Day 10: Sun Bears and Orangutans by Eashan

After saying good bye to Shangri La, and all the luxury it came with, we drove to our next accommodation. In the village of Sepilok, in Sabah, we arrived at our resort. We dumped our bags onto some shelves and once again, we were off. This time, we were headed to the orangutan sanctuary.

On the short journey, we learnt that orangutan means man of the forest in Malaysian because of their human-like nature. After we arrived, we immediately headed to where the feeding was to take place. We also learnt all about Sepilok's rehab centre. After the monkeys/orangutans are rescued, they spend a month separated from the others getting medical attention in order to make sure they don't have any viruses, or infections. Then, if they are very young, such as 1 or 2 years, they go to the indoor nursery. Here, the public aren't allowed in. The orangutans learn how to climb, how to interact with other animals, and other stuff that they would've otherwise been taught by their parents. Then, the ape will move on to the outdoor nursery which has a purpose built viewing building on the side of it. Here, they have access to the forest, and they have much more independence. They tend to spend the rest of their childhood and, for some, parenthood here. Finally, they are given full independence. Some orangutans still return for food, while others forage for their own food, make their own nests and make their way in the forest, becoming fully independent.

We were half an hour early, so we grabbed front row positions, watching the empty platform that we were facing. Soon, we spotted our first monkey. It was a pig tailed Macaque hidden in the tree's foliage. It sat, waiting for something, or someone. As the feeding time drew near, more and more monkeys could be spotted poking their heads out of bushes, or trees. And then, finally, a man carrying a large basket filled to the brim with fruits and vegetables. An excited buzz overcame the crowd, but it wasn't the growing population of hungry monkeys creeping towards the platform that caused this. An orangutan had appeared, on the same walkway the worker used. He walked slowly, on all fours. Then, from behind the Orangutan, appeared a baby orangutan, with a head as big as his tiny body, and hairs that stick up like a crazy scientist. He followed his mum, who in turn, followed the worker up the steps to the platform. The orangutans sat down, and once the worker emptied the basket onto the platform, they began to pick up the food, eating it in an incredibly humanoid fashion.

But at the same time, as if on cue, all the other monkeys who had been watching the food greedily, had scampered into the wooden legs holding up the platform. The first brave monkey snuck onto the platform, and going around the back of the orangutan, stole a banana. He ran to the edge of the platform in order to eat his prize out of reach of the orangutan. The second monkey didn't get so lucky, however. He took a more direct approach, and the mother orangutan was able to scare it off with her long arms. The monkey retreated down the side of the platform. But as the orangutans ate, more and more monkeys successfully tried to nab pieces of the fruit.

Eventually, the orangutan stopped trying to scare them off, letting them eat freely. Then the baby orangutan left his mother's side for the first time. He reached up the tree, pulling himself up with ease. He grabbed the rope that had been put up by the workers. He swung around, seemingly getting stuck a couple times. He eventually reached halfway along the rope before he decided he was satisfied and he returned to the safety of his mother. Then the worker left the platform, and more monkeys climbed, joining their own in trying to get food. Eventually the orangutans left, swinging across one of the ropes leading deeper into the forest, leaving all the monkeys to fight over the leftovers. And then, slowly the monkeys also left, with only a few staying behind.What was left were 2 bigger monkeys, and fewer than 5 smaller monkeys on the platform. One of the big monkeys had an incredibly red bum, which we learnt meant they were ready for mating, and clearly the other big monkey was all for it. Then, finally, the last of the fruit had gone, as had the last of the monkeys.

We then headed to the nursery. It was an indoor viewing room with one wall being made of glass overlooking a playground. The playground was equipped with hammocks for the apes, as well as monkey bars and wooden platforms. The nursery, while having as much access to the forest as the feeding platform did, felt a lot more supervised and made for human interaction with the orangutans. After standing outside for the last 45 minutes, being able to sit on cushioned benches with air conditioning felt like a blessing. Eventually, however, we dragged ourselves away from the comfort across the road to the bear sanctuary. Upon entry, we were met with a row of life sized bear cutouts. The sun bear, which we had gone to see, was the smallest, almost half the size of dad. Meanwhile, the polar bear, by far the biggest, was almost double the size of mum.

Walking into the bear sanctuary, we found ourselves on another platform. We were overlooking a part of the forest. In this sanctuary, the bears were more looked after, and more dependent on the workers. Many of the bears had been in cages since they were young, their parents had been killed, or their habitat destroyed, and the sanctuary had rescued them. We spotted the first 2 bears lying down in the shade, sleeping. Amongst them were some long tailed macaques passing through the bear sanctuary. We walked along the platform, and it wasn't long till we spotted the next bear. This time, the bear was above us, resting on a tall tree branch. After watching the bear for a little while, we moved on to the final area of the sanctuary. The platform was overlooking sleeping bears on all sides. We circled around it, watching as the bears moved around below us.

Sun bears were typically very weary of humans and, when they feel threatened, they could bark like a dog. They are able to avoid humans by smelling them before they are in sight with their excellent sense of smell. Mum and I even got lucky enough to have a bear stand up, revealing the golden mark on its chest which gave the sun bears their name. In the centre of the viewing platform, there was a profile of each bear in the sanctuary, along with facts, their personalities and how to identify them. We were able to identify this particular bear as Fulung. We read that Fulung arrived as a 2 month old after he was being illegally kept as a pet. And that he tended to stand up whenever he felt curious.

Soon, we left the bears, to have a delicious lunch in a positively packed cafe in between the 2 institutions. And then, we returned to the orangutan centre. This time, the platform facing the feeding area was almost empty, and we walked right to the front of the platform, before realising that the feeding time had been delayed, and that we should go to the nursery instead. And so, of course, we headed to the nursery. Along the wooden path, however we had a surprise visitor. A huge orangutan climbed onto the handrail, and was making his way towards the nursery. A large following of phone bearing spectators, led by one of the workers. Managing to snake through the crowd near the front, I held up the camera trying to zoom out as far as it would go purely because of how close it was to me.

The worker directed us up to a certain distance behind the great ape, and every time he momentarily stopped, he directed them past him. As I passed, the orangutan began to move, in line with me for an amazing moment. And though it felt forever, the orangutan soon stopped again, while I continued along the path. Once the rest of the famalam caught up with me, we headed to the nursery to find seats as we waited for the next feeding session. Looking outside the glass, we were met with a troupe of macaques scattered across the playground, as well as an old, sleepy orangutan lying on the structure at the back. One particular macaque was in a monkey hammock, trying to figure out how to stay in it. Every now and then he would fall out, catching the hammock as he went, pulling himself back up. Eventually, he returned to one of the wooden platforms picking up scraps of leftovers.

Then, as the monkeys began to filter out, an orangutan appeared with its baby. The orangutan found a place for a bit of rest, while the baby found some shade, and a pole to practice his standing up. The baby pulled on the pole to pull himself up but, every time, without fail, he fell back down. However, as we were watching all the monkey business in front of us, we barely realised that it was feeding time. We made it back in time, however we had lost our front row seats. It didn't make much of a difference, and we were still able to watch in wonder as a small family of orangutans shared around the food. This time, there were no monkeys, and the orangutans were able to peacefully enjoy their lunchtime. After watching them play for a bit, the orangutans left and so, we did as well.

On our way back from the centre, we passed a stand, which was advertising orangutan adoptions. And with Millens encouragement, mum decided to adopt one. We looked through the adoption options, eventually settling on Agop, a young, curious orangutan. The adoption came with photos of Agop, regular news updates and best of all, a soft toy.

Finally, we headed back to our accommodation. We immediately headed to cool off in the pool, and put our feet up in the surrounding deck chairs. It was soon time for dinner. We went to get changed before having a delicious, if not overpriced, meal before slumbering off to bed.Læs mere