SEPILOG, SABAH BORNEO

SEPILOK JUNGLE RESORT SABAH

So here we are near the town of Sandakan and had a great view of the highest mountain in Borneo ,Gunung Kinabalu (4,101 metres) We are staying at the Sepilok Jungle Resort which is just by the rehab centre ;for orangutans. Nice place AND there`s a decent sized pool surrounded bu lush park.To get to the restaurant (open) you have to walk on a boardwalk through amazing vegetation and over a small lake. Yesterday I saw my first orangutan close up because the park keepers found one who`d left rehab ..the Amy Winehouse of the oranutan world.We went and had a meal later – Pat didn`t like the manager ..a guy with an attitude !

So ,after a fairly decent breakfast and a different (and nicer) waiter we set off for Sepilig rehab only to discover that it was a ten-minute walk away and we could have walked there rather than paying for someone to drive us. Far too many people ..the one near Kuching was much much better .A woman was walking around with a board with` Silence` written on it – and kept trying to move people forward when the orangutans appeared.We latched on to a woman with two children so she thought we were grandparents and sisn`t hassle us. Afterwards we watched a film about orangutans so all in all we`re orangutaned up to our eyeballs.The film was good -or maybe I appreciated a sit down in a room with AC and no BIG heads in front.

We then set off ,on foot, to the rainforest discovery centre ...it was supposed to be 2kms away but in the heat it felt like 20.en route we stopped and had a great meal at a little roadside shack – delicious. I was a bit anxious about the cleanliness aspect BUT I was starving and anyway , I was once a girl guide so maybe I have some antibodies left from camp cooking !

Anyway the park was great and there was a canopy walkway though we didn`t see many birds.There were a lot of Chinese schoolchildren who seemed more interested in us than the view! We then set off to see the tallest tree ,,,It was impressive BUT we were running out of water .Pat decided to go a `different` way so we ended up on a boggy mosquito trail ..I was getting a bit nervous about crocs and oranutans BUT NO , we found our way out...The sounds in the jungle are amazing , there`s plenty of movement out there but I can`t see it ,even with my contact lenses! I was dreading the walk back but luckily someone stopped and took us back . Then into the pool to cool down ,though it`s cooler out than in so not that refreshing . We are now in our room ready to go and eat.Pat is going to have to bite the bullet and get served by his favourite waiter -there`s always a bad apple ( or pineapple)