Pusat Pemulihan Orangutan Sepilok — Attraction in Borneo

Mixed feelings...

The orangutans are amazing to see, the nursery has many adorable young orangutans as well as wild mother with their babies sometimes come to feed. The feeding platform we had less luck with, only seeing 1 orangutan and 1 gibbon over 4 visits, because the macaques overrun it. The sanctuary opens at 9, the nursery gets food at 9:30 and the platform opens at the same time, but food is not put out till 10. I would recommend staying at the nursery till 10, then walking to the platform and if there are too many macaques you're pretty unlikely to see an orangutan so I would give back to the nursery which is just as amazing even if you are behind glass.

However... there was a bad side

Most of the staff seemed to care very little for the animals, completely absorbed in their phones and with little knowledge about the orangutans. Moreover there was one very rude and aggressive staff man who forced us to leave half an hour early (11:30 instead of 12:00) in order to leave early. We confirmed with the woman at the ticket desk and the sign afterwards that he had in fact cut our time short!!!! 😠 When asking this man why we had to leave early, he got very rude and let it slip that they PUT THE ORANGUTSNS IN CAGES...!!!!!! We were shocked to hear this because they claimed the animals were free, but apparently not, although the staff man tried to take it back after he let it slip... And upon returning for a second visit, we noticed patterns in the orangutans behavior which seemed to prive they were in fact caged. At nine sharp orangutans rush into the nursery all from around the corner of the viewing area where some blocked off buildings are, then at 12:00 they all leave the same way. In the afternoon the same thing happens with them presumably being released and then returning. We were not sure if it was a coincidence or not, but at the end of the afternoon session we even heard a whistle before all the orangutans left back they way they had come... 🤔🤔🤔

Honestly it's definitely worth the visit, an amazing experience, but maybe just leaves you with some mixed feelings. If you are in the sabah area and like animals I would definitely suggest going to the lok kawi animal Park, which has many more animals and is...

This place is engaging as ever. My experience was absolutely captivating! I was a bit off with the viewing times, but still, we saw monkeys!! I'm going to give an annotated timeline of me being there. But make sure to NEVER feed the wildlife, NEVER call the wildlife, NEVER leave an exposed item for a long time, and NEVER EVER jump out of boundaries.

Firstly, we went to register our visit. Then we went to the locker room. I recommend not bringing a lot of items, because to reduce the inconvenience and risk of interaction of the animals.

Secondly, we went to the exhibitions. Just go back to the registration centre, enter your passes, and go inside the FoReSt. The journey was only "30 minutes", I assume. And we took tons of photos, mostly for the scenery and not for the legitimate flora and fauna... An employee gave us a lecture about the times ELEPHANTS were present. Wow, That's some information! We crossed through the thick jungles, inevitable wetlands, and the blistering sun. And finally....

The last level, ACTUAL SANCTUARY/ EXIBIT!!! It was anti-climactic... Yeas, the time was 10:30 a.m. Not really any Orangutans came out to us at the play place also known as the food place. There were an abundance of contents like the orangutan about me and school projects. One thing, I disturbed my known one. But Aircon so that's one mark! Outside took much and much photos.. at the two buildings you would enter at the 'center', you can talk to the guide to find a orangutan to adopt! No, it's just a charity...

So in conclusion, it cool. 👍 It might not be perfect, because there are time limitations, but it is what it is - an orangutan sanctuary. Forgot to add, there's a information gallery where you could view the...

So JUST short of five stars because one cannot pay by card but the sun bear centre accepts card ACROSS THE PARKING LOT. Seriously, it’s 2024, GET WITH IT. Not even having the gift shop accept card just HURTS you in terms of tourists not wanting to pay cash. I may have gotten more items myself.

There are placards about on the walkways explaining some orangatun behaviour and facts but the staff along the walkway don’t seem very engaged with people or don’t want to be.

The feeding times are CROWDED so keep that in mind. Most of the crowd managed to quiet respectfully enough. It’s very cool to see the orangutans swinging by the vibes (and macaques too!) to eat. Keep in mind you may only see a couple of orangutans. Only three showed between the two feedings I went to. None appeared walking around the walkways.

The rainforest itself though is a beautiful. The visitor centre opposite the bag storage room (free, required to put your purse or knapsack into) is fantastic with tons of info (in Malay and English) on placards on the incredible work the rehab centre does, orangutan biology, and the history of their “discovery” by white man.

In between the feedings head to the sun bear centre (which is actually my favourite of the two).

Warning take SNACKS and water bc the on-site café is closed until further notice.

Also take along food please for the strays dogs in the parking lot. They’re timid and hungry and it’s so damn pathetic locals don’t care (including this...