August 9,

We had plans today, so we awoke and readied. Our booking of this apartment includes breakfast and we had noodles with baby shrimp and a small package of sauce delivered at 0730. It was still warm but neither of us wanted it for breakfast. We put them in the fridge and made some oatmeal with the coconut jam. Once finished, we headed out jumping on our scooter. We are going to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center. This center was established in 1964! Open time is at 0900, and it took about 30 minutes to get there. We did have to stop for gas, but finally, we arrived and paid the entry fee of 30 Ringgit each, which is $7.07 each. With our tickets in hand, we entered by 0910. We meander through lots of jungle on a board walkway following the group, thankfully the most of which is behind us. There were a number of people, and we were all going to one place – the feeding platform. Everyday at 1000 and 1500 this place puts out food for Orangutans. There are no fences, just a platform with many ropes leading to it. The people have our own platform of sorts, I suppose you could say – a covered sitting/standing observation area. As we found a place and staked our claimed spot, more came to fill in around us. Around 0930, a troop of Macaque monkeys came for “the show before the show” – so to speak. There were some babies putting on antics.

Then a ways off from the opposite side of our viewing, there was a rustling among small trees, moving in. Like magic a mother and baby Orangutan appeared. After the initial gasps from everyone, it quieted down (mostly due to the staff announcing silence). The mother with the baby clutched around her torso swung and kind of lumbered in. Then she used one of the ropes to move to a place where she could sit and watch. The baby then moved about some around her, because well, sitting… boring. We all watched them and the mother watched us. The Macaques are all still bouncing around. At precisely 1000 a man showed up with a three foot basket “backpack.” The monkeys settled down, and everyone was watching him. He climbed to the top of the steps of the platform and set the basket down; unstrapped the basket; and emptied the contents on the platform. He put the basket back on and left the platform. As soon as he was cleared out, the Orangutan mother with the baby hanging on swung onto the ropes to the platform. She looked at the food and took a couple of pieces of leaf lettuce and grabbed her baby, reversing herself off the platform on the ropes to a safe distance away. As soon as she was off the platform the Macaques streamed in, by ranking I suppose. It surprised me the actual seeming order of it all, and how little the Orangutan took from the pile of food. By 1030 the Orangutans were sitting off, out of view. Only could see the baby when it was doing some climbing moves. The Macaques were still at the food, but we were ready to move on, as most other people already have. It was great seeing the Orangutans: mother and her baby. But seeing them, brought up many questions. Like: Why did the mother only take so little food?; and Isn’t this more a dependency issue vs. a rehabilitation situation?❓ We then went briefly to the nursery platform, but this was behind glass- unfortunate. We went back along the boardwalk, as through our first platform area, some people were clustered together with a staff member looking at “Gibbons.” We stayed a bit, but never really saw them. They were high up a tree in a nest. With all the leaves and nesting material, we could only see movement of leaves. We walked back out along the boardwalk, excited that we had seen a momma and baby orangutan! We will definitely come back for the second feeding. We exited and literally crossed a small road to go to the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC).

We paid 50 Ringgit each ($11.79) to enter. This center was built in 2008 for “Animal Welfare, Rehabilitation, Education, Research and Ecotourism.” They seem more about returning Sun Bears back into the forest. We watched a video about just such a rehab of one bear. The bear was found as a wee little cub and bonded/raised with some humans, but primarily one man. They have a process that takes years. Anyway, we next went out and were able to watch several different bears. This center keeps the bears in electrified fenced areas. We watched as they went in their jungle pens ‘scavenging’ food that was tossed over the fence to them. One bear we noticed had a scarring around its girth. We asked a staff member about this. It seems the male bear, Fulung, self-mutilated himself when they tried to reintroduce him. So he will stay here his whole life.

According to a flyer, Sun Bears are named this because of a yellow to white U-mark under their chin on their breast. It is very stark when they stand up. We never saw one stand though. But it was still fun to watch them. The flyer also mentions Sun Bear are the smallest bears in the world; a totally protected species; and are classified as “vulnerable,” which means no international commercial trade is allowed. We spent just over an hour watching them. So cute!

Now we went for lunch at Kafeteria Sepilok. We had Lemon Rice Chicken and Beef Rendang with Rice. I had a lemon Iced Tea and Jeff stuck with water. The meal cost us 46 Ringgit, or $10.85. We sat and took our time, trying to stay cool out of the sun and kill time. Around 1340, we crossed the road back to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and stood in a shaded line for re-entry. It reopened at 1400. We arrived at the feeding platform by 1410. We were the first ones and had it to ourselves for quite some time. We noticed the mother and baby – might be the same ones… I couldn’t tell. The area was very quiet with just us and the two Orangutans for quite some time. It was surreal! There were not any Macaque Monkeys!?! Other people finally started filing in. I pointed out the mom and babe to the first few, but then I just enjoyed watching the Orangutans, as they watched us and the groups of people coming. On time again the same person came out with the basket. He followed the same procedure as this morning. The mom and babe swung done right after he left. Next were a couple of brave squirrels. Then further down the boardwalk, new Orangutans- mother and baby came. People were cleared back some distance so the mom could come- walking the railing like a balance beam! She then swung up over our heads on the lattice rooftop, catching a rope to go to the platform. That was exciting. This mom was submissive to the other first mom. But the first mom let her “stay” off on the edge of the platform. The first baby was a bit of a bully to the second baby, but they were both eating. Next another mother and baby came, and everyone cleared out. This must be an alpha female and her baby was younger. As she ate, the first mom and baby left. The second mom and babe seemed to cower to the very edge – this mom had not eaten much yet. As the alpha mom was eating and “teenage” Orangutan showed up and sat on a corner finding some food, but it came too close to the cache once and the alpha mom swatted at it. We wondered if this was one of her older offspring? Anyway, it was a fascinating feeding session- seeing some interaction, and all the babies… plus don’t forget the squirrels.

We left around 1530, loaded on the scooter and headed back to our place. The skies were ominous looking, and we did not get very far. It started raining. We had to pull off under a vacant food stand on the side of the road and wait out the rain, about 15 minutes. Once it cleared we stopped at a bakery and bought a baguette.

Back at our place – we cooled off; had supper of the baguette with the noodles from breakfast. What a blessed, blessed day!