David McDermott: Swinging with the Orangutans!

Semenggoh Wildlife Centre

Thursday 3^rd March - Arriving from Singapore around 10.30am, we hopped in a taxi to our hostel – the 40 minute journey costing just £5. Having settled in at the hostel we journeyed off in search of a bite to eat, to try the local specialty ‘Laksa’ (noodle soup) that Bindi, our host, had recommended. Beforehand, however, we realised we had left our camera in Singapore and to say the least we weren’t the happiest for the remainder of the day. Fortunately however, we do have other cameras with us. Following lunch we wandered around Kuching in order to get our bearings, and after a brief visit to the museum, which wasn’t the greatest, we came back to begin deciding what we wanted to see whilst we were in Borneo.

Just one of many

Since we had a week, we decided that we would definitely have to see the orang-utans at Semenggoh Wildlife Sanctuary, which was famous for its rescue of wild orang-utans in distress whether it be from injury, illegal capture or orphanage. Thus, on our second day we ventured to Semenggoh in the afternoon, and we were not disappointed to say the least, it really was an incredible experience. Although it is called a wildlife sanctuary it is infact a natural rainforest and the orang-utans are classed as “Semi-Wild” as they can either feed from natural berries and fruits in the trees, or come down to the feeding areas where the centre gives them various nutrients.

Mother and Baby

When we arrived there were no animals in sight, however gradually noises appeared from within the forest and the trees started swaying and they began to appear one by one, some with babies gripping on for dear life as these incredible animals showed off their natural beauty. We saw about 10 orang-utans of varying ages and a mother and baby came up really close which was cute. Following that, we ran for the bus a good 1.5km away in the heat of the day (as they only come once every 90 minutes) and whilst bright red in the face and dripping with sweat met an English couple, Dave and Sue, who we instantly got on with as they had also travelled to a number of places we were due to go to.

Mother and Baby sharing a bunch of bananas

The next morning we decided to wake up early and visit the sanctuary again as there are only two feeding times during the day – 9am until 10am and 3pm until 4pm – to see whether there were any different behaviours as well as to try and spot the big famous male, Ritchie. Unfortunately the morning viewing wasn’t as impressive as the day before and it was overcrowded – although the activity from the orang-utans we did see was interesting. During the afternoon we went to Dave and Sue’s rather swanky hotel that they invited us to so that we could relax by their pool and use the gym (first bit of exercise for a while apart from our run for the bus). In the evening we opted for our first fancy meal in Asia at a place inaptly named ‘Junk’ where I had a stunning lamb shank, lush!

Night Scene from the Sarawak River looking over Kuching

As Sunday arrived we headed to Bako National Park, again meeting up with Dave and Sue. Upon arrival we immediately realised we had run out of cash, in the middle of nowhere, at which point I thought it be appropriate to ask whether there was a cash point near – to which Dave found hilarious. As we had to take a boat to get fully into the park, D&S kindly paid for us in the form of an IOU, and we eventually arrived and set off to tackle the incredible and vast rainforest. Following the first of two hikes, we returned to the mangroves where we had started in anticipation of seeing the Proboscis Monkeys which gather amongst the mangrove trees. Since this is one of the only places in the world where these incredibly odd looking creatures are found, it was quite a privilege to see them, and their strange noses, in their natural surroundings. Following a second walk which lasted for 3 hours we set off for Kuching, along with Dave and Sue, who having had to spend the whole day trekking with us, as well as help subsidise our days misdemeanour, invited us to have dinner with them at a seafood hawker centre on top of a car park, aptly named Top Spot! They kindly paid for our dinner (“poor backpackers” but yes we did pay back our IOU) and then we all headed out to a bar to watch the United vs. Liverpool game…probably not worth mentioning really given the result.

Proboscis Monkey - Bako National Park

Dave and Sue on the boat to Bako

The last few days were spent on an overnight trip to a longhouse tribe deep within the jungle surroundings. The trip itself was somewhat disappointing as the tribe did not seem at all interested in the fact that we had come to visit them, and it was made less exciting by the fact that it was just the two of us and our guide who didn’t really speak to us, however we did try to make the most of it and it was fascinating to see 24 families live in one Longhouse. Our final day was spent with another visit to Semenggoh to say our goodbyes to the orang-utans before setting our sites on Cambodia!