The title of this blog makes it sound as though there was an almighty flood… That’s not what happened but I have seen lots of animals and been in a boat…
Sepilok and River Kinabatangan
After a long wait for a bus at Ranau, I boarded the bus to Sepilok and the journey went super quickly as they were showing San Andreas, a recent film about an earthquake in San Francisco. Quite entertaining. I checked into a dorm (turned out to be the same as Anne from the other day), had a quick snack and then headed to the Rainforest Discovery Centre.
The RDC had livening walking trails around a lake and a giant canopy walkway. After failing to visit two canopy trails, I was determined to make it to this one. And I succeeded! It was amazing watching the birds from so high and it was so peaceful with very few tourists. I managed to spot and identify a yellow and black broadbill but I’ve no idea about the others.
More excitingly though, after chatting to a guide for a while, she informed me that there were orangutans in the trees so she took me to find them. My first sighting of these incredible orange beasts was of an adolescent free in the trees.
I spent over two hours in the canopy and up the towers. I was told that after 6pm, if you’re patient, you may see flying squirrels – this I had to see! And sure enough, after half an hour or so of practiced patience, almost from nowhere, a squirrel jumped from a tree and glided magically to another tree.
That evening, I made friends with the two other girls in our dorm, Colombian Barbara and fellow Brit, Laura. We had a nice evening with some games and dinner in the resort restaurant. They told me about their plans to visit River Kinabatangan the next day, which was next on my destination, so I decided to join them. There would just be time to visit the orangutan sanctuary in the morning!
The orangutan sanctuary was fantastic, although it was sad hearing about the awful conditions that have brought the orangutans here. The centre rehabilitates them, allowing them to learn to climb, play and forage in a protected setting before releasing them back into the wild when they are ready. I spent some time first in the nursery watching the young ones playing, climbing and just being darn adorable.
I then went to watch the feeding time which was equally entertaining – even if did start to rain! I then decided to try one of the walking trails as Anne had an amazing encounter with an orangutan whilst on it – one actually touched her! I didn’t have that luck but did enjoy the forest nonetheless.
And then it was time for the river cruise. We travelled a couple of hours by minibus with Anne, Barbara, Chinese/Oz Eddie and German couple Frank and Barbara and were super impressed with the resort on the beautiful river.
Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: TheMissMcG's Blog - The animals came in two by two
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