6 hours on a bus from KK we arrived in Sepilok. It's not really a town/village more like a dead end of the road before you hit the rainforest. There are only 3 places to stay, no shops and only 3 things to do. Trek in the rainforest, visit the sun bear sanctuary, and the main attraction, visit the orangutan rehabilitation centre.
We arrived in sepilok a little after 5.30pm on Thursday and checked into the lodge we are staying at. It's set in some beautiful grounds and surrounded on 3 sides by think jungle full with the w
Sound of birds and bugs. A very peaceful place to relax. On Friday morning we walked down the road to go and see the orangutans. They have 2 "feedings" during the day where fruit is laid out on a platform in the forest and then you just wait to see what turns up. Some days none arrive (which is what the centre hopes for as it means all the orangutans have been successfully rehabilitated), and some days they turn up in droves!
In the morning 5 different young ones were hanging around waiting to be fed and we throughout enjoyed watching them playing and swinging between the trees with their hands/feet full of fruit. We then did a small trek and headed back to relax at the lodge before coming back in the afternoon for the second feeding.
This time, none turned up immediately then after 5/10 minutes 2 young ones appeared out of the forest. After a few minutes however something spoked them and they disappeared immediately into the trees. A large female then appeared carrying her baby under her arm and proceeded to feed herself and the baby for around 20 minutes. The young ones were hanging around in the distance but didn't dare disturb her. The mother and baby left and we were about to all leave when the trees started shaking and out of nowhere a very very large male descended onto the platform and even the ranger was getting excited. He told us this wasn't an orangutan they had raised at the centre so therefore was a completely wild one who was just coming in to check out what was going on and grab a free lunch. We watched the male for another 10 minutes before we had to leave but it was an incredible experience.
Today we visited the rainforest discovery centre and enjoyed strolling along their canopy walkways and trails. We saw giant forest squirrels and a few monkeys here and there. The temperature was really getting up and our legs were shot so just after 1.30 we called it a day and headed back to the lodge. Tonight we may do a night walk depending on the number of people signed up for it and then tomorrow we begin our 3 day, 2 night river cruise along the kinabatan river!