Thursday, March 17, 2011

20110304 Sabah – Sepilok

Probably the 2nd most frequented place in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu, for its ace attraction Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Center (SORC). The center is harbouring mainly those orphaned or injured orang utans. The daily twice feeding sessions gathered almost all tourists to the platform, watching the superstars swinging around and eating bananas. Personally I didn’t find it exceptionally interesting.

There are several trails inside the park leading into the forest. Birder’s Trail was the only open to the public during my visit. It was easy in the beginning until I stood in front of a stretch of muddy path ahead of me. I wouldn’t want to smudge my shoes… and the leech was my concern too.

A short distance away is the Rainforest Discovery Center (RDC). It turned out to be more interesting. The displayed artifacts were informative. The staggering expensive Canopy Walk granted an excellent view 20m above the ground level.

SORC is for the orang utan, while there is a sanctuary for proboscis monkeys at Labuk Bay though it is always overshadowed by SORC and sometimes is neglected. Don’t miss it, it is better than SORC, its set up is more natural and up closer. Plenty of proboscis, a few hornbills, and the tamed silverleaf monkeys interact with the tourists. Unlike the governmental managed SORC, this sanctuary was run by private sector. The oil palm plantation owner allocated 1/3 of the land for this sanctuary, while preserving the precious wetland. Good effort!