Impressions of Orangutan @ Semenggoh
I never seen so many Orangutans within 2 weeks. It was not intentional, but I happened to visit baby Orangutan in Bukit Merah’s Orangutan Island, and then the zen orangutan who was a Yogi Master in Taiping Zoo. Things gotten wilder this week. I ended seeing semi-wild Orangutan in Borneo.
Semenggoh Wildlife Centre is 20km from Kuching town, Sarawak. Visitors can witness the feeding of Orangutans in nature reserve.
The daily feeding time is on 9am and 3pm at the rehabilitation centre. It was amazing to see how many fruits one Orangutan can carry with its limbs and mouth.
The Orangutans released into this forest reserve were conditioned to join the ‘free lunch’. The ropes hanging between trees lead them to the feedback platform.
The Orangutan did not wear any watch, but yet the timing was perfect. Human has smart phone and watch, but yet we are often late for appointments.
The celebrity in this reserve forest has to be the dominant male named ‘Ritchie’. He was HUGE! Over 300 lbs and yet he could climb on the tiny rope.
For the safety of the visitors, the feeding platform was constructed some distant away. It was actually very far and dark under the rain forest canopy.
The adult Orangutans are very strong animal. I saw them smashing coconut against the tree trunk to open the fruit, single handed hanging in mid air, plus carry baby and with other fruits in other limbs.
These Orangutans were wild. There was no fence.
Orangutans were endangered species with less than 60,000 in the wild. There is no better place to see Orangutans in the wild than their native homeland – Borneo.
