Sepilok- Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre

Sepilok is a protected area of rainforest north of Kota Kinabalu in the Sabbah part of Borneo. A UK charity together with the Malaysian Government have started an Orang Rehabilitation Centre in this protected part of the rainforest. It is designed to help orphaned baby Orangs learn the skills they need to be able to survive in the forest. Skills they would ususally learn from their mothers but haven't had the chance to.

Orang Utans can only be found in Borneo and Sumatra, and they are nearing extinction due to the fact that thier rainforest habitats are being destroyed by excessive logging or that they are being replaced by palm oil trees where they can't live. If an Orang Utan mother can not take care of her baby she will abandon it so that she still has a chance of survival, or if twins are born one of the twins will be abandoned. Many villagers do not understand that Orangs are an endangered species and having a baby one as a pet is very appealing. The Sepilok Orang Utan Reserve helps educate villagers as well as rehabilitate the Orang Utans in order to try and save them from extinction.

Part of the rehabilitation process is open to the public to create awareness about the situation of the Orangs and this is what we got to witness. Every day at ten and three the reserve carers lay out food for the Orangs on special feeding platforms so that the ones who have recently been reintroduced into the rainforest can come back to the centre for food incase they can't find any themselves. It was amazing to see the Orang Utans so close and was one of the best experiences of the whole trip.