After leaving the Philippines, we flew to Malaysian Borneo, a very rainy place around this time. I guess I should not complain as it was pretty much sunny skies the whole time in the Philippines.
The first thing of interest we saw was the Orang-utan sanctuary and rehabilitation center in Sepilok. The center takes in displaced Orang-utans and after getting them healthy again gradually coaxs them into the adjacent protected rainforest. There are two daily feedings that draw in the tourists. We missed the one at 9 am and had to wair around all day in the rain for the 3 pm feeding. Luckily there was a botanical garden/arboretum nearby which offered a nice distraction.
The wait turned out to be worth it as the Orang-utans were in top form for the 3 pm feeding. Apparently in the morning a few had come, eaten some bananas and then left. But the afternoon Orang-Utans were much more interesting. A bunch of them them had disturbingly human-like sex for a bit, while others sat around eating. Then a big troupe of annoying monkeys came and there was a small confrontation which the monkeys seemed to win by sheer numbers, though the orang-utans were pretty well done eating and sexing each other up at that point. I feel that if it really came down to it the Orang-Utans would have brought the pain hardcore to those blasted monkey interlopers.
It seemed like it was over at that point until one curious Orang-Utan came onto the boardwalk and stole some guys water bottle. Then she looked guilty and gave it back. Then she basically hung around looking annoyed at all the people who were crowding around her. It was quite fascinating to observe altogether.
No comments:
Post a Comment