An orangutan enjoy's his breakfast above the Sukau Rainforest Lodge in Borneo (Sullivan Peraino)
An orangutan enjoys his breakfast above the Sukau Rainforest Lodge in Borneo
I wearily boarded a Malaysian Airlines flight, cut across the northern peninsula of Borneo and landed in the busy, eastern port city of Sandakan. A bright-eyed guide from the Sukau Rainforest Lodge greeted me and seven other travelers at the tiny airport exit, ushered us into a gloriously air conditioned van and took us to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center. I have been lucky to see quite a few monkeys in the wild during my travels through Central and South America, but I had never seen one of the great apes. We were briefed on the center's work to return injured, captured, and orphaned orangutans to the wild, and then escorted along a winding wooden boardwalk into the forest. Numerous "Quiet!" signs were posted along the way, and as we ventured farther down the path complete silence fell over our group. We arrived at a large viewing platform, about fifty meters away there was a small wooden deck built around a tree. Even though no one was making a sound, the anticipation was deafening, and you could almost feel our collective excitement peak as a short man in a blue uniform climbed onto the deck with a basket of bananas strapped to his back. He took a seat, swung the banana backpack around, and within seconds the first orange, lanky orangutan came swinging onto the deck to greet him! This orangutan was soon joined by another five apes, ranging in size and hairiness but all eager to eat as many bananas as possible.
My first encounter with orangutans in Borneo! (Sullivan Peraino)
My first encounter with orangutans in Borneo!
Orangutans go ape for bananas at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center (Sullivan Peraino)
Orangutans go ape for bananas at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center
I was fully aware that this could be my only orangutan encounter. Sadly, the Bornean orangutan is listed as endangered, with a population that has decreased more than 50% over the past sixty years. Habitat fragmentation from logging and land conversion for agriculture, illegal hunting and animal trade have left the Bornean orangutan with a struggling population, but the efforts of the Sepilok Rehabilitation Center and its partners have helped immensely. I met a Japanese couple during the tour who work for the Borneo Conservation Trust, a Japan-based NGO that is working to establish a wildlife corridor along the Kinabatangan River. They have purchased 50 hectares over the past six years, and with an eventual goal of 20,000 ha, their work is cut out for them, but it's encouraging to see this type of international concern for the welfare of these creatures and their habitat. Our guide proudly explained that Sabah is the only state in Borneo where the orangutan population is actually growing, an amazing feat of wildlife conservation and a great sign for Borneo's great ape.
Very excited to be staying at one of the world's Unique Lodges! (Sullivan Peraino)
Very excited to be staying at one of the world's Unique Lodges!
David Attenborough's old room. Enough said. (Sullivan Peraino)
David Attenborough's old room. Enough said.
Cruising the Kinabatangan River (Sullivan Peraino)
Cruising the Kinabatangan River
We left the orangutans and headed for the ocean. A speed boat wove us through Sandakan's coastal islands and into the mouth of the Kinabatangan River. A two hour charge upriver landed us at the Sukau Rainforest Lodge, recently named one of National Geographic's Unique Lodges of the World. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the open air lobby, looked up, and laid eyes on a mother orangutan and baby lazily hanging in the dipterocarp tree above the lodge! My guide managed to pull me away from the orangutan and handed me the key to my room. "You're lucky, this is the room Sir David Attenborough stayed in while he was filming a documentary here in 2011." As if the orangutan wasn't enough, holding the key to David Attenborough's old room took my nature-nerd level up to new heights, and frankly I'm not sure how I ever left the place.
The Sukau Rainforest Lodge is the perfect place to get to know Sabah's widlife (Sullivan Peraino)
The Sukau Rainforest Lodge is the perfect place to get to know Sabah's widlife
A tree frog along the forest trail behind the lodge (Sullivan Peraino)
A tree frog along the forest trail behind the lodge
The next morning, the mother and baby were replaced by a large male orangutan. Our guide set up a spotting scope, and I managed to angle my camera over the scope lens and get some great shots of the ape eating his breakfast. In Malay, "orang utan" means "man of the forest," and it was more than easy to see the 97% genetic similarity between this long-haired fellow and myself.
A male orangutan sitting in the tree above the lodge (Sullivan Peraino)
A male orangutan sitting in the tree above the lodge
An orangutan enjoy's his breakfast above the Sukau Rainforest Lodge in Borneo (Sullivan Peraino)
I enjoyed working with Jess to put together a private N.Z. trip. Jess has been my go-to person at Adventure Life over the past several years. She listens to what my husband and I want in a trip, and is always responsive to questions. Nothing seems to be too much of a bother for Jess.
DIANNE GRAY
17 hours ago
Cruse ship was great. Fantastic food and service. Cruise itinary got changed so not what we expected, but not an major issue. Japan portion was great. Drivers/guides arranged by 80 Days were great. Hotels were mostly ok. Did not know that most hotels outside of major cities do not allow shoes to be worn in the hotel. again a minor inconvenience. Overall a great trip. Adventure Life communications were timely and much appreciated as far as changes/requests.
Peter Goff
1 day ago
We were a group of three that initiated our research by independently searching for the best agency to help us in the somewhat complex experience of traveling to the Galapagos. We chose adventure life because they were the most responsive in the website provided the most comprehensive overview of the trip. Their reviews were also very good.
Adventure, life splits up its booking process in two parts. First Jeff, the booking agent helped us decide which experience best suited are interests. We chose a small 14 to 16 group sized yacht. Once the booking was made with Jeff, we were handed off to Coleene, who oversaw the complex process of assembling all of the necessary documents and making sure we had everything we needed to make the trip go smoothly. The adventure, life website, then becomes your personal place of reference for all things related to your trip from door to door. It’s a lot of information to assemble, especially for three travelers, but the website makes it easy and Colleen‘s gentle reminders kept us on track. In all, from the beginning, we had four months from the time we started our research till the time we departed. We felt that was, a good amount of preparation time and don’t think it would be wise to do it in less than four months. Mostly because I think you have more options with that amount of time. There were others on our trip that took six months and more from the time they started planning.
The trip itself was outstanding. We ended up on an excellent yacht (Galapagos Angel II) with a great group of guests that we were able to connect with and put together a really nice google photos album to share.
Jed
1 week ago
Mary was very helpful. Quick to reply with helpful information and closure on arrangements.
Nicola Maxwell
1 week ago
Mary Curry and Elma are always so responsive and nice to deal with.
Michael
1 week ago
I enjoyed working with Jess to put together a private N.Z. trip. Jess has been my go-to person at Adventure Life over the past several years. She listens to what my husband and I want in a trip, and is always responsive to questions. Nothing seems to be too much of a bother for Jess.
DIANNE GRAY
17 hours ago
Cruse ship was great. Fantastic food and service. Cruise itinary got changed so not what we expected, but not an major issue. Japan portion was great. Drivers/guides arranged by 80 Days were great. Hotels were mostly ok. Did not know that most hotels outside of major cities do not allow shoes to be worn in the hotel. again a minor inconvenience. Overall a great trip. Adventure Life communications were timely and much appreciated as far as changes/requests.
Peter Goff
1 day ago
We were a group of three that initiated our research by independently searching for the best agency to help us in the somewhat complex experience of traveling to the Galapagos. We chose adventure life because they were the most responsive in the website provided the most comprehensive overview of the trip. Their reviews were also very good.
Adventure, life splits up its booking process in two parts. First Jeff, the booking agent helped us decide which experience best suited are interests. We chose a small 14 to 16 group sized yacht. Once the booking was made with Jeff, we were handed off to Coleene, who oversaw the complex process of assembling all of the necessary documents and making sure we had everything we needed to make the trip go smoothly. The adventure, life website, then becomes your personal place of reference for all things related to your trip from door to door. It’s a lot of information to assemble, especially for three travelers, but the website makes it easy and Colleen‘s gentle reminders kept us on track. In all, from the beginning, we had four months from the time we started our research till the time we departed. We felt that was, a good amount of preparation time and don’t think it would be wise to do it in less than four months. Mostly because I think you have more options with that amount of time. There were others on our trip that took six months and more from the time they started planning.
The trip itself was outstanding. We ended up on an excellent yacht (Galapagos Angel II) with a great group of guests that we were able to connect with and put together a really nice google photos album to share.
Jed
1 week ago
Mary was very helpful. Quick to reply with helpful information and closure on arrangements.
Nicola Maxwell
1 week ago
Mary Curry and Elma are always so responsive and nice to deal with.
Michael
1 week ago
I enjoyed working with Jess to put together a private N.Z. trip. Jess has been my go-to person at Adventure Life over the past several years. She listens to what my husband and I want in a trip, and is always responsive to questions. Nothing seems to be too much of a bother for Jess.
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