The tour of Semenggoh Wildlife Centre was a phenomenal experience! Established in 1975 as a sanctuary for injured and orphaned orangutans, Semenggoh is the main orangutan rehabilitation center in Sarawak.
Years ago, I visited Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in the northern Borneo state of Sabah. Memories of that center are vague, since I wasn’t maintaining a travel diary then. I think there were more visible orangutans at Semenggoh. It was amazing how fearless they were, as they came face-to-face with humans visiting!
Orangutans at Semenggoh are semi-wild. There are no fences, so they live self-contained lives and are free to roam the rainforest at will. Sometimes the orangutans come to the center for food – a snack supplement to their rainforest diet – including bananas, sweet potatoes, coconuts, and papaya. Feeding times are 8 – 10 and 2 – 4.
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“Orangutan means ‘man of the forest’ in Malay, and these great apes are as charismatic as they are fragile. Humans and orangutans share around 97% of the same DNA.” National Geographic
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After entering the feeding area, we were soon surrounded by five or six orangutans. More came later. They literally posed for photos. The guides know the orangutans well. They watched carefully and cautioned us about keeping some distance. In the past, tourists who approached too closely have been injured. One lost a finger.
We saw a mother, Selena, with her baby, several adolescents aged 10 to 16, mature males, and the alpha male Annuar, who’s 26. I did my best taking photos with an iPhone. This National Geographic link has some great professional close up shots – National Geographic photographs.
During “fruiting season” – November to January, February, or March – rainforest fruit is plentiful, and few orangutans come to the feeding center. Many fruits in the Borneo rainforest are year-round crops. Tropical fruits include durian, mangosteen, jack fruit, dragon fruit, star fruit, and more. Spectacular rainforest vegetation and delicate, exotic flowers, butterflies, and moths are the subjects for a separate blog post.
Orangutans don’t like rain and avoid getting their fur wet, so we were fortunate to have a clear day. It rained very hard that night.
Amazing!
What an amazing place!