My time by Kinabatangan River ended with a final river cruise this morning. Beginning with a massive 4 meter crocodile and some proboscis monkeys still lazing in a tree we also saw a darter and a beeeater (types of bird) before rushing off to catch a glimpse of an orang-utan.

After breakfast I packed up, checked out and caught the boat across the river to the waiting coach to Sepilok. Sleeping all the way I was hit by very hot weather as I got off outside the Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC) and walked up the road to Sepilok B&B.

Not able to check in until 2 I went off to explore the RDC and found they were having an open day. I decided to make the most of it and hung around for the rest of the morning. I started looking around the Plant Discovery Garden where they had some really beautiful orchids before heading to the suspension bridge over the lake. Having the highest canopy walkway in Sabah, I climbed up to the top of one of the canopy towers and made my way along between the trees and birds. The highlight being the several species of woodpeckers that I saw along the way.

I also ran into a group of Malaysian Girl Guides, on a day trip from Sandakan doing a photography badge. After they asked for a photo with me we got chatting and they told me all about their badges and uniform. As a parting gift they gave me one of their whistles and I gave them my email address should they want to get in touch with Guides in England. It was great to meet a group of girls so proud of Guiding.

Wanting to see the orang-utan feeding at 3 I grabbed some lunch at the RDC before heading back to the B&B for a cool drink where I met a girl from Denmark who was also going to the feeding session. Sharing a taxi we arrived early to get a good spot near the front. With only our cameras-to stop the monkeys pinching any personal belonging-we had out first sighting before we even made it into the sanctuary. A young female was sitting in a tree just by the entrance.

Once inside we followed the boardwalk to the feeding area where several of the apes were already waiting for feeding. The sanctuary works to rescue and rehabilitate orang-utans and then release them slowly into the wild. The feeding stations offer those that need it food and human support for as long as they need. Many released orang-utans return to the stations for many years whilst some never come back.

In the end we saw six come and enjoy the free fruit, including a mother with a baby holding on tightly, evidence that the program works!

On the way out we watched a video on the orang-utans and the sanctuary before taking a slow walk back to Sepilok B&B.

I had a nice relaxing evening at the hostel and once again had a dorm room to myself!