Sepilok

We had a short drive to Sepilok the next morning after a leisurely late breakfast (8 am!).  Sepilok is an orangutan rehabilitation centre and 43 acre forest sanctuary.  They receive injured, orphaned, poached etc orangutans.  Blame the palm oil industry for pretty much everything bad that happens.  Orangutans are endangered so every one saved is another one that can potentially be released back into the wild. 

Before I came to Borneo I watched several episodes of Orangutan Jungle School which I would highly recommend.  You really get to know how much like humans these animals are.  

But first we stopped at our hotel.  It is by the same owners as the lodge at Kinabatangan River but even nicer.  It was too early for our rooms so we just dumped out bags and back out the door.  

Then off to the rehabilitation centre!  They have a feeding at 10 am and 3 pm.  After a certain age and level of jungle competence, the orangutans are released into the 43 sq acre forest reserve. The staff put fruit out on an outdoor platform for anyone who wants a free lunch (non-human).  They say they put out less appetizing food (mostly vegetables) so the orangutans won't come back if they have enough tastier jungle food.  So, the fact that we didn't see an orangutan is good news, at least that's what they kept telling us anyway. 

But no worries, the pig-tailed macaques were highly entertaining.  They give the orangutans a few minutes, then we the coast is definitely clear, they move in for their free eats!  There were lots of them. 

I took a million pictures and then a baby showed up so I took a million more. 

It turns out the jungle isn't the only place to see the orangutans!  The junior nursery (not the babies though) gets a feeding at 10:30.  We we went there once most of the outdoor platform was cleared.  The nursery is open to the released orangs too so there is a mix of adult and littles.  But behind glass.

It's basically like a school yard with lots of climbing opportunities out there. And lots of orangutans! Including a new mom and her baby.  Those babies are too much! 

A quick bathroom and cat-scritch break 

He doesn't look like he wanted a head scritch
but he really did.  

Next up, the Sun Bear Conservation Centre right across the road. 

We could look down at the bears from a platform so it was hard to see their faces as they rooted around for grubs.  They kind of look like fat rottweilers from above. 

Sun Bears are not nearly as engaging as the orangutans unfortunately since they are both vying for adoptions.  

this: 

It was finally late enough for us to get our cabins at the resort.  And lunch.  

Apparently, this is the only photo I took.

We had a free afternoon.  Some of the people took a cab to the probiscus monkey sanctuary, some used the pool or rested.  Joe and I went back to Sepilok for the 3pm feeding. We already had tickets so it was free re-entry.  But Joe forgot his ticket. So, the nice man at the door asked Joe to show his pictures on his phone.  Joe didn't have any pictures from the morning.  I doubt the nice man at the door had ever met a tourist who did not take one single picture of the orangutans in the park.  Not one.  So he turned to me and asked me to show him some selfies I took of the both of us.  Not a selfie to be had.  I'm sure he thought we were the worst liars at this point, or maybe space aliens still learning how to human.  But I managed to find one picture where Joe photobombed my shot of the park entrance. It is technically outside of the park but he let us in, probably because he could not deal with our weirdness. 

photobomb to the rescue

I hoped this time we would get to see some of the wild orangutangs.  Plus, there were way fewer people.  The resort had a free shuttle (a guy driving a little green car). 

There weren't nearly so many people there.  It was raining a little bit which is not great for wildlife viewing since the orangutans don't like rain but I was hopeful. 

rain but no people.  Also no animals

So, it turns out, no one likes the rain.  Not even the macaques.  Not one animal showed up.  We asked the volunteer there. He said it was very unusual that there was nothing!  Not even a squirrel stopped by.  So, back to the nursery. 

Mom and baby were there but as soon as this big guy showed up, they skedaddled.  

Sepilok is not far from the resort but since it was raining, and I am gibbled, we had the shuttle come back to take use to the Skywalk Nature reserve which is between the resort and Sepilock.  They have raised walkways through the jungle. This is when I discovered that Joe does not like heights. But he is a trooper and we went in. We found Juli, an American member of our group there so we went over the trails together. 

It was hot so we didn't see much, just lots of signs telling us how awesome the birds and animals we weren't seeing are.  

Joe even climbed a viewing tower.  This picture does 
not convey how much he did not like it. 

The only animal we saw, a black squirrel with a red belly.
google tells me it is a 'Provost's Squirrel'.  He is licking the tree sap

Joe with a 'Tractor Millipede'.  

crossing the 'lake' on a swing bridge. 

We walked back to the resort after that.  Just in time for the night walk.  We were going back to the sky walk.  Joe had had enough so he declined. I went even though my feet were killing me.  

We saw some cool animals.  Of which I have terrible photos. I have to learn to use my camera at night. We saw a Red Flying Squirrel, a Western Tarsier, a Bornean Slow Loris, and a Flying lemur which is not really a lemur. It's actually a Colugo.  Here is a photo of the Tarsier I stole from the group chat. 

I was dying at the end of the walk.  I was ready for bed.  We walked back to the resort and I crashed.