I arrived at Sepilok Rehabiltation centre on Wednesday. As we drove to the centre from the airport, we could tell we were finally in the jungle. You could notice straight away the palm oil trees and the amount of them. The jungle is extremely hot and humid, more than the cities in Malaysia. We are staying within the centre at a resthouse, specifically for the volunteers. It is a large wooden house which is basic accomodation but quite cosy. I am sharing with 2 other girls and we have an ensuite bathroom (all of jungle standard.) There are ants EVERYWHERE, in my bed, all over the kitchen, everywhere..but I guess that is jungle living for you (they say, 'a nature lovers paradise.') The evenings in the jungle are pretty quiet but we have a communal area with a tv and dvd player and some games so I am sure we will be able to keep ourselves occupied for 2 months.

When we first arrived at Sepilok, we went straight to the feeding platform where we got our first look at the orangutans. It was incredible. One mother was carrying her baby which was so lovely. And the babies fighting over the food, as well as them fighting with macaques. I cant believe I am going to be holding them soon.

Today (Thursday), we were taken on a tour of the nearest town from te jungle (40 mins away). This is called Sandakan. We went to the Sandakan war memorial, this is where the prisoners of war were kept and the death marches started.
We then went to a buddhist temple up in the hills, this was beautiful. We saw a lady praying and as part of her prayer she had to feed the birds rice and she kept doing this - it was quite amazing just to sit and watch her.
The day continued with visiting a water village where we got to have a look around a families house - once the children reach 18, the council let them build another plot on the water, so these houses can get huge.
The day finished with a visit to an English Tea House which was in a beautiful setting, you could even play croquet. We had some tea and scones and it felt just like home.

We start out orientations tomorrow on the work we are going to be doing and hopefully will get some hands on with the orangutans. I start work properly on Monday but quite scared about all the leeches in the jungle - leech socks on the ready.

Love you all xxx