Day 15 - There were Bare Bears and Oodles of Orangutans

Today was the day that we got to see the almighty orangutans and sun bears!

The day started off with a pancake and toast feast to fuel the excitement that was the anticipation of seeing our closely related ginger friends and no I don't mean Olly. We were clearly manifesting seeing wild creatures as even before we left our accommodation we saw 2 hornbills!

Our energy high and only 10 minutes late, we walked to the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary. After a failed haggle and rush to put our bags in our locker, we walked along the wooden paths to the infant centre to see the first feed! We were very lucky to see our first orangutans, especially as we saw an infant and mother!! The macaques quickly dominated the feed and were extremely amusing to say the least (we watched the making of new foetus monkeys irl, they were extremely excited to do the hankey pankey in front of an audience, the monkeys were just as excited as Ollie when he was witnessing it). Creds to Anya for that sentence.

After watching another feed, we too were hungry. We decided to have takeaway food from the cafeteria, so we could enjoy the wildlife outside, and what a great choice that was. Whilst eating our curries, an orangutan decided to join us and sit on the fence!

Spirits high after our incredible encounter, we walked to the Sun Bear Rehabilitation Centre, during which we spotted many macaques including very cute baby monkeys.

Walking through the canopies of the trees, home to the sun bears which had been saved from illegal captivity, we saw a very sleepy sun bear balancing on the branches opposite us!! We stood in awe of this bear, who seemed very peaceful in his dreamy slumber. You'd think our luck had run out by this point but oh no! We saw a further 10 sun bears, one which very much enjoyed carrots!! Also a special mention to Mr Boughton who was slightly scared (to say the least) of the small snake we saw wrapped round the fences of the canopy walk- lets just say he volunteered someone else to take the photo instead!

Before heading back to the orangutans for the last feed of the day, we splurged all of our pennies at the gift shop! Purchases included some very interesting t-shirts bought by Jo, Ffion and Olly.

The last feed of the day was a long wait for any sign of life so we headed to the infant centre again where we were treated to 'oodles' of orangutans! Swinging from the ropes, chasing each other around and attempting to eat the food, it was a surreal watch to see our ancestral cousins from behind the glass. We could have watched them for hours, however we were interrupted by the news that an alpha male orangutan was at the other feeding sight!! Most of us raced backed to see it and it was incredible to see- we were all speechless!

The majority of our group headed to the exit in search for a shop but sadly we were not presented with one, however the lucky ones went to search for the rest of our team who were still at the infant centre. I say lucky as on their way back they had a close encounter with a baby and mother orangutan - not jealous at all!

After a very fantastic day, we headed back to our accommodation, spotting wildlife on the way and discussing our plans for dinner. We ate at a restaurant close to our accommodation which was a very nice treat- although the garlic bread may have resembled slices of toast!

On our way back, we had an impromptu Irish dance lesson from Lily M, who showed off her talent which the rest of us tried to replicate but failed!

Rounds of mafia were played to end our evening with the common occurrence of Lily R, Kesia and Mr Boughton getting voted out in the first few rounds because apparently we look ‘suspicious’. We eventually headed to bed excited for more wildlife spotting tomorrow!!