Sepilok is just right

We had wound our way down the mountain, and boarded a plane to fly east. We looked out and Kinabalu was sticking her peak out through the clouds, letting us know we were still in her watch. On landing, we grabbed a ride to Sepilok.

The landscape here is flat, mostly agricultural. We tried to check in to the resort, but they wouldn't let us. We had turned up at the wrong resort. While waiting for a ride to the correct one, we leaned over the railing to look at the croc I had spotted at the lake surface. It turned out to be a monitor lizard. While looking at that I noticed a string below my beard, which turned out to be a small snake. Despite being at the wrong place, this seemed like the right start.

We checked in, and for some reason, they put us in a massive chalet. The walls and the floor were timber, with three connected chambers. "Wow, even the bathroom is bigger than my room at home!", said Kiran. "Shall we take a bath?" I was puzzled by the abrupt shift in attitude, until I noticed one of the chambers had a freestanding bathtub in it.

Instead we headed out to the rainforest discovery centre, which promised canopy walkways through tall dipterocarp forest. We walked down a wobbly suspension bridge, and soon as we got to the other side "Papa look! Up there, Orangutans!". A ball of shaking leaves rolled through the highest branches as flashes of bright orange peeked through. Wild Orangutans at our first spot? How special!

Meanwhile a clan of macaques were busy jumping and cavorting through the lower branches. An oriental darter stood gracefully on a log sticking out of the water. All around were noises of a rich forest. We walked the ground trails and soon after there appeared a furiously bright trogon sitting on a nearby branch. Despite the heat and humidity, this was turning out to be the right forest for us!

We walked the canopy walkways. I was delighted at the chance to casually stroll past the high canopy of trees that are 20-30 metres tall! Now we were craning our necks to look down, not up at the trees. We saw a flying squirrel pop it's head out of a hollow, but it decided not to fly.

We came back for a night walk through the forest. A ranger gathers half a dozen of us and with terse and no-need-to-respond instructions, he switches on a flashlight and heads off into the forest. We try and keep up with him. We saw a hooded pit viper, tarsier and a slow loris. As a primate that evolved about 65 million years ago, I was left wondering the types of challenges this primate faced to evolve to be the only venomous primate. Just as we finished the night walk, a pair of eyes looks up at us. It's a Malayan Civet! We went to bed finally at 11 pm.

Kiran had tried to negotiate that we sleep an extra 30 minutes and wake up at 6:30. I let him sleep and we stayed in bed till 9 am. We deserved a break after almost a week of early starts, and the luxury chalet was the right place for it.

We went to the orangutan rehabilitation centre next door to our resort. This is a conservation centre built into the forest to help the orangutans that are orphaned or injured due to poaching, logging and other human atrocities. We went to the outdoor nursery, where the promise of fresh fruit brought out a group of resident orangutans. They were an absolute delight to watch! They swing and walk with their arms, and hold food with their feet. It's all hilarious and amazing. When one of them catches you in an eye lock, the gaze is deep and chillingly human. This is a brother, not a creature.Read more