Semenggoh Nature Reserve — Attraction in Sarawak

Semenggoh Wildlife Centre

Driving from our hotel at the Imperial Riverbank to this destination took us over half hour with the help of WAZE Gps. Our plan was to reach this forest reserve before the 9:00 am for the feeding time, and at around 8:45am the rangers there started calling out for them. Man ! It was a lucky day for all us, the visitors, a teenage 11 years old Borneo Man of the Forest swinging from trees to trees answering to the call. It was Ganya, handsome looking orangutan, its spent about 20 minutes eating fruits provided by the rangers, above us on the swing ropes. Witnessing the breaking of a coconut with ease for a refreshing drink by Ganya was amazing to watch & how it breaks open the coconut with just his teeth was fascinating. Scary too to know its powerful strength. “Posing” for us to take some great photo shoot of Ganya was a bonus to us all. Sporting fella!

Seeing orangutan in the wild roaming freely is just an amazing, totally a different experience than watch from TV or Internet. As we alighted from our car into the atmosphere of the sound of the forest, with insects sound echoing around us, the cool forest air and being surrounded by tall trees was breath taking enough. Then seeing from a distance away we see an orang utan swinging toward us was so exciting.... like Tarzan.

The ranger gave us an insight information of the orang utans’ habitat and behavious, and when we left the forest reserve we have learnt so much about their conservation work to keep them orang utan from extinction. Salute to them for their brave and great effort.

Recommended to visit if you’re in Kuching. Able to see the orangutan is not a guarantee as they are wild orangutans roaming freely in the forest. I still recommend you to take...

I went there during fruit season where chances of seeing an orang utan are usually slim because the orang utan find enough to eat in the forest and aren't in need of extra feeding, but we got lucky and where able to see one orang utan quite well. He climbed to the feeding platform, ate some bananas, then took a coconut and climbed out of site. That was a really cool experience, being able to observe how it moved. There were quite a lot of small children though and one cried part of the time, that ruined the atmosphere a bit. You can take an electric buggy to near the feeding station for 15RM or walk about 1 km on the road, I would recommend walking if you have the time, as you can take in the nature better and there are also some small trails that branch of the road, although most of them there were closed when I was there. There is a free bus from and to Kuching which is nice, but the bus takes nearly 2 hours from the state assembly as it makes a lot of stops. Depending on where you live getting on/off at another stop reduces the time a bit, but it's hard to tell when it will be at your stop (the app wasn't working for me). My bus back also left nearly half an hour later then scheduled. If your budget allows it, booking a tour that combines the visit with for example the annah rais longhouse might be a good idea as it gives you a better ratio of visit time vs. time on the road. They're fairly expensive though and usually require at...

Getting to and from Semenggoh from waterfront is possible through either hired taxi, ride share app or buses. We took the bus 103 from kuching metro. The electric bus, ( air-conditioned, free service and has complimentary wifi) that goes through nearly all attraction through Kuching city takes around 1 hr and 50 min to get to Semmongoh from water front. If you plan on using it download the Kuching metro app and abide by timings they recommend to start from water front to get to Semmongoh. The app unfortunately does not say exactly when it will show up in some of the other stops on its way. It took around 20-25 min from waterfront to viva city mall and about 40-45 min to airport. Do not use Google timings for this bus because they are incorrect or not updated.

The Nature reserve is a rehabilitation center for orangutans. It seems well preserved as a rainforest except for some occasional man made structure along the way until you get to the feeding area. Feeding times are between 9-10 am and 3-4 pm. There is no guarantee that the orangutans will appear at that time or appear at all. The rainforest does offer variety of food for them. The feeding is still being offered because the preserve does not always have the food orangutans need for a healthy diet. I did not get to see them but it was well worth the visit. If there is rainforest forecasted close to feeding time there is high chance they...