We decided to get on the 8am bus to sepilok, it was going to take roughly 6 hours. We got to the bus station for 715am and got a ticket. We had had breakfast at the hostel so just got straight onto the bus. The driver seemed happy to drop us at sepilok junction rather at the final stop in sandakan.
Initially the scenery coming out of the city of Kota Kinabalu was beautiful, with the silhouette of mount Kinabalu, a little bit of rainforest, still a fair amount of roadside trash. As we ascended up into the hill range the bus seemed to be struggling with the incline and after about one hour the driver pulled up and all the men got off, and were all staring at the engine. The driver was revving it before it seemed to cut off. Eventually we were all told to get off, as the 9am bus was behind us. As soon as we all got off the driver got ours working again so we all piled back on…. it lasted the full journey but didn’t sound as though it was going to!
Once we were through the hills the rainforest quickly disappeared and was replaced by plantation after plantation of palm trees, I was aware of this before we came out, but I don’t think you can begin to understand the extent of the problem until you see it first hand. The forest has literally been bulldozed to make way for human provisions. Criminal. Unsustainable. Heartbreaking. The more I saw it the more it upset me, no one else seemed aware, or bothered on the bus. There is literally nothing left out here and it’s all because there are too many humans to feed and fulfill their greed. This trip certainly isn’t instilling our faith in the human race! I took some photos and videos because I’m going to do my best to raise some awareness about this… the problem comes with demonstrating the extent of the issue. It’s definitely too late for the orangutan, and other species. Orangutan are humans closest relatives with 96% the same genes yet were killing them. 300million trees have been cut down for palm oil plantation in 20years, cutting their habitat by 55%. They expect the population of orangutans to reduce again by 50% in the next 20years.Will our next generation forgive us for being so cruel and wiping out wildlife, preventing them experiencing it?!
Once we arrived, there were no taxis as the internet had promised there would be. So we made the 2.4km walk with our bags down the road. Another sweat fest. We made it to the jungle resort, the orangutan sanctuary is literally next door.
We got checked in and went to the cafe for some lunch, the resort is set beautiful, wooden raised walkway, a small lake with fish, trees. Really in the wildlife.
We booked an evening jungle walk just at the rainforest discovery up the road, it’s between 6-8pm, up in the canopy walk and on the ground too. We got to see the flying red squirrel and it really does jump from a height and fly! On the ground it was really dark, it was a case of spotting eyes in the lights. We saw green venomous vipers, huntsman spiders, frogs, caterpillars, fire ants, tarsiers, some monkeys in the canopies. David started complaining he had something on him, and something was biting him. He had a leech on his waistline, about a centimetre in length, latched on. The guide wasn’t fussed, he just said to pull it off. David was having none of it so the guide pulled it off.
We had a light meal in the cafe before heading back to the room for bed, the wildlife definitely makes an appearance at night here… we headed back to our building, the resort is quite big, and as soon as I looked into the corridor I saw something that massively resembled a orangutan. I didn’t believe my eyes, I have been looking for one the entire day and the first one I though I had seen was inside the hotel. David said it was definitely an orangutan but I was convinced it was someone pulling a prank on me because I was so desperate to see them. David was highly amused when I suggested it was merely someone dressed up….. until we tried to approach it and it clocked us, it was a real orangutan, and it was trying to get into rooms and reach under doors!!!!
Although quite funny it was quite a dangerous situation to be in, being times stronger than humans if this thing felt threatened it would flatten us. After attempting to get a quick, but poor photo, David stayed outside the block looking down the corridor in case anyone tried to go in and I went back to the cafe to get staff. On the way back to the cafe I saw a huge scorpion casually walking down the path.
2 men came and guided the orangutan out using a broom handle (!!!) as protection. They followed it outside for a little while to make sure it didn’t come back. David said as I went to get someone the ape was rolling down the hallway and generally just messing about 😂😂😂, unfortunately I had taken the phone so he couldn’t get anymore photos. Hopefully he reappears tomorrow night!
I was desperate for it to come back so we could see it again. Maybe an hour later I heard a noise in the hallway, I was convinced it was back, David gingerly looked out the peephole and couldn’t see anything, so slowly opened the door, before shutting it really quickly, panic across his face. I was on top of the world, he was back, but David quickly corrected me, instead he had seen a huge flying insect, with loads of legs, what he described as chunky, black, and bigger than his shoe on the wall opposite our room. He locked the door and went to barricade it with his rucksack saying he won’t sleep in this place, by this point I was howling. A bag at the door isn’t going to stop an orangutan or an unknown flying insect!
Let’s see what tomorrow brings- if we make it that far!
South East Asia 2019 