Semenggoh
Last weekend, was the first time I set foot onto Semenggoh Wildlife center.
Strangely I never been to the center even though I live in Kuching, I know where it is and even passed by Semenggoh numerous times but I just never thought of going into the center before.
That's until my Australianized cousins from Melbourne came for a short visit and being away all their life, my sister and her family from UK who coincidentally are still here suggested that we make a trip to Semenggoh for a visit to see the orang Utan.
I didn't know what got into me, I was nice, I canceled my weekend golf (!!?) and somehow offered myself to ferry them to the center with my compact people mover vehicle . Spontaneously, 6 adults and 2 children filled up my Avanza and off we went.
Rated as one of the main tourist attraction, the center is situated 12th mile off Kuching and the trip only took us roughly 20 minutes from the city. Even without a locality map, to get there, just make your way to 10th mile bazaar and from there, just ask the local for direction as it's just a stone throw away.
The Semenggoh Orang Utan Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is part of the Semenggoh nature reserve which consists of Semenggoh Bio Centre, a Botanical Garden, Forest Nursery, a Seed Bank, Herb Ethnobotany Centre, Fern and Orchid Garden.
We paid RM3 for an entry permit each at the entrance and drove all the way to the back of the center, skipping the rest of the garden and nursery as we were short of time and wanted only to see the orang utan.
Btw, I still can't believed that I paid money for myself to been seen by a bunch of orang utans! Oh well, there is alway a first time for everything.
At the center, I found out that the best time to visit the place are during the feeding times which are at 9 am and 3pm each day. It's not recommended to go during fruit seasons as the orang utan tend to stay away from the feeding platform as there will be plenty of food else where during those time.
"A young orang utan cracking coconut against a tree"
We were lucky that day as we saw more than a dozen orang utan during the afternoon feed. And the biggest male, Richie, was there as well. He is an impressive sight to behold. Age at around 30 years old, he is as huge as 2 to 3 adult human combine. It's size, agility and strength is something to aw at too.
I didn't managed to get much photos of the orang utan as my point and shoot digital camera was not capable of zooming far enough to capture any good photos. Although one can close to some of the smaller orang utans, visitor are warn not to go near them as precaution. Especially female orang utan that are carrying their young.
Silence is also require when going into the feeding area but somehow, some idiotic people just doesn't observe the rules. They even use camera flash! Luckily the warden came and advice them before I got mad as a monkey (did I just wrote that?).
Anyway, despite the bad encounter with baboon tourist, I was glad that I made the trip and will recommend anyone to visit this rehab center.
Definitely a worth while visit and I bet it will make any nature lover excited.
Thumbs up from me.
Strangely I never been to the center even though I live in Kuching, I know where it is and even passed by Semenggoh numerous times but I just never thought of going into the center before.That's until my Australianized cousins from Melbourne came for a short visit and being away all their life, my sister and her family from UK who coincidentally are still here suggested that we make a trip to Semenggoh for a visit to see the orang Utan.
I didn't know what got into me, I was nice, I canceled my weekend golf (!!?) and somehow offered myself to ferry them to the center with my compact people mover vehicle . Spontaneously, 6 adults and 2 children filled up my Avanza and off we went.Rated as one of the main tourist attraction, the center is situated 12th mile off Kuching and the trip only took us roughly 20 minutes from the city. Even without a locality map, to get there, just make your way to 10th mile bazaar and from there, just ask the local for direction as it's just a stone throw away.
The Semenggoh Orang Utan Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is part of the Semenggoh nature reserve which consists of Semenggoh Bio Centre, a Botanical Garden, Forest Nursery, a Seed Bank, Herb Ethnobotany Centre, Fern and Orchid Garden.
We paid RM3 for an entry permit each at the entrance and drove all the way to the back of the center, skipping the rest of the garden and nursery as we were short of time and wanted only to see the orang utan.
Btw, I still can't believed that I paid money for myself to been seen by a bunch of orang utans! Oh well, there is alway a first time for everything.
At the center, I found out that the best time to visit the place are during the feeding times which are at 9 am and 3pm each day. It's not recommended to go during fruit seasons as the orang utan tend to stay away from the feeding platform as there will be plenty of food else where during those time.
"A young orang utan cracking coconut against a tree"We were lucky that day as we saw more than a dozen orang utan during the afternoon feed. And the biggest male, Richie, was there as well. He is an impressive sight to behold. Age at around 30 years old, he is as huge as 2 to 3 adult human combine. It's size, agility and strength is something to aw at too.
I didn't managed to get much photos of the orang utan as my point and shoot digital camera was not capable of zooming far enough to capture any good photos. Although one can close to some of the smaller orang utans, visitor are warn not to go near them as precaution. Especially female orang utan that are carrying their young.
Silence is also require when going into the feeding area but somehow, some idiotic people just doesn't observe the rules. They even use camera flash! Luckily the warden came and advice them before I got mad as a monkey (did I just wrote that?).
Anyway, despite the bad encounter with baboon tourist, I was glad that I made the trip and will recommend anyone to visit this rehab center.
Definitely a worth while visit and I bet it will make any nature lover excited.
Thumbs up from me.
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