Will we see wild orangutans? :O (Day 135 of the world trip)

17.01.2020

We were awakened at 6:45 AM by the singing from the nearby primary school. It is a Christian school, which may explain the early Christian time :p :D :D

At 8:00 AM, we finally got out of bed and had breakfast (we still don't have a refrigerator, but milk that has been open at room temperature for two days is probably still good^^). We spent the next three hours writing the blog for the last two days and selecting the photos ;-)

Our destination for today was the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre. It is a reserve where orangutans, who have previously been in captivity or were traded, are rehabilitated and released after a short period of care.

The park is open at the back, where the orangutans now live with their families. Twice a day (9:00 - 10:00 AM in the morning and 3:00 - 4:00 PM in the afternoon), the orangutans are given the opportunity to be fed by a ranger at a specific location in the park.

Depending on whether the orangutans have a need and interest, they come by and feed, and the tourists can observe them from a safe distance on a platform <33

Since we were tired from Bako National Park, we decided to visit the afternoon feeding and so we had enough time this morning to "catch up" on the blog and have a small lunch snack from 7-Eleven :)

A few years ago, there was a regular bus to the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre from Kuching, but now this bus no longer exists :( This means that we would have to come there by private transport, and we decided to conveniently use Grab, where we paid a little less than 10€ per way (which takes about half an hour to an hour, depending on the traffic). That sounded fair to us :)

While waiting in front of the hostel with the Wi-Fi, the Grab driver arrived more or less directly, and we got in.

Unlike other Grab rides, our driver was talkative! During the journey, we literally chatted about everything under the sun. He himself is a Christian and said that 75% of the population in Sarawak, the state we are currently in, are Christians. We didn't quite believe that, as almost all women on the street and in the mall wear headscarves, but hmm... who knows?

He pointed out various points of interest during the journey, such as churches, and explained that they are very busy on Sundays during the worship service. "Not like in Europe," he said, because he knows that from studying in Scotland for a few years ;-)

He also told us that Sarawak is planning a referendum to become independent from Malaysia. They are a separate state with their own government (that's why the new stamp), and people from West Malaysia (the main island where Kuala Lumpur is located) are treated as "foreigners" here. They can only stay in Sarawak for 14 days - unlike us tourists, who are usually allowed to stay for three months^^

Furthermore, Sarawak seems to have Singapore as a role model. Singapore used to be part of Malaysia, and now that they are independent, they are doing very well. According to our driver Gerald, the mainland of Sarawak is only exploiting it, taking the oil and other natural resources, while the people in Sarawak pay taxes to fund the royal family :p

So, you could clearly hear a certain sense of national pride and also a dislike for the mainland as well as Muslims. Gerald was upset that mosques are being built everywhere, funded by the state, even though they do not have the corresponding number of believers in the vicinity...

He also compared the education system, or more precisely, the universities of Malaysia in general and those of other countries. He said that with a medical doctorate from a Malaysian university, you can only work as a nurse in other countries :O And it is difficult to find a job here if you have NOT studied abroad.

Our conversations were fascinating throughout the journey, and when we finally arrived at the wildlife centre, I was almost surprised at how quickly time passed! ^^

Upon arrival, we bought our tickets, but we were kindly informed in advance that there is no guarantee that any orangutans will come by. As we already knew before we arrived, it is currently the "fruiting season." This means that the monkeys usually find enough fruits to eat on their own and do not need to be fed.

Instead of being disappointed, we actually thought it was pretty cool. It's "animal-friendly" after all. A guarantee for a wild animal is always suspicious (think of parrots whose wings are clipped, etc.) ;-)

Maybe we would be lucky :)

So, we walked cheerfully for 20 minutes towards the feeding place. The path there is a road used by vans, but on the sides, you could see "real" forest again. There are also a few hiking trails and various fruit plantations in the park. Unfortunately, they were all closed :(

But we still managed to take some nice photos :p

Shortly before the possible feeding time, we passed a small enclosure that housed two crocodiles. Ha! So we did get to see our crocodiles after all :D :D

Then it started. A ranger explained to us again that it is a matter of chance whether we will see an orangutan and gave some background information. Then we were allowed (probably about 20-30 people!) to walk along the path to the platform and wait there.

Another ranger stood at the possible feeding spot and called for the orangutans, who (almost) all have names, and we tourists waited quietly to see what would happen.

There was a mini-statistic on an information board, where you could see which orangutans had come to feed in December 2019 and how often. Especially "Edwin" and "Ruby" were called by the ranger frequently (although they didn't lead the statistics :p).

While we waited, Jonas was once again fascinated by an ant trail and "annoyed" them by placing obstacles like a small stick or a leaf in their way :D But it didn't take long for the ants to find a way around or even over them ;-)

At first, the mood among the waiting people was hopeful, but at some point, it became clear that it wouldn't be our lucky day. When the ranger finally stopped calling, some people went back quite disappointed, but Jonas and I were still in a good mood :)

The only thing that worried me were the fat, dark clouds in the sky and the drizzle :O After our drying session, I didn't want to have wet clothes again so soon :D :D Nothing else here has dried yet, especially not our shoes, which we will probably need tomorrow -.-

Well. We managed to get back to the entrance quickly and dry, and as luck would have it, there was a free Grab driver waiting there <333

He introduced himself as Clinton and brought us back to the city for the same price as on the way there :)

At least we were lucky with that!! :) Clinton was also super friendly. He and Jonas discussed various beer brands, music, and not so surprisingly, Clinton also offered to drive us to the next national park tomorrow ;-)

However, since the journey takes two hours, it costs almost €50 per way. A bus with two transfers would be slower but much more affordable :p

We got off at the mall in a really good mood, had dinner there again, and bought snacks for tomorrow. Chatting with the drivers, real locals, was just a really great experience <3

Now we'll just chill and probably go to bed early because the journey tomorrow will apparently take a little longer. I'm still skeptical if we can manage it on our own, but hey. That's the adventure of traveling :D