If you've been following me from the start, you know that this Borneo Trip began from Kota Kinabalu. If you ask me, why Kota Kinabalu, it was actually because I wanted to go to Sandakan. But since there's no direct flight from Jakarta to Sandakan, I choose to fly to Kota Kinabalu first. If you ask me, why Sandakan, it's because I wanted to get into close encounter with orangutans which I learned through TV programs were in Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre. I checked the map and found out that Sepilok is in Sandakan.
When I booked for a car rent, I stated in my itinerary that I would leave Sukau at 8:00 AM. But on the way from Sandakan to Sukau yesterday, I figured out that an hour won't be enough to get from Sukau to Sepilok which is not so far from Sandakan Airport.
Fearing objection, I asked Dicky, our driver, carefully, "Would you mind to leave half an hour earlier tomorrow morning?"
To my surprise he answered, "I think it's better to leave at seven, so you would be in time for the feeding time of the orang utans which starts at nine."
"At seven?" I asked back. My mind instantly told me that that means I would have to get up early. "Oh, okay. At seven. Fine."
During dinner that previous night, a Sweden tourist told me that she and her fiancee had just been to Sepilok that morning and the traffic was terribly jam.
"Oh, I see," I replied. "No wonder our driver suggested to leave at seven."
"At seven? I don't think that's enough to be in time for the feeding time."
"You think two hours won't be enough?" I asked furiously.
The Sweden lady repeated her story about how she got trapped in the traffic jam.
"Traffic jam?" I asked. "When I came here, the traffic wasn't jam at all. It took a bit less than 2 hours from Sandakan Airport up to here."
"Oh really?" Now it was the Sweden tourist's turn to be surprised.
Whatsoever, there was no way for me to ask Dicky to leave earlier. I actually am already grateful that he is willing to leave an hour earlier than the time dealt with his boss. However, if the traffic was like what I had experienced on the way here, I am pretty sure that 2 hours would be enough. I only could pray that it would be.
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Sepilok, April 1st 2011
I was ready with all the checking out procedures by seven sharp. But Dicky was nowhere to be seen. Dina asked the lodge staffs until at last she found him. Apparently Dicky overslept in the car. He got up and walked like a half-zombi to the wash room. Okay. It was 7:10.
5 minutes later Dicky was done, but Dina went back into the room. "You left something?" I asked.
"No, no! I stepped into mud. I want to wash my sandals." Okay. It was 7:15.
It was 7:20 when our car started to roll off.
We arrived at 8:55 in front of this Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Dicky stopped the car right in front of the entrance gate. I got off the car in haste and half ran to the entrance gate. Of course I took this picture at the end of the whole visit.
I saw tourists taking off their shoes and entering a room.
"Where can we buy tickets?" I asked a staff in uniform with a picture of an orangutan.
I saw tourists taking off their shoes and entering a room.
"Where can we buy tickets?" I asked a staff in uniform with a picture of an orangutan.
"It's not open yet. But you have to keep your belongings in the locker." He pointed another room across to the room where the tourists were entering.
Thinking that I was getting late for the feeding time, I started to get impatient. "No, I want to see the orangutans."
Dina tapped my back. She had been informed from another staff that the feeding time was actually at 10:00 AM and we were invited to watch a documentary movie first. Oh... okay.
Inside the theater, before the movie started, a staff briefed us with information about orangutans and encouraged us to either donate or adopt the orangutans. The movie itself wasn't so much interesting to me for I have already watched many documentary movies about orangutans. I also have the DVD. That's why I am here now.
I looked around and realized that I and Dina were the only ones wearing short pants. The other tourists wore not just long pants but also long sleeves. O, ouw. The reason was apparent. I took my bottle of insect repellent out of my handbag. There wasn't much left as I forgot to refill it when I packed.
The whole presentation and movie took about half an hour. We proceeded with purchasing the tickets, and then collected our bags. Oh, I couldn't wait to get into close encounter with the orangutans in real life. Time now seemed to be running too slow. I looked for a shop that might sell insect repellents. Dina went to the toilet. Still it wasn't time yet.
My back began to ache a bit. Ah... I had been carrying my flash with me. I should just have left it in the car. Dina said she wanted to get something from the car. So we went to the parking lot to look for Dicky and his car. Nowhere... Ah...
We headed back inside and was about to enter the rehabilitation center. A security guard stopped us. We were to keep our bag inside the locker. No bags, no hats. Reason? To prevent them from being snatched from the orangutans. A camera is okay but must be hung around the neck at all time. I was upset by this regulation, because that meant that I would only be able to bring one lens with me. I tried to convince the security guard that my camera backpack is firm and sturdy. An orangutan can't possibly snatch it off my back. The security guard answered, "You don't know." Ah...
Fearing that it might rain on the way back and thus my camera would get wet, I stuffed in my umbrella into my pocket. Yuhuuu... Orangutan, I'm coming!
I saw many tourists gathering around a long fence. Yuhuuu... Orangutan, where are you? We waited, waited, and waited.
There, far, far... in the trees an orangutan came swinging in. Thanks to my 200mm lens, I could capture this orangutan. Even these pictures, have been cropped off much.
I needed less than one hand to count how many orangutans were in sight. They came to eat the bananas brought by the ranger who climbed up the tree with a stair.
The ranger just watched. Passionless.
One two macaques also came by to have a taste from the leftovers.
Once the few macaques were done, the show was over. Nothing else to see besides trees and people.
Ah... watching my DVD at home, I felt much, much closer to the orangutans than here. I was terribly, terribly, upset.
"Why do we have to keep our belongings in a locker when the orangutans which are only a few, are so far, far, there in trees? How can any of them snatch my backpack?" I questioned the security guard furiously.
"You don't know," answered the security guard, again. "They sometime do come close."
"How close?" I asked.
"I don't know. You can ask the staffs inside." Ah...
I did go to the staff who spoke before the documentary movie began. I told her how silly I felt coming from Indonesia, the country of orangutans as well, to Sandakan hoping to get a closer encounter with the orangutans and yet I only could see them from afar. There weren't many either.
"That's a good sign that the orangutans have actually returned to their natural habitats," she answered.
Ah... !!
Posts
Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre is just that, a rehabilitation centre. Its aim is to get orphaned and injured orangutans back in the jungle where they belong. It is not a zoo and therefore there can be no guarantee of sightings or close encounters. The orangutans are free to come and go as they please, and the reason they are always fed bananas is so that they get bored and are therefore encouraged to venture deeper into the forest in search of tastier fruits.
ReplyDeleteOrangutans often come onto the tourist boardwalk and this is the reason that you can't have any belongings with you, they are very inquisitive and playful. If they get their hands on something that belongs to you you will be lucky to get it back at all let alone in one piece. Furthermore, what if the orangutan started to choke on something it had got from a tourist?
Although it is frustrating as a tourist to only see a few orangutans, this is a good sign. There are over 100 orangutans at Sepilok and they have chosen to go and live in the jungle rather than depending on people. That is the aim of the centre. Perhaps if you had been able to schedule more visits to Sepilok into your visit you would have had better experiences and feel more satisfied.
To Mr./Mrs./Ms. Anonymous whoever you are:
ReplyDeleteThanks for leaving a comment.
First, however, please note that I'm living in Indonesia. I actually don't need to cross the country to meet orangutans. So if I had done so, I must have expected more.
I know it's not a zoo. Nobody says so. Do you know Panda Breeding Centre in Chengdu, China? It's not a zoo. But we could get real close to the pandas. We could even hug them. I thought Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre was something like that.
Moreover, as far as I understand, it's a tourist attraction. I thought, the attraction was the orangutan itself and not the process of adoption. Well, you can say that I had a wrong thought and a wrong expectation. Still, ALL the tourist information I've learned NEVER stated that the possibility of meeting the orangutan was just from a far, far, place.
To your comment:
"if you had been able to schedule more visits to Sepilok into your visit you would have had better experiences and feel more satisfied."
are you suggesting me to GAMBLE with luck JUST to get a closer encounter chance to the orangutans?? How many times do you think I have to pay entrance tickets? How many nights do you think I have to spend? My folks would call me stupid for I live only 2 hours away from Taman Safari Indonesia where I can get a real close encounter with orangutans.
About leaving my belongings in the locker, I think you don't get me at all. The time I was told to leave my belongings because the orangutans might snatch it away, THE MORE I EXPECTED to get real close with the orangutans. So, when I didn't, I was MORE DISAPPOINTED.
I'm not done with the stories about my recent visit to Malaysia. You can stay tuned if you wish. Then you'll find my stories about my visit to the proboscis sanctuary in Labuk. IT'S NOT A ZOO, either. They ALSO LIVE IN THE WILD. They also must be attracted to come with cucumbers and pancakes during feeding time. However, the encounters tourists can get with the proboscis was very, very, very close. It's just incomparable to the encounter with orangutans in Sepilok.
And now, I start to doubt: Are there actually many orangutans in Sepilok?
Again, orangutans are WILD animals, not made for people to cuddle for their own enjoyment, a rehabilitation centre is very different from a petting zoo. And I think that that 'breeding centre' sounds like it is exploiting its Pandas by letting people to pay to touch them.
ReplyDeleteAs a tourist attraction Sepilok is just inviting people to come and see the orangutans that show up at the feeding, hands on contact is strictly discouraged as it is dangerous for both orangutan and person, they can catch each others illnesses and orangutans are VERY strong and will bite.
I understand your point about Labuk Bay, the proboscis are very close, but the difference is that they have never had any actual contact with humans, and are therefore not interested in them. They show up purely for the free meal - which is just as well seeing as the people that own the centre have left them with so little rainforest after cutting it down for palm oil that they would have starved to death by now anyway!
Your first blog post suggested that you had gone to Sandakan especially to see the orangutans, which is why I suggested that perhaps you should have gone back later or the next day - that way you are increasing your chances of seeing the orangutans.
The overall point is that the orangutans have been set free, there is no controlling whether they come to the feeding or not.
I think you were just unlucky that day, sometimes there will be more orangutans, and sometimes they will come closer. You can't tell.
It is wonderful that you love orangutans so much, but sometimes I think animal lovers get confused about what is truly best for the animal itself.
Sorry if my comments made you angry, but it is a good thing that the orangutans at Sepilok have such freedom.
Hello, Master/Madame Anonymous or whoever you are.
ReplyDeleteAgain,
Thank you for leaving a comment.
Again,
I was disappointed when I came to Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre, because I didn't get what I had expected for.
Again,
I already said that I had the wrong expectation.
Again,
I said that I had NEVER READ in the tourist information I got anything like what you are telling me now.
So as the orangutans have their freedom, so do I have my freedom to write about my disappointment in my own blog; and what I write is true.
If you think it was only me being unlucky that day, then there's nothing to worry about, isn't it? As long as everybody who comes to Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre gets lucky.
Jesus H. Christ. Sir, you are an absolute prick. Wild animals are not meant to be cuddled by over zealous humans, if you want such a 'close encounter' go to a zoo you fucking numpty
ReplyDeleteWow...! "Over zealous"! Sounds like someone jealous... Hahaha...
ReplyDelete