches, and to those died during the march to Ranau to build an airfield for the Japanese. After the fall of Singapore up to 2,500 Australian and British soldiers were held here and most died in the camp and on the march to Ranau. The site was set up by the Australian War Veterans Society and RSL in conjunction with Sandakan Council.
It is now time to feast your eyes on the living wonders of Malay Borneo (Sabah) in the Sepilok region. Enjoy !!!
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