Borneo has already treated us to some of the most incredible wildlife, but we had one final treat before leaving this beautiful part of the world – Orangutans!
Orangutans are endemic to the island of Borneo and are also on the endangered list. Fortunately there is an Orangutan Sanctuary, started in 1964, for orphaned, injured or displaced orangutans and its aim is to eventually return all the animals back into the wild. This process can take many years as the young ones would normally stay with their mother for 7-10 years to learn how to forage for food, make nests and climb trees. The Sanctuary is open to the jungle and the apes can come and go as they please but are provided with food at set times during the day.
Our first stop was the outdoor nursery where young orangutans are provided with “entertainment” in the form of ropes and poles (and food) but human contact is minimised so we had to stay behind glass. Watching the young play and eat in the open jungle while we were stuck in a room made me wonder: who exactly is the “monkey” here! It was awesome to watch them swing from the ropes, almost cartwheeling carefree down the line, entertaining only themselves.
This little baby was clinging for dear life!
Just before 10am we made our way to the outdoor feeding platform. But as feeding time approached it started to rain. So while we stood in the open in the rain an orangutan approached with an ingenious solution. It was raining, so he carried his own umbrella! Over his head, as he swung for tree to rope to tree, he held a leafy branch to cover his head. And then when it stopped raining he simply ate the leaves. Genius!
We loved watching the orangutans eat, play and swing from the ropes and spent over two hours taking way too many pictures of apes! Because it is an open forest, we only saw about five apes during feeding time, but this is also a good sign as it means the others are not dependent on feeding times to survive.
When it was time to leave, we reluctantly made our way back to the entrance. But one orangutan, Ban-Ban, was waiting to say goodbye. They are free to roam the sanctuary and so he decided it would be a good idea to hang from the roof above the entrance. Orangutans have a penchant for giving those sitting underneath a golden shower so we had to be careful not to get too close. But it was amazing to stare into their eyes. They watch your every move (how you open doors, how you unscrew a water bottle etc.) and they learn really fast. Ban-Ban was particularly naughty this time trying to steal people’s shoes. The funniest thing was to watch other people’s faces as they came around the corner to discover an orangutan hanging not even a metre away.
We took hundreds of photos. Here are a few of our favourites.
