Today, we went to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehab Center. And no it's not for orangutans that fell off the wagon. The center takes in orphaned and abandoned (i.e. ex-pet) orangutans and tries to rehabituate them to the wild. After their childhood, they are left to freely roam the reserve.
We were greeted by a male right at the entrance to the reserve. We were within arm's length! After the requisite short video about the preserve and the plight of the orangutans, we walked out along the boardwalk to overlook the feeding platform. Along the way we got really close up to long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques, types of monkeys. Then it was a feeding frenzy, first for the orangutans and then opened up to everyone. The reserve gives bananas to any orangutan that wants them -- as they get more adjusted to the wild, they manage to forage for themselves.
We had a good but slow meal at the Agnes Keith teahouse. She was an author who was interned by the Japanese during World War II. Now we're off on a two-hour drive to a river lodge.
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