We are sad to leave Danum Valley
this morning, but in order to go around the world and arrive home in time for
Christmas we must continue on the journey!
Phileas Fogg didn’t let himself become distracted by such things in
“Around the World in 80 days” – my current Kindle read!
After a surprisingly uneventful
(given our recent history) 5 hour drive we arrive at the Sepliok Nature Resort
just on the outskirts on Sandakan, where we are staying tonight. The resort is within touching distance of the
Sepliok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre – another of my must visit locations!
After checking in we head out
immediately to the centre so as not to miss the 3pm feeding time. The centre is run by a charity which rescues
orang-utans in distress – some kept illegally as pets, others affected by the
massive deforestation of the rainforest occurring in Borneo for the palm oil
plantations. The eventual aim is for the
rescued orang-utans to be released back into the wild after a 6 to 8 year
rehabilitation programme. Once the
orang-utans become less dependent upon their human carers at the Centre (from
about 4 years) they are released into a reserve surrounding the Centre which
has different sections dependent upon what stage the orang-utans are in their
rehabilitation. At the Centre the public is able to watch feeding of the
orang-utans at “Feeding Station 1” where those orang-utans which have just been
released remain fairly dependent on humans for their food – with each stage in
the reserve the human contact is reduced until they are ready for final release.
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| Mum and baby having dinner |
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| How does this work again ? |
After seeing them in the wild a
couple of days ago watching the feeding station feels a little like being at a
zoo and watching them – but I know that even though the programme at the Centre
is a long one and we only get to see a little of the work that they do, it will
be incredibly worth it if some of the orang-utans we see at the Centre get to
be released at somewhere like Danum Valley.
Mrs M
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