Don't let go...

It was a dry and sunny morning in the jungle. After breakfast with the family, Lars took me and the Australian couple who were also staying there back to the village by boat. The water level on the river was definitely higher than when I arrived. When we went to pick up luggage we’d stored at Liza’s parents' house, Liza’s mum invited us in to see some of the traditional Bidayuh costumes she had been commissioned to make for an upcoming festival. They were beautiful and clearly took a lot of work. Then we walked across the narrow suspension bridge over the river and we were back to roads and cars. Lars drove us back to Kuching. I arrived at the hostel just before midday and decided I had just enough time to grab some lunch and get the afternoon bus to Semenggoh Nature Reserve for the afternoon orangutan feeding.

There were even more people there than on Thursday morning when I went, probably because it’s the weekend. While was good to see so many Malaysian children being brought to see their native wildlife, I was worried that the sheer number of people and children would mean it was too noisy and the orangutans wouldn’t come. Since I’d been before I knew the routine so was right at the front when they started letting people along the trail to the feeding area and there were orangutans arriving as I got there.

This time I saw one adult female (called Selina) with the youngest baby in the reserve – only four months old, and a couple of juveniles, one male and one female. The crowd was noisy but it didn’t seem to disturb them. They are so funny to watch. They spend a lot of time just hanging by one arm and one leg and they’re veritable gymnasts in their ability to do the splits!


There’s not as much time for watching them in the afternoon – the feeding time is shorter and the last bus leaves soon after. I was sad to have to leave while there was an orangutan still there and before the staff told everyone to go but I had a 20 minute walk back to the entrance and I didn’t want to miss the bus. But I was very happy to have a second chance to see them and I changed my camera settings a bit so more of my photos were in focus. My blip had to be Selina and her baby and one of the juveniles is in the extras.