Adopting the Wild Life: Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, Sabah, Borneo

 

Some years ago, I visited Sepilok’s Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Sabah, Borneo. As the name suggests, they look after orphaned and injured orangutans who often suffer because of logging, deforestation, and poaching, despite the Malaysian government having imposed tough laws concerning illegal trading in orangs as pets.

The centre helps to rehabilitate the orangutans so that eventually they can return to leading a wild life in the 43-square-kilometre Sepilok-Kabili Forest Reserve. Sixty to eighty orangutans currently live in this protected forest. They are free to roam, but morning and afternoon feeds provided on a special viewing platform allow visitors to observe the orangutans swinging in for a fruity snack. As these are wild animals, you aren’t absolutely guaranteed to see them since they can come and go as they please, but I was lucky enough to get some great photos from where I was standing. A word of caution, though: again, as they’re wild animals, you cannot interact with them, and we were told to keep well back, as they have been known to grab people’s belongings. I recall being told one lady’s handbag containing her passport was once taken up a tree and had to be later retrieved! Also, some of the smaller orangs, who whiz over to the feeding platform via ropes above visitors’ heads, have a habit of peeing enroute, so it’s rather a case of keeping your wits about you and moving out of their way when they approach, or you may spend the rest of your day damp and a bit smelly.

Sepilok runs an adoption programme allowing you to sponsor an orangutan and help preserve this critically endangered species. It’s pretty affordable, and having actually visited and seen these wonderful creatures, I decided to adopt one. Several years later, I still maintain the adoption (though now it’s a different orangutan, as the first one I adopted has been released—yay!). You receive detailed information and photos about your selected orang, progress reports, and a newsletter. I have always felt it’s a great way to keep in touch with somewhere you once visited and to feel that (however small it may be) you are helping to make a difference on an ongoing basis.

For more information on the centre, and adoptions, visit:

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre | Orangutan Appeal UK (orangutan-appeal.org.uk)