May 22, 2004

When we were planning our trip, before we left home, the girls had talked about wanting to see orangutans in the wild, as we'd talked about the fact that many people believe they will be extinct in the wild within the next 20 years. We had initially thought about going to see them at Bukit Lawang reserve, in northern Sumatra, but that turned out to be impossible because a flash flood had destroyed the facilities, and there is intensified fighting in the north of the island, as part of the Aceh civil war. (Because Indonesia is still on the list of countries that the Foreign Office advise against visiting, it also means that our travel insurance would be invalid while we were there). It all added up to making the easy trip across the Straits of Melacca from Penang impossible. Our only option was to fly across to Borneo, to the Sabah province of Malaysia, to see the orang-utan at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre.

Situated on the edge of a 4,000 hectare reserve, the centre houses facilities to take orphaned or injured orang-utan, and release them back into the rainforest. The visit started with a sad film on the reasons the orang-utan are under threat, and the rapid deforestation of their habitat, and then we went for a walk through the rainforest to see one of their rare Sumatran rhinos, wallowing in a mud hole. It was quite a hike, just a muddy trail to follow through 2 kilometres of rainforest, but we managed to avoid being attacked by the leaches, biting bugs and monkeys that live in the reserve.

Later, we walked on the wooden walkway to the orang-utan feeding area, where those that are in the final stages of their rehabilitation are fed. They live and sleep in the rainforest, and just return to the feeding platforms to get their food from the rangers. The girls loved to be able to get so close to them, and to see them fooling around with each other. They especially loved it when a mother came swinging down from the forest, with a baby orang-utan clutching to her chest. In all we saw six of them for about half an hour.

This little trip to Borneo will probably be one of the most expensive parts of our trip - the flights to get here alone cost us £120 each, but it is impossible to put a cost on something which we may never be able to see again in our lives. The girls will have the chance to see orangutans again in a zoo, but hopefully the girls will remember this part of the trip in 10 years time.