On Day 3, we finally made a trip to Semenggoh Wildlife Center in Kuching, Sarawak which is 15km away from home!!
This is a reserve specially made for the orang utans which are one of the primary apes in Borneo Island. Of course they are also the endangered species now so instead of locking them in a zoo, we venture into their natural habitat where they live and roam freely, at the same time being fed by the rangers there as well. It is a rehabilitation center to help protect their species population.
Orang utan in the malay language simply mean "the person of the forest".
According to
Malaysian Wildlife,
They are the largest tree-living mammal in the world. Additionally, they are known to be highly intelligent, displaying tool use and distinctive culture in the wild.
Bornean orangutans have a distinctive body shape with coarse, long hair that can be orange, brown, or maroon. Also, they have powerful, long arms with grasping hands and feet for climbing and travelling through the forest canopy. Hence, Borneon orangutans spend most of their lives high in the treetops.
Additionally, the Bornean orangutan is generally a solitary animal, although they can come together to mate. Moreover, after birth, the infant stays with its mother until sexual maturity (12-15 yrs), solely depending on her for survival. Therefore, they have an extremely low reproductive rate. This means that their population can take a long time to recover from population decline or crashes.
My husband is very fond of orang utan, as it is his favorite land animal, admiring their intelligence and abilities. So we thought one of the places we should visit is the Semenggoh Wildlife Center and we can bring the children to be exposed and learn more about the orang utan. What better learning than to see them with our own eyes?
Look at the excited looks on our faces as we set off after breakfast!
Here is the entrance to the Semeneggoh Wildlife Center.
Admission tickets are at a really affordable price too.
We arrived a little later than their feeding time about 915am and their feeding time started at 9am. Here are some prohibitions to observe to not cause disruptions to the orang utans.
Spotted a white pepper plant which is a native plant in Sarawak too.
Being in a place surrounded by trees and nature, it just feels so good and refreshing!
They had information boards for us to get educated about the orang utans too.
Sometimes, the male dominant will sit near here and have meals with the rangers but unfortunately, we missed it today. The rangers suggested us to walk 250m into another area to see more of the orang utans in their natural routine.
My dad who has poorer eyesight said he will wait for us outside instead.
Off we went trekking a bit on the forest trails. My sister and me were left to be the last as we were guiding my youngest son. The other 2 fathers went far ahead.
Finally we reached this area where we can stand and watch the orang utans.
There was a ranger there who told us all about the different orang utans' stories.
Here is a mama orang utan with her 2-month-old baby boy.
This is her another 2 sons.
One came closer so we could do a wefie with it.
Some photos of us with this wonderful place. Some of the orang utans photos were taken by my eldest son who was fadcinated with them too.
We walked out of the place feeling so grateful to the orang utans for coming out and we had a remarkable experience.
I highly recommend anyone who is interested with these Borneo primates to visit this place. My friends say I was very lucky to see so many of them coming out.
Semenggoh Wildlife Center
Address: KM 20, Borneo Highland Road, 93250 Kuching, Sarawak
