Borneo - Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (Malaysia)

From Kuala Lumpur we flew with Air Asia to the island of Borneo to Sandakan.

Table of contents

Things to know about Borneo

Borneo is an island in Southeast Asia and the third largest islandin the world after Greenland and New Guinea. Borneo is divided between the three states of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei and has more than 18 million inhabitants. Surrounding waters are the South China Sea to the north and west, the Java Sea to the south, the Strait of Makassar and the Celebes Sea to the east, and the Sulu Sea to the northeast. The coast of the island is a total of 4971 km long. Borneo is located on the equator that cuts the island just south of its center. The highest elevation is in the northeast of the island, Mount Kinabalu, at 4095 m at the same time the highest mountain in Southeast Asia. The largest cities are Kuching (632,505 inhabitants, Malaysia), Banjarmasin (598,518 inhabitants, Indonesia), Kota Kinabalu (543,765 inhabitants, Malaysia), Pontianak (466,090 inhabitants, Indonesia) and Sandakan (453,759 inhabitants, Malaysia). Wildlife includes orangutans, gibbons, the borne-only rhinoceros, rhinoceros, Asian elephants, the Sunda nebula, the Borneo golden cat, the Binturong and the endangered Sumatran rhinoceros

Our arrival in Sandakan

The flight took almost 3 hours and on the approach to Sandakan airport we could already see a little bit the dense chugel of Borneo.

The flight route from Kuala Lumpur to Sandakan

Our flight over Borneo

Arrival at the small Airport Sandakan

Our Hotel Four Points by Sheraton

By taxi we are then to our hotel Four Points by Sheraton, which is located directly on the sea and is the most beautiful (and only only good) hotel on the square. Sandakan is a small town that doesn’t really have much to offer – but is a good starting point for exploring the area.

The Four Points by Sheraton Sandakan

The local weekly market in Sandakan

Opposite the hotel is the local weekly market,which is worth a visit in any case. The so-called Sandakan Wet Market mainly has a lot of fish, meat and lots of vegetables to offer.

The weekly market in Sandakan

The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center

The next day we were picked up in the morning by our local guide, whom we had booked in advance via GetYourGuide. Two days of program were in front of us and we were really looking forward to it. First we went to the Sandakan Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, which is about 25 km from Sandakan.

The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre on Borneo is a 43sqm nature reserve that provides orangutan protection. About 25 orangutans live in the breeding station, in addition another 60 to 80 live freely in the reserve. The centre primarily cares for rescued kittens found as pets due to forest clearing, illegal hunting or pets. The orphaned orangutans are trained in the center to live in the wild again and are released as early as possible. A wooden walkway leads a little deeper into the rainforest, until you finally reach a platform where you can watch the animals being fed. This is offered twice a day, at 10 a.m. and again at 3 p.m.

In addition to the orangutans, many baboons also come by and steal the food again and again. The entrance fee is RM30in total, i.e. a good 6.50 €. In addition, there is another RM10 (2 €) camera and video fee. Overall, we found the visit to the rehabilitation center for orangutans very interesting and worthwhile.

Welcome to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre

An information board of Sepilok

The visitor platform

Baboons

Feeding the orangutans

Orangutans

Baboons

Baboon

The Rehabilitation Centre for Orangutans

Afterwards we went on to the Proboscis Monkey Labuk Bay Sanctuary.

Starbucks Global Icon Mug of Borneo

We are collecting the Starbucks Mugs from the cities and islands we visit on our travels. Unfortunately, not every city that has a Starbucks store with an own mug. But if the city has an own mug we like to collect them as a souvenir. We only collect city mugs from the "Global Icon Series", which was released in 2008. You can see our complete collection here: Starbucks - Our collection of Mugs from the Global Icon Series

Borneo (Sabah) has his own mug with the motif of an Orangutan 🙂

Sabah, Starbucks Cup, Global Icon Series, City Mugs, Collection, Malasia, Travelreport

Sabah’s Starbucks Island Cup

All travelogues from South-East Asia (2013)

In this holiday through South East Asia we travelled through 5 different countries. Starting with our flight to Hong Kong (China), then on to Bangkok (Thailand), to the million metropolis Singapore, then into the jungle to the UNESCO World Heritage Angkor Wat to Siem Riep (Cambodia), on to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and finally to the island of Borneo (Malaysia). An unbelievably fascinating journey with an incredible number of impressions and experiences.