Xenos

Saw Holiday Showdown on UK TV last night, which featured the orangutan sanctuary which we had been really looking forward to visiting whilst we're in Borneo next April. We were surprised at how commercialised and touristy it looked and so are starting to reconsider and looking around for alternative day trips.

We're staying near Kota Kinabalu and thinking of maybe hiring a car for a few days. Any suggestions please?

mpchan

I just came back from a daytrip to Klias to see the proboscis monkeys and the fireflies. It's just a 2 hours drive from Kota Kinabalu and the local tour agent can arrange for the boat as well as hi-tea and dinner package. You won't regret this. We saw many proboscis monkeys in the wild and the fireflies were spectacular! Several trees were lit up like Xmas trees! I was with an Australian couple and they said they wouldn't have miss this for the world.

Xenos

Thanks mpchan, that sounds good. I was thinking about a trip on the kinabatangan river, but I've heard that it gets so full of tourist boats that it's like a traffic jam. The Klias river sounds like it might be less crowded and a quick google search has shown that it is also a good area for exotic birds during the daytime.

Did you drive there yourself, or go on a tour?

CAJ

Xenos, which sanctuary was featured? - I'm going in March and wanted to go to the Sepilok sanctuary - was it that one?

Thanks a lot.

Xenos

CAJ, yes it was Sepilok.

The programme I saw didn't really show much of it, apart from walking across a rope bridge to get into it and then it just showed the family gathered around the feeding area with what looked like about 100 other people, all taking photos of one orangutan and a few long-tailed macaques.

I've heard a lot of people say that the sanctuary is really worth visiting, but the bit of it they showed on tv (which I think is all that most tourists would see) didn't really look much different from what you could see at a zoo.

If I was staying closer to it, I probably wouldn't hesitate to visit it, but since it involves a relatively long and expensive flight from KK, I started having second thoughts.

Travelnick

Xenos, you are right to have some concerns but I would still recommend it. As a tourist you are no longer given access to the area where they bring up the babies as they feel that it is now better for them to have less contact with people.
The feeding area you saw full of macaques and one orang utang is as I experienced. You forgot to mention the moron tourists who try to get stupid photos with the macaques and risk a bite or scratch (which I would not fancy given infections). The macaques sometimes try to grab bags and rucksacks and the guide told us that if tourists go there alone they will sometimes get attacked - its really a mass mugging.
The orang we saw was a big male - and if a male comes then we were told the females and any young will not. But the experience of watching the jungle for about 20 minutes and then seeing this male come out from the green was something special - does not sound like, but it was, and it was not zoo-like at all. But if you do go there is the risk that you get nothing but macaques - the orangs do not have performance contracts.

Xenos

Travelnick, we've had experience of macaques' "kleptomaniac" tendencies before. The hotel we stayed at on Langkawi a couple of years ago had macaques regularly climbing up onto the balconies. We quickly learned not to leave anything out there - including ourselves, if we had any food or drinks with us - and to keep the door onto our balcony firmly closed at all times!

The hotel we're staying at in Borneo currently has its own sanctuary, but I understand that their agreement with the State Wildlife Department is being reviewed in December and the orangutans may be moved away. If that happens, then we may well visit Sepilok, but if they are still there on our doorstep, I think we will probably give it a miss.

lyall

I assume you are staying at Rasa Ria - not sure of the status of their sanctuary as 3 of their 5 orangs were attacked and killed recently. The surviving 2 who were also injured were airlifted back to Sepilok. If you want to help in the preservation and protection of these animals you should visit Sepilok - yes it is touristy but to see these animals other than behind bars is magic. When we visited, we had an orang on one of the viewing platforms with us which was amazing as she was as interested in us as we were in her - although you are discouraged from touching them (not in our interests but theirs as genetically we are so close they can catch our diseases). It was of the highlights of our trip to Borneo.

CAJ

Xenos, which hotel did you stay at in Langkawi with the kleptomaniac macaques?? We're going in March and it would be best to be prepared....

Xenos

Lyall, yes we're staying at the Rasa Ria. The incident with the attacks was a few months ago now and I understand that the sanctuary there was back up and running a week or so later. When I heard about it, I contacted the hotel directly and the information about the agreement being up for review this month came from their Recreation Manager.

CAJ, we stayed at the Sheraton near Kua Town on Langkawi. If that's the hotel you're going to, please don't let my story about the macaques put you off. It's a wonderful hotel and, provided you remember to close the balcony door behind you, you shouldn't have any problems. Also, they only seemed to go on the balconies on the side of the hotel facing towards the Town. If you it bothers you that much you can always request another room, but the sight of the macaques coming out to feed and play every morning made the slight inconvenience worth it for us.

CAJ

Thanks Xenos, much appreciated!

brokendove

We are planning a trip to Kota Kinabalu and intend on staying at the Rasa Ria, I am curious as to wether anyone has any experience with the Orangatan sanctury that is at Rasa Ria.

We have looked at the Sepilok Oragatang reserve but we were advised that the orangatangs may not even show.

Trying to decided wether to stay at the Rasa Ria and see their Orangatangs
or stay somewhere cheaper and try the Sepilok sancatury.

any thoughts? anyone been to Rass Ria??