In Search of Orangutans

One of my bucket wishlist trips was to see Orangutans in Borneo, and this year I have ticked this one off. We flew via Kuala Lumpur for an overnight airport hotel stop and onward to Sandakan. Our guide took us to our accommodation just outside the Sepilok Orangutan Reserve. As we arrived in the early afternoon we had time to walk to the Reserve in the hope of seeing some Orangutans feeding. Food is put out for the apes around 10am and 3pm daily and as it is an open forest area, the apes are free to come and go. When we visited in September we discovered it was the fruiting season, so many of the animals feast on fruit in the rainforest so have no need to come to the Reserve. The best time to visit is Apr-July when the weather is dry and there is no fruit to be had. We only saw 1 large male that afternoon, which was a bit disappointing, but had booked to visit early the next morning. Just opposite the Orangutan Reserve is the Sun Bear Conservancy Centre, which has only been open a couple of years. We went there first and saw plenty of cute little sun bears, with their yellow noses and black bodies (who remembers the Sugar Puff adverts?!) Then we walked across to the Reserve, put our belongs in a locker and headed off to the viewing platform. This time we were much more fortunate. Plenty of apes and monkeys swung down and entertained us all, whilst we clicked away on our cameras. Other monkey species joined them. After a while we moved along to the Nursery, where behind glass we could view the younger members, who were outside, swinging on ropes and playing roly poly, very enjoyable for us to watch.

Leaving Sepilok, we were dropped off at a jetty on the Kinabatangan River, and were met by a guide with some other travellers joining us to start a 2hr boat trip on the wide muddy river to our home for the next couple of nights. On the way we paused to see a fresh water crocodile and kept a look out for various monkeys and birds along the river. Eventually arriving at our riverside lodge we had time to check in meet up for the first of a number of river excursions. On the night excursion we discovered different types monkeys and birds using a strong spotlight. I was very impressed with our guide, as I couldn’t spot a thing until he pointed it out! The following morning we were up at dawn to see the animal life waking. We saw rare probiscus monkey troops, macaques, hornbills, eagles, giant monitor lizards and kingfishers. Later in the day we spent time sailing down some of the narrower tributaries and found different species. To enable the monkeys to cross the river, there was a high wire high across the river, where we witnessed a superiority act between a coup of macaques! Neither fell in!

Leaving the River Lodge we headed back down to river to the airport and flew to Kota Kinabalu. We were met by our guide who took us to the jetty for Gaya Island Resort, our home for 3 more nights. Gaya Island is a beautiful Eco island just off the mainland, taking about 15 mins to get there. We had a beautiful villa overlooking the sea, surrounded by lush vegetation and walkways. There are number walks, and things to do. The food and service is first class too. The water is crystal clear so ideal for diving too.

Then it was time to move on and spend our last full day in Singapore. We arrived in Singapore with enough time to head to the Marina Bay area, to see the free light show at the Gardens by the Bay, worth seeing as the lights are very pretty and colourful. There is also a free laser show by the Marina Bay Sands hotel each night. Having visited Singapore before (see previous blog) we decided to head back to the Marina Bay area the following morning and explore this region in greater detail. The Gardens by the Bay have 2 Domes, in which there are some fantastic floral displays from around the world. If time is short, then you will see more here than in the Botanical Gardens. We enjoyed everything there and then walked through to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, and took the Sky Park to the top ( ticket entry - if you have travelled on Singapore Airlines you get a discount, and they also have a Senior Discount!) The view from the top of the hotel is fantastic. Non hotel guests are restricted where they go, but the view is not affected by this. You get a full perspective of the city from there. We then wandered around the lake in front of the hotel to the Merlion, a symbol of Singapore, and then along to the river to the statue of Sir Stamford Raffles. From there we walked to Raffles hotel before getting a taxi back to Orchard Rd and to collect our suitcases for our journey home. We didn’t visit Clarkes Quay or Chinatown this time, as we’d seen these on a previous visit. Singapore is a great place to stop for a short visit. They have a great zoo, a night safari, fabulous shopping, street food, markets and plenty of place to eat. Such a clean city too. We love it.