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Friday 5th October
We had a long but comfortable 7 hour bus journey from Kota Kinabalu to Sandikan. Again going on bus journey gets you see local life in the villages and the journey took us up through Mount Kinabalu again.
We arrived in Sandikan about 5pm, got a taxi to our hotel which was in the centre of town right by the harbour front. We checked in very quickly and was taken to our room which we immediately changed as it was directly on the wall of all the air conditioning units and very noisy. The Reception obliged us straight away with a room change with big windows over looking the Harbour. The room was nothing special but was clean and comfortable. I had heard that there was an excellent roof top bar here so before it got dark we went to check it out. It was a wonderful 3 level roof top bar with tables and chairs,or cushions to just spread out on and enjoy the view. We had a wonderful meal here and then decided that we must find out how we can do the tours from here.
We went to Reception and the young Receptionist and Concierge were extremely helpful and helped us to plan our trip for the next day.
We decided on going to Sepilok Orang-Utan Sanctuary, Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary and the Rain Forest Discovery Centre. We opted to hire a taxi driver for the day and do all three trips. So happy we had sorted out the trips we decided to go for a walk.
When we arrived in Sandikan the hotel looked like it was situated on busy corner but as it got dark everything closed and it looked very dark and grubby. We saw a sign for Shopping Mall so headed across to that but it really wasn't nice with locals selling things on the pavements and about 4 security guys standing outside the shop door way. We walked passed trying not to feel intimidated got what we wanted and headed back to the hotel.
Saturday 6th October
We was picked up at 8.30 by taxi driver Abdul Jad who we warmed to straight away. We introduced ourselves and Jad as we was to call him and he could not pronounce my name so called me Bill all day. Our first stop was the Sepilok Orang-Utan Sanctuary which was founded in 1964 by an English
Woman for rehabilitation of orphaned baby orang-utans from logging sites, plantations and illegal hunting, returning them to the wild as soon as they are ready. The sanctuary covers more than 4,500 hectares of forest.
We arrived early and had to check our bags in. We was really excited about seeing them and arrived at the viewing platform plenty of time and got a prime spot so we could see them when they came for feeding at about 10am It didn't seem too busy and not long before an Orang-Utan climbed up onto the platform holding her 8 month old baby. Unfortunately we didn't get to see too much as she decided to hide behind the large pillar on the platform. The Keeper climbed onto the platform and emptied his basket of fruits and it wasn't long before the others arrived. It was exciting watching the ropes move and waiting in anticipation to see the Orang-utans arrive. We spent about an hour watching them and taking photos before the other monkeys came along, pinched there food and frightened them away. Apparently we was lucky that morning as we saw 8 Utans on the platform as it has been know for only about 2 or 3 to show up or sometimes none at all, but this was one of things we was told to expect. Although we got to see these magnificent apes the camera didn't pick up very good photos of them so we was a little disappointed but maybe we will get a chance to see them somewhere else.
Next stop the Labik Bay Proboscis Monkey or long nosed monkeys. These were fascinating monkeys and I have put up a few photos of these showing the interaction we had with them in the soaring heat for about an hour they really were fun to see and watch and the noise they made whilst sitting on the feeding platforms was funny as they nattered away to each other whilst munching their food. There was a dominate male there who was on the look out for other male predators not to get on his patch so there was a lot of male testerone flying about.
Next stop was the Rain Forest Discovery centre. We didn't there until 4pm It was closing at 5pm and most of the trails were closed as under construction so we didn't stay for long.
We asked Jad to take us to the bus station as we wanted to get the bus to Semporna the next day. So we booked the 7.00 am bus. Jad offered to come and pick us up the next morning.
Another lovely meal in restaurant then packing and early night.
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