Borneo Wildlife

some pics from the visits, a jumping croc tempted by some hanging meat, a Sumatran Whip Viper seen nearby to one of the orang utang viewing places (dangerous), a couple of the orang utangs (can you spot the small baby clinging to its mother?) and one of Tess and Admad feeding some fish

This morning we were up before 7am, had breakfast by 7.45 (I ate, Brian did not having had a touch of tummy trouble himself) and off we went with Ahmad Bin Said to the Semengoh Nature Reserve. It is about half an hours drive away, in a forested area and they rehabilitate orphaned Orang-utans who have been found after forest fires or have been rescued from captivity. The animals are taught the skill they need to survive as wild creatures and there are about twenty four Orang-outans in the reserve, some of whom have been born there to released mothers, so it is a very successful programme.

Anyway the sky was blue, the sun was out and off we went, hoping that we would be lucky enough to see these wonderful, wild creatures in their natural habitat. By the time we got to Semengoh the morning was beginning to heat up and first of all we had to wait in an area near the animal hospital, while the wardens bustled about with big buckets of fruit and shouted into the Jungle. All the Orang-utangs have names and they know that if they are peckish, breakfast is served at 9am. Anyway as we stood and watched we could see the trees tops in the distance shake a bit, is it more breezy than I thought, no its an Orang-utang swinging from branch to branch to come and get some breakfast!

I can't tell you how exiting it was to get the first glimpse of a big, ginger arm or leg. It really was magic, they look so like humans, but so unlike as well, because they are so relaxed and so limber. To watch them move through the trees is just wonderful and I found myself longing to be an Ourang-utang for just a day, just an hour would do, to be able to hang upside down holding on to a branch with your toe whilst swinging in an arch in order to catch the next branch with the tips of the fingers of one hand. Never faltering for a moment, just flying through the branches, wow!

In all we saw seven Orang-outangs, two mothers, one with a big baby and one with a very small baby (the latest birth, born in early February), one teenager and two other young adults, it was so fantastic that I run the risk of repeating myself. We watched them for about an hour, interestingly they can hold a piece of fruit in each foot and in each hand and still peel a banana with their teeth and eat it. They really do love fruit.

Just to give you an idea of the temperature and humidity, glasses steam up while you stand about and clothes become soaked without any exertion and you drip (I am not kidding) as soon as you start moving around, only the locals don't seem to notice the heat though they do move slowly.

After the Ourang-utangs we went on to see the Crocodiles at Jongs Crocodile farm. The crocs have no charm, many more sharp teeth and are not vegetarian. There was also a huge lake full of very large fish and loads of lotus plants in flower, so that was good and we saw the most extra ordinary, huge flightless bird. It was from Java, I think and sadly I cant remember its name, but it had a tuquoise and red head and a black body and looked a bit like an Emu

Tess