Wow. What a truly amazing place! Marvellous memories of wildlife/scenery to treasure. As in Mulu, the photos tell a better story than I can here of what we’ve seen whilst staying miles from anywhere on the edge of the rainforest by the Sepilok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre and the small Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre.
Hard to describe in words the incredible moving experience of seeing these glorious animals in their natural habit. A unique insight and a privilege worth every moment of the discomfort of the humid 40degree heat/mosquitoes/etc!
As the orang-utan pics show, we’ve had superb ‘shows’ from numerous ‘show off’ members of their ‘community’, all ages, plus a mother and baby, the youngsters, the elder statesman; during the two days we’ve been here we’ve watched them for hours, staring in awe at their antics.
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| Peek a boo |
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| I'm the King of the Swingers |
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| Just hanging... |
A bizarre, absolutely riveting sight in the late afternoon quiet; the pregnant orang-utan decided to give one of the youngsters a lesson in sex practices!! The staff/volunteers were as captivated as we were-this being known but rarely seen!! Whilst the animals, ‘having fun’ was a common, if always hilarious, sight this unusual twist was certainly a moment to treasure!
The Forest Edge Resort where we’re based is just that-forest edge! So our chalet has intermittent water pressure, iffy power and a very persistent collection of insects, bugs, moths plus varieties of bug which it is thankfully too dark after sunset here to identify (bar the debris dropping down, which I don’t look at too closely!).
But we can sit on our peaceful high veranda and stare out into miles of rainforest, spotting colourful birds/butterflies, fireflies sparkling at night, listening to the sounds of the jungle. The nearest town is a 30/40 minute drive away (Sandakan); here, apart from the centres, there is only a collection of forest research units and very limited accommodation. Expecting the unexpected in this wild space is my modus operandi now, I had the privilege of a rare sighting of the usually very shy Giant Squirrel simply by being in the right place at the right time!
The Borneo Sun Bears, the smallest species of bear, only found in this area, put on an incredible show for us one morning, performing tricks, playing with their feet, rolling around on their backs-again words fail me but the photos should do them justice…
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