Posts filed under 'Borneo'
So I finally got to see the orangutans. Today I spent the entire day in the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, from 8:30am to 4pm. The center is only one of five orangutan rehabilitation centers in the world and helps to raise orphaned orangutans whose mothers were killed or orangutans confiscated as pets or ones that found their way out of the wild and onto one of the many palm oil plantations in Sabah.
The orangutan is an endangered species, now only seen in the wild on the island of Borneo (here) and in Sumatra, Indonesia. There only an estimated 10,000 – 30,000 left in the wild. And they are so damn cute!
They have 2 feedings/day at the center, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and I went to both. In between I went on a hike through the rainforest out to a bird tower and watering hole which took about 2 hours round-trip (note: got 5 leeches, one on my arm and 4 on my legs).
Didn’t see any orangutans on the walk, but there were quite a few just wandering about and climbing through the trees around the visitor’s center. The goal of the center is to eventually get all the orangutans back into the wild so you’re not allowed to touch them or feed them or have your picture taken with them which I think is pretty cool.
I also watched a video they had on the center and how they operate the rescues. It really is amazing how human their expressions and gestures are. They way they look at you it’s like they’re thinking you’re a bald version of them and you’re thinking they’re a hairy version of you. I was quite happy to pay the $10 admission fee knowing that the money is going to protect them, a good cause for sure.
Lots of package tourists were there in the morning – everyone fresh off the buses with their white socks, convertible pants/shorts, brand new video cameras, sun hats, white skin, brand new hiking boots, fresh hair cuts, fannypacks, backpacks, and camera bags. I couldn’t hep but wonder if anyone else there had been travelling now for over 11 months like me. Not to say they are better or worse, just very, very different. I had almost as much fun watching them as I did watching the orangutans.
Now that my mission here is complete, I’ll be off tomorrow to Mount Kinabalu National Park for some hiking and quality nature time.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: I’ve added pictures again, this time from 07.29.02 to 09.18.02. To view, please click on the’journal’ link above, then hit’last’ to go to most recent record, and then choose any entry to view that has a camera icon next to it. Thanks!
Help! Im being attacked by Package Tourists!
Ho hum, just another day at the office
Whatchyou talkin bout Willis?
September 19th, 2002
I am absolutely exhausted and the last thing I want to do right now is write in the journal, but I know I’ve gotta write now or else I won’t be able to capture the emotions of the day. It’s 10pm and I really cannot believe it, but I am in Sepilok at a B&B just outside of the Orangutan Sanctuary. It’s truly amazing that I made it here in one day.
This morning I was up at 5am, not because I had to be, but because another storm came through Kapalai to bring in the new day.
I had my final 2 dives this morning, one at 8:30am and one at 11:00am. These 2 were without Thomas because he’s flying today so he had to finish diving yesterday. Good dives. I said goodbye to the turtles, moray eels, cleaner shrimp, flying gurnards, and all my other marine friends.
Had lunch at noon and then Thomas and I were on the boat back to the mainland at 1pm. The resort van was waiting to take Thomas and 4 others to the airport, and the driver was kind enough to drop me off at the bus station along the way.
Bye-bye suitcase travelers, hello backpacker grunge.
The bus station was a harsh reality of me resuming my budget travelling.
I told the guys there that I wanted to go to Sepilok and they said ok take this minivan first then switch at this other town. Actually, they call them ‘bas minis.’ Anyway I said fine. I then proceeded to wait 2 HOURS just sitting in the van waiting for it to fill with people so we could leave. Ugh.
FINALLY we left at 4pm. We weren’t even on the road for a full minute before we stopped for gas. Ahhhh!
In 2 hours could you not go and fill up the tank???
Then we went to this guy’s house to pick up his suitcase, all the while I am thinking there is no WAY I am making it to Sepilok today.
Once we actually got moving I felt a little better. During the ride though I had to tolerate 2 men who were chain smoking the entire ride. Ok, get this, in the van there are THREE big signs that say ‘NO SMOKING.’ From anywhere you sit you can see ALL THREE, and still these guys were just puffing away.
It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where this guy sits next to Jerry and says, ‘Do you mind if I smoke?’ And Jerry says, ‘Not at all, I second-hand smoke 2 packs a day.’
Well, I think I second-hand smoked at least one pack today.
Anyway, I got to the next town, Lahad Datu, at about 6:30pm and it was already dark and I was the only foreigner on the van and admittedly I was getting nervous that I wouldn’t be able to get another bus today and I’d have to try to stay in this shanty town for the night. The guidebook actually says about this town that it’s a very dodgy place full of pirates and thieves and to try to avoid it if at all possible. Lovely.
Well lucky for me the guys in Semporna were actually right in telling me I could catch another van today and the driver took me right up to the other van and I hopped in and was off. There were only 3 passengers on that 3-hour leg here; it was raining mostly the whole ride and we passed more than one accident, but I was still feeling better off than if I’d had to stay in that shanty town.
The driver was really sweet in the end and helped me find a place to stay which is where I’m at now – the Sepilok B&B. It’s so great when things work out like this.
Orangutans tomorrow!
My last day of diving (until next time…)
September 18th, 2002
Amazing day. Went over to Sipidan Island this morning with the American couple, David and Michelle, to do 2 dives over there. Sipidan is one of those world-famous type dive spots so you can’t say you’ve been to Kapalai and not Sipidan. Kapalai is known for the little stuff; Sipidan is known for the big guys – turtles, sharks, tuna, and barracuda.
The 2 dives we did were quite deep – 36m (117 feet) and 30 m (95 feet), that’s the deepest I’ve ever done. There was a strong current so we mainly just followed the reef wall, which by the way is over 600m deep!
The first dive was ok. I got to see my white-tipped reef sharks, grey sharks, and a big school of barracuda (maybe 100 or so).
The second dive was nothing special. We spent 20 minutes looking for hammerheads but didn?t see any so we went back to the wall to check out some turtles. It was good to actually see what the buzz is about on Sipidan, but I was very happy to come back to Kapalai. I missed having my dive buddy Thomas who I’ve been diving with for 2 days now. He already spent a week on Sipidan before coming to Kapalai so he stayed here to do his dives.
I was happy to see him again and dive with him this afternoon which we did for our third dive. And what a dive it was! INCREDIBLE! It was David and Michelle and Thomas and I and our divemaster Dundun. We only went 7m to a sandy bottom to look for seahorses. Within just a few minutes Dundun found some and David went about taking photos while Thomas and I hung around. I called Thomas over to look at something and on his way over to me he spotted a mimic octopus! At the time I had NO IDEA how rare of a sighting that is, but when I saw how excited Dundun and David were I knew it was something special.
It’s a small octopus with a head the size of a cork and skinny legs stretching out to the size of a hand. It’s special because it was actually only discovered recently, in 1998! It can mimic itself to look like anything from a lionfish to a shrimp to a snake. It was the first time anyone in our group had seen one, and Dundun has been a divemaster here for 3 years, Thomas has over 500 dives, and David has 1800 dives! So I was lucky. David said that maybe only 1000 people in the world have ever seen one.
If you want to read up more on the mimic, I found a few good links:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s357338.htm
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/09/0920_octopusmimic.html
On top of that we saw ghost pipefish, leaf fish, cuttlefish, 2 roundbelly cowfish, one snake eel, and one prickly leatherjacket. It was the mimic though that everyone was still talking about hours later.
So 2 more dives tomorrow and then Bye-Bye Kapalai.
David and Michelle from Tampa, FL
Thomas (Germany), my dive buddy, and I
September 17th, 2002
8:30pm. 4 more dives today. Woke up at 6am to another fierce storm, more lightening, thunder, wind, and rain, but this time I was prepared. I had already shut all the shutters and doors and didn’t have to do any mad running around like the night before.
It was hard to actually get out of bed for the 8:30am dive with it still windy and raining a bit, but by the time we were on the boat it had started to clear some and the weather thankfully got better and better all day. Eventually the sun came out and the winds died down.
The current was strong underwater though and we fought it hard during the first dive at Mabul Island. Second 2 dives we did were drift dives, following the current, so it made things much easier.
Last dive was a sunset dive which I did with my buddy Thomas from Germany, just him and I. The best dive today was the second one where I saw 6 turtles (!), an octopus, 4 ribbon eel, and lots of nudibrancs. Also saw many frogfish today – white ones, yellow ones, pink ones, and black ones.
The sunset dive was cool because I also saw a turtle but I saw my first sleeping parrot fish, all nestled up in his cocoon for the night. That was the best!
I’ve decided to stay an extra day so that means I’ve got a full day tomorrow still and then I guess I’ll have to leave the day after tomorrow.
Waiting for the divers
The dive map
Sunset at Kapalai
September 16th, 2002
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