Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Orangutangs and Sun Bears in Sandakan


Our first glimpse at some wild life today.

It started by catching the local bus to Sepilok, about 45 minutes away. The fare was 10MR.

This was a local bus so made various pickups and drop offs along the way, it was interesting that the fare most locals paid was no more than 1MR.

When we reached Sepilok we went straight to the Orangutang sanctuary.

I was very surprised that this was not contrived.

There is a food platform where some fruit and vegetables are placed twice each day, the Orangutang come and eat it if they desire otherwise they get there own food in the forest.

We were lucky enough to see one juvenile and three mother's with baby.

We were patient and did not leave when most of the other tourists left.

There was also a mischievous monkey and a black squirrel enjoying the food.

Out of the forest came a large male. He ate the rest of the bananas before swinging off on the ropes.

From here we went to the sun bear conservation area. This has only been open for 1 year.

It currently have 35 rescued sun bears, of which we were lucky enough to see about 10.

Once again, these live in trees or roam the forest floor, there is no guarantee you will see them.

We watched them for about 30 minutes, they seemed really peaceful and calm.

The also had a great documentary on how sun bears are kept as pets in cages, and how this project is rescuing them and reintroducing them in the forest.

Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Orangutangs and Sun Bears in Sandakan
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