Sepilok Kabili Reserve

The team on the canopy walkway

Orangutan Yoda

Giant Red Flying Squirrel

A strange place to contemplate the meaning of life

Two of our Malaysian team who joined us today smelling wild ginger

Day 5 Diary by Max Alexander Sinclair

After departing the longhouse we set off on a three hour coach journey through Sabah to Sepilok. We took a short stop at a local surprisingly unstable bridge to view the recently cleared land ready for more Oil Palm to be planted. We then passed through miles and miles of oil palm on the way to lunch. We tasted the feted Durian fruit which supposedly has a delicious taste despite its disgusting smell. We then went to our accommodation at the Sepilok B&B to drop our luggage before we proceeded to the Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. The Centre was set up in 1964 to allow Orang Utans that had been kept in captivity to rehabilitated and released into the wild again but now as land is cleared for oil palm and Orang Utans are left with less of their habitat there are other reasons why they need to be rehabilitated. It is set up so that the apes are free to go basically anywhere in the park but it is advised that people refrain  from touching or getting too close to them because they can carry diseases and humans can pass on diseases to them. They are also well versed in pinching peoples belongings such as bags and cameras. We saw them being fed at the feeding point by two wardens . At first just two arrived but after about half an hour they had been joined by 4 others. One of these was not recognised by the wardens and they thought that an Orang Utan had come into the reserve possibly. One of the apes named ‘Gamang’ joined us on the watching platform and we had to watch not attracting too much attention. It was fantastic to see this ape at such close quarters. As we left one British couple were found on the pathway by our group cuddling one of the apes. Quick report back to PABs and Lee by our young spotters however soon had Lee on the scene and the Orang Utan was taken off them and put back into the trees. We were amazed at the way some people fail to take notice of instructions and lack common sense.

Quote of the day by one of our team when asked by one of our group who the person was who had picked up the Orang Utan was:  ‘Some silly person around here’- only to find he was standing right next to them. Point well made by Tom Mitchell who no doubt follows his father’s interest in primates.

After this we moved on to the Sepilok Rainforest Discovery Centre where we saw many tropical plants in the gardens before going up the Canopy Walkway. We saw five Hornbills and other birds and insects but no doubt the star attraction of this evening was observing the Giant Red Flying Squirrels. They flew between the trees using the wing like flaps of skin between their arms and legs. After a long display which we were lucky to see in the fading daylight we returned for a BBQ supper at our B&B.