The main reason for visiting Borneo is for the wildlife so we wobbled our way the morning after descending the mountain to Sepilok, home to the famous Orangutan Sanctuary. Sepilok contains a few guesthouses, lodges and resorts which we opted for the Sepilok Jungle Resort which boasted its own swimming pool, an easy decision to soak our weary legs. We also bumped into the Odyssey trip so was nice to catch up with their adventures in Borneo.

The Orangutan sanctuary opened in 1964 as the first official orangutan rehabilitation project for rescued orphaned baby orangutans from logging sites, plantations, illegal hunting and kept as pets. They are trained to be able to survive in the wild with the view to be released back into the wild, so although these aren’t wild it’s a great chance to get up close to these fantastic animals. In fact we arrived early in the morning and were luckily enough to be befriended by an inquisitive Orangutan which grabbed Katies arm and hugged her! You are advised not to touch them but what are you supposed to do when it is the Orangutan hugging you?

Feedings are at 10am and 3pm and are also swarmed with Macaques (cheeky monkeys) stealing the bananas, makes for some funny photos as the Orangutans grab bunches with their feet and mouths before swinging off. The afternoon feeding session is much quieter as the day trippers from Kota Kinabalu attend the morning feeding, therefore the later feeding has more Orangutans and less people.

These close encounters gave us a taster for what was in store at our next stop at Uncle Tans on the Kinabatangen River and is a great opportunity to get close to many endangered species in the wild. The boat trip up the river was fantastic as the Palm Tree plantations give way to the Jungle! Accommodation definitely isn’t the Ritz but along our travels we are well prepared for basic facilities, so mattress on the ground plus a mozi net wasn’t a shock. Keeping everything basic adds to the jungle experience and just hearing the various sounds overnight is fascinating. 

We opted for the 3 day 2 night package which includes 3 river safaris and 2 jungle treks. The best is definitely the morning river safari  even though it is at 6.30 in the morning, most animals are getting up and beginning their breakfast. Also the night trek is good as you can get up close and personal with sleeping birds. They all sleep around 3 metres from the ground so its perfect for getting good pictures.The amount of wildlife we seen over our stay was amazing and included: Orangutans Proboscis Monkeys, Long  Tailed Macaques, Bornean Gibbon, Malay Civet, Common Palm Civet, Crocodiles, Monitor Lizard, Rhinoceros Hornbill, Oriental Tail Hornbill, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Dwarf Forest Kingfisher, Owls,Grey-faced Buzzard, Crested Serpent-Eagle, White-bellied Sea-Eagle,Great White Egret, various large spiders and many more.

Now those of you that know me know I’m always game for a kick about, so as Uncle Tans had a 5 a side pitch we had a tourists vs guides game. After we displayed our footballing prowess we were invited to take part in a football tournament run by a local village. We accepted and jumped in boats to the “local” village an hour upstream. Uncle Tans is looking to use the village as an eco-tourist destination and has this tournament once a year to strengthen their relationship with the locals. My international team of me, 4 guides, David from Switzerland and our very own Peter Crouch won the competition and awarded by the village head with a Coca Cola and Noodle hamper. Much like the World Cup I guess?! Something very unique to take part in and a definite highlight of Borneo!

We are now in Sandakan for a couple of nights before we head to Australia on Monday, in a budget hotel room with a LCD Flatscreen TV, DVD player and around 1,000 movies to pick from for free. Simple Pleasures after roughing it for a while!

P.S. Photos for Borneo have been updated on the signpost at the top.