Words can barely describe how nice it is to be in a comfortable hotel. I had my tea in bed last night, was able to wake up and have my morning routine of tea while I’m getting ready, and felt like I had space to move around; overall just more relaxed. Even though I’ve been sleeping well this trip, for the first time this morning I actually felt refreshed.
Breakfast was yet another buffet in the hotel restaurant and at 8:10am our guide was waiting to whisk us off to our first stop, the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre at Sepilok; a short 30ish minute drive away. My first impression of the Centre was holy crowds. For the first time on the trip I felt like a legit tourist at some tourist trap. Shoulder-to-shoulder with hoards of others we filed through the turnstiles and followed the pathway to the nursery. The nursery contained two rooms, one with fans and one with air conditioning, each with a glass wall and tiered rows of seats to watch the young orphans on their feeding platforms and ropes course. It truly felt like a zoo; seeing them behind panes of glass. Since the animals are not in a confined environment, adults sometimes venture to the nursery area for the free food and this was evidenced by a mama orangutan who brought her baby to mooch off the youngsters and then swing and play on the ropes. It was hard to appreciate that these orangutans were actually unconfined and in the wild with the zoo-like atmosphere.
From the nursery we were led to the feeding platform where limited food is provided for the adults. They do not provide the food that the orangutans would normally eat nor do they provide an abundance of it as it’s meant to be supplementary to their natural foraging. The orangutans are fed at the same time each day and can sense the schedule by observing the crowds headed to the platform and the ranger with the barrel of food. Two orangutans swooped down on the wooden pathway, following the ranger all the way to the platform.
I was lucky to find a spot in the shade where I could stand on a back bench for a great view as the ranger doled out fruit by hand to the two moochers. No other orangutans arrived but hoards of silver leaf monkeys arrived to try to get it on the free goodies. As they climbed across the ropes the ranger reached up and shook their rope bridges, causing them to swing or fall off to keep them away. Once the ranger left it was a free-for-all of these mooching monkeys crowding the platform and helping themselves. Regretting that I spent more time watching the mama and her baby through my phone as opposed to directly with my eyes yesterday I made sure to spend more time today watching with my eyes but it wasn’t as special when the situation feels so curated and hundreds of people are crammed together. Overall, the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre did not feel special in any way; it wasn’t particularly educational, is too crowded (which feels like it creates a false sense of security around humans for the animals), and feels too zoo-like.
Back on the bus for another 30 minute drive to the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary; Kurt explained that this is a privately owned sanctuary inspired by the monkeys stealing the morning pancakes from the palm oil field workers in the surrounding palm fields. Now the wild monkeys are fed fruit and specialized pancakes twice daily for visitors to come observe and to supplement their diet. Well this doesn’t sound like it’s not intrusive on nature. Pancakes?! A black and white hornbill showed off its horny beak at the sanctuary entrance. I can now check a decent hornbill sighting off my list.
While the focus is the proboscis monkey at Labuk Bay, the silver leaf monkeys were just as present. While the proboscis monkeys kept their distance and were focused on the food on their platforms, the silver leafs had no fear and were sitting on the rails and walking right through the middle of everyone on the viewing platforms, weaving between people and running up to the workers to grab food from their hands. It gave me the chills and made me angrily uncomfortable as tourists walked up to pose within inches of monkeys instead of giving them space.
Proboscis monkeys are known for their distinctive noses. The females all have the same dainty pointed nose reaching for the sky while the males have giant honkers of noses hanging low. The golden fur looked so soft, if not a little in need of some grooming. Babies clung to the mamas and eyed the crowds. Occasionally a mini monkey fight would break out as they slapped and screamed at each other over the food.
Silver leaf monkeys are born a golden hue and turn silver as they age. Mama silver leafs with their young rested on the railings, showing off their babies and I’m betting hoping for a handout. The little golden babies reminded me of orange kittens. While this still felt zoo-like, it was fun seeing all the baby monkeys but equally sad to see them so exposed to humans.
Leaving Labuk Bay, our next stop was Sepilok Rainforest Resort for yet another buffet lunch at their open air restaurant. I have not had a meal inside since leaving Kuala Lumpur. Desert included green beans in coconut milk which was more like a sweet coconut lentil soup. It was an odd texture to reckon but actually quite delicious. If the itinerary is correct this is also the resort where we will be staying the last night of the trip.
Our final stop of the day was the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre. The majority of these bears are rescued pets and held in captivity here in hopes of being able to one day be released. Unfortunately, it sounds like the release success rate is actually quite low. Some of the bears can never be released because they are so imprinted on humans. There is no mincing words on this one, the Centre was downright depressing. The first bear was in a smaller enclosure walking in circles on a wooden platform; one of the clearest signs of animal stress. It was so depressing. It hurt my heart so bad. A rescue and rehabilitation centre should not be a source of greater stress for the animals. I was immediately over this place and overwhelmed with sadness.
On the way out, our guide Kurt and another guide pointed out two different pit vipers curled up in trees. A small one was high up in a tree but eye level from the raised canopy platform. A much larger one was a little too close for comfort right off the walkway. No thank you. Apparently pit vipers don’t move around much and stay in the same area waiting for prey come their way. At least it wasn’t raining.
The air conditioner had gone out yet again in our bus so we had to wait it out at the Centre so two vans could be sent over from town to transport us back, but finally we were headed back to the hotel. I quickly dumped my pack and grabbed my smaller bag so Kurt could take me and a couple other ladies to town so I could buy pants for our remaining hikes and others could get what they needed. Thankfully there is a small mall in town and a sports store so I could buy two pairs of leggings (spoiler – only one fits decently but one is better than none). A kiosk in the middle of the mall bottled knock off perfumes and I couldn’t help myself but buy two bottles. The short little stop into town also meant actually seeing the bay which I hadn’t set my eyes on yet and felt very San Francisco pier-esque.
Back at the hotel I had almost two hours to kill before dinner. While I could see a group of the ladies hanging out by the pool I opted to stay in the air conditioning and get some of my packing done since we leave again tomorrow morning.
For dinner we were loaded back onto the bus and taken to Hotel Sandakan for yet another buffet dinner. At least this time they had a custom stir fry station and salad that was a little different but I am so tired of eating the exact same thing every meal; rice and/or noodles, chicken on the bone, bok choy. Dinner was quick and didn’t need to be dragged out since it was another buffet. And guess what; it was pouring rain again when we loaded back into the bus. I should have known by now that a day with no rain isn’t possible.
While most of the group seemed to disburse into a couple areas to hang out back at the hotel I gladly slipped away to the elevator. Laying here in bed drinking my tea and writing is exactly the quiet time I need. Outside thunder is booming and I’m watching the night sky blaze bright with lighting every one to two minutes. I do feel a little dumb though that I just had the realization that the reason my power bank didn’t charge while I was gone earlier is because its a smart room,which requires your key in a slot to turn on the power, and so the power was off when I was gone. Duh.
Tomorrow we depart Sandakan at 7:30am for a long drive to arrive at Tabin Wildlife Reserve. We have a roughly three hour drive to the Tabin ranger station area and then we will transfer to different vehicles for another 1.5-2 hours to reach the resort. In the afternoon we will do a jungle hike to a mud volcano. I’m hoping this mud volcano is a real volcano and impressive, I haven’t done any research on it. Supposedly it’s a hot spot for animal sightings but I also know not to get my hopes up.
Taking On the World 
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