Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre

Monday, April 10, 2017
Sepilok, Malaysia
I woke up in the night to absolutely torrential rain, so we were obviously very lucky to have such a nice day yesterday! It was still raining when we got up at 6, grabbed our bags and headed over to the main building for breakfast. Another very western breakfast - toast, scrambled eggs, sausages and baked beans. It was time to leave after breakfast, and we were on the boat at 7. It was a slightly quicker ride back, and we arrived back at the jetty at 7:50. Then we walked back to Hotel Sandakan, grabbed our bags and hopped on the bus to Sepilok.

We dropped our big bags off at the accommodation and then drove back to the Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre . Orangutans are rescued from the illegal pet trade and other situations and brought here to rehabilitate and be realised back into the wild. We put our bags in a locker, paid our 'camera photos' fee, and headed down the path into the jungle. By the time we got down the path a way, it was 9:45 and the first feeding time was at 10, so we headed around to the feeding platform. At just after 10, one of the park rangers brought a basket of fruit up to the platform, followed by a mother orangutan and her baby. Another swung his way across the ropes strung through the trees to the platform. These orangutans are 'semi-wild', as their diet is supplemented by the rangers, but the reserve connects directly to the rainforest, so they are free to range as they want. After tipping out the food, the ranger disappeared and we were free to the watch the orangutans eat. There were also a few cheeky macaques pinching the food. We were standing against the barrier, and you're not allowed to bring bags so I was carrying my phone, tickets, camera and key to the locker. I'm not sure what I did but I somehow managed to drop the key to the bag locker over the edge of the boardwalk. So that was not ideal. Jeffry told me not to worry and that there'd probably be spares and we'd worry about it later.

After observing the feeding platform for about 15 minutes we headed over to the baby orangutan outdoor nursery. There was a building with big observation windows that looked out over a playground-like structure that the babies could play on. We sat and watched the babies for around half an hour, and they were very cute. There were a few mothers with tiny babies, and around 5 babies by themselves. After we'd finished watching we walked back over to the main building for a video about the centre. They gave a general overview about how they look after and rehabilitate the baby orangutans through their life span.

After the video, we went over to the cafeteria for a snack, and I just had an orange aloe drink and a coconut pancake. Then we headed over to the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre. This was just over the road, so we just walked across. The sunbears were in a more closed area than the orangutans, as they have also been rescued and are being rehabilitated. They are the smallest bears in the world, but I still couldn't believe how high up in the trees they climbed! We watched them for a quite a while, and then there was a bit of movement around the staircase coming up to the observation deck. An orangutan had decided to come and check out the sunbears too! Initially he was sitting in the covered staircase, but then he climbed up on top of it, so I headed back up to keep watching the sunbears. Then the orangutan climbed up and started watching us from the roof of the staircase. He was soon joined by a friend and they both just people-watched, while we watched both them and the sunbears!

Eventually I was getting hungry through so we headed back to the cafeteria for lunch and I had char kway teow, fried rice noodles, which was really yum. After a bit of debate (some people were going back to the accommodation to check in), we decided to go back over to the outdoor nursery and watch the babies for a little bit longer. They had just been fed so there were some orangutans eating, but also some cheeky squirrels and monkeys hanging about, pinching food where they could. It was about 2, and there was another feeding at 3, so I watched the babies for about 45 minutes and then walked over to the feeding platform. On the way over I saw an amazing leaf insect that looked exactly like a torn leaf, and a massive fluffy caterpillar. This time at the feeding table platform there were more macaques (both long-tailed and pig-tailed), eating the leftovers from the morning feeding session. However a few more orangutans turned up at feeding time too, two mothers with little babies, a male, and a little adolescent. After about 25 minutes, as the orangutans swung back into the trees, I walked back over to the outdoor nursery again, passing a few orangutans in the trees on the way. I also spotted the baby elephants that we'd been hearing all day, down a closed off pathway guarded by a ranger. These are orphaned elephants who are looked after in the conservation precinct, but not on view to the public. Once back in the outdoor nursery, we had about half an hour more, as the centre closed at 4.

Once we were ushered out, we went back to the accommodation, about a 5 minute walk down the road, and checked into our room. Lauren and I went to our room to find that the beds hadn't been made and there were no new towels, so we had to go back to reception and request that that be done. While they did the room I rearranged my bag a little bit. There was a pool, so Lauren and some of the others went for a swim, but I didn't want my towel and bathers to be wet in my bag for the flight tomorrow, so I just had a shower and got my stuff ready for tomorrow. At 5:45 we met Jeffry back at reception for our night walk through the park. We walked as a group back to the Sepilok gate, and were met by two rangers and given a safety briefing. It wasn't quite dark yet, but there were different animals to be seen at dusk so we headed through the gate. There's a raised boardwalk through the centre, so it was a much more civilised walk than our last night walk (and less 'Blair witch', as one of the girls said!). Within seconds of walking through the gate, the park ranger spotted a juvenile pit viper, a bright green snake, on a tree by the boardwalk. It was a very little one, but the ranger emphasised that it was still very poisonous. As we kept walking, we saw a praying mantis that looked like a dead leaf. A few minutes later, the ranger spotted a flying lemur. He was very excited, and said it was very unusual to see this animal. It was huddled up quite far up on a tree, but we could see it watching us. Then we kept walking up towards the outdoor nursery, as the tall trees around this area are apparently great for flying squirrels. There is a particular type of cicada that had a really eerie noise here, similar to the noise a mosquito makes as it goes past your ear, but very very loud. With this sound (which is what the squirrels were listening for), and the sun going down, it was a very atmospheric spot. We did spot quite a few flying squirrels and even saw a few gliding between the trees. After this we kept walking, and the next thing we saw was another leaf insect, and then a 'horn spider' (exactly what it sounds like, a spider with horns). For the rest of the walk, we didn't see very much, but the sounds were amazing - the usual bugs, but also monkeys, birds and squirrels. We saw a few very large geckos on the buildings as we were leaving, and then the biggest surprise was in the car park! We were just about to leave, and then one of the rangers spotted a slow loris in the trees in the car park! Then another ranger spotted two more. They're very very rare to see so all of the rangers and Jeffry were very excited, especially to see a family group. So that was great! Then there was a big yellow snake (a yellow razor?) in the tree above the gate on the way out. So all up a pretty successful night!

By this time we were all starving, so we headed back to the restaurant for dinner. I had the Sepilok curry beef with rice, which was really yum. After hanging around and chatting for a bit, most of us headed back for an early bedtime, as we're all pretty tired at this point in the trip. We've got a late start tomorrow though, so hopefully we can sleep in!

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