“Just be careful and don’t leave anything outside. The chalet we are giving you is at the edge of the jungle and there is an orangutan living in there who particularly likes that cabin.” These were the opening lines from the pretty Malaysian girl who was checking us into our accommodation at Sepilok. I am hooked immediately and the chalet does not disappoint. It oozes old world charm set in the midst of the jungle. Having said that there was no sign of the “resident” orangutan.
Sepilok is an easy 30 minute drive from Sandakan at the edge of the rainforest. An easy but steamy 10 minute walk from our resort is the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. In 1963 the Malay government set aside 43 square km of jungle as a reserve and a rehabilitation site for orangutans. Today 80 orangutans live independently in the reserve and 25 orphaned are in the nurseries.
Twice daily there is food left on a platform set back from the tourist walkway to encourage sightings and we are walking through the jungle for this when one is spotted in a nearby tree well away from the platform. For me this unstaged encounter was worth the price of admission and some of my better photos are from here. We were lucky to score a similar encounter on the way back with the orangutan shimmying down a vine and landing on the boardwalk railing before sauntering off.
Right next door is the sun bear sanctuary set up in 2014 again in the jungle to rehabilitate sun bears. These bears are the smallest and unfortunately subject to trapping and being exploited for body parts such as the making of bear’s paw soup. This is a most impressive facility with extensive tree top walkways and lots of these cute fur balls to be seen.
