Your best bet for spotting an Orangutan in Borneo is a visit to the Sepilok Rehab Centre run by the Sabah Wildlife Department. At any given time there are a number of Orangutans being cared for at this facility near Sandakan.
Seeing an Orangutan in the wild is a special, but elusive experience for many people that visit Borneo. But at Sepilok, they do a great job of keeping these amazing animals healthy and happy in a natural environment. They’ve been doing it since 1964 with the aim of releasing orphaned and injured Orangutans back into the wild Kabili-Sepilok Forest.
Part of their rehab process before being released on their own is an Outdoor Nursery, where workers feed the Orangutans and visitors can watch the Orangutans eat from a special viewing area. The feeding times are 10am and 3pm each day and those are the only times that you’ll be virtually guaranteed to see some Orangutans up close. Outside of feeding time they’re off in the forest and may be out of sight.
Be sure to take advantage of visiting during both feedings, as different Orangutans show up at different times. Plus, your day pass allows you to get in free the second time! As is common at places popular with tourists, if you want to take any photos or videos while visiting the Centre, you’ll have to pay an extra (nominal) fee.
It is a great place to explore, with many hiking trails and pathways winding through the forest, which is also home to monkeys, butterflies, birds and other creatures. You can also visit the nearby Rainforest Discovery Centre and go on a night hike looking for flying squirrels and other interesting nocturnal animals.
There is no ‘zoo’ feel to the place either, which is refreshing. The natural environment and obvious ability for the Orangutans to come and go as they please makes it a rewarding wildlife experience in Borneo.
The orangutan sanctuary in Sepilok is amazing. We found the afternoon feeding to be better, perhaps because fewer people were willing to brave the heat and so the viewing platform was less crowded. The orangutans didn’t mind the high heat and humidity though, as more came out to eat in the afternoon than in the morning, which also made for a more exciting visit! And you’re right, the wildlife you can see even as you’re walking along the boardwalk is fantastic. Lizards, macaques, red leaf monkeys, spiders, birds. Just sitting quietly and closing your eyes is spectacular. You can hear an entire ecosystem living and breathing and you feel so privileged to have been able to stop in and listen.
Michela Pasquali recently posted..Ninjas, aliens, and robot monsters – woohoo!
Hey Michela,
I agree it is totally worthwhile to go to both feedings, sounds like you saw a lot of animals there as well, such a great place in Borneo.