Watching and feeding monkeys seems to be a recurring event on our trip to date, but Kadi and Helen have still not had their fill and were very keen to visit the Orang-utan sanctuary in a place called Sepilok, north east Borneo, where they have one of just 4 orang-utan sanctuaries in the world. 
Orang-utans live only in the islands of Borneo and Sumatra and are nearing extinction thanks to human interference. The sanctuary takes orphaned babies and tries to rehabilitate them, teaching them how to climb, and what to eat so that they can go back and survive in the wild. They are one of the more intelligent types of ape and this is evident in their very humanlike behaviour and expressions.
Most of the time, the orang-utans in the sanctuary are shy and stay hidden in the trees – only 
coming down to the feeding platforms to eat. But we were lucky that on our visit there, we came across one of them just sitting on the handrail on one of the trails, just posing for photos. She sat patiently for a few minutes before taking an interest in one of the tourist’s backpacks.....so she climbed down off the rail, ambled over to the tourist and started pulling at the bag. Two rangers were there now and tried to pull her back but she was much stronger and 
was having none of it.....having opened the zip at this stage and was rooting inside. Very funny to watch! The rangers did finally get her off the backpack and the orang-utan got a bit pissed off at this stage, so she just lay down on her back in the middle of the path....in a sulk. The rangers tried to coax her up but she just slapped them away.
After Sepilok, we said our goodbyes to Helen and John Paul who are moving on to Australia now. We are now on our way to Semporna where we hope to do the Open Water Scuba diving course. Semporna is a base for Sipadan and Mabul islands, which apparently have diving as good as the Great Barrier Reef.
coming down to the feeding platforms to eat. But we were lucky that on our visit there, we came across one of them just sitting on the handrail on one of the trails, just posing for photos. She sat patiently for a few minutes before taking an interest in one of the tourist’s backpacks.....so she climbed down off the rail, ambled over to the tourist and started pulling at the bag. Two rangers were there now and tried to pull her back but she was much stronger and 
was having none of it.....having opened the zip at this stage and was rooting inside. Very funny to watch! The rangers did finally get her off the backpack and the orang-utan got a bit pissed off at this stage, so she just lay down on her back in the middle of the path....in a sulk. The rangers tried to coax her up but she just slapped them away.After Sepilok, we said our goodbyes to Helen and John Paul who are moving on to Australia now. We are now on our way to Semporna where we hope to do the Open Water Scuba diving course. Semporna is a base for Sipadan and Mabul islands, which apparently have diving as good as the Great Barrier Reef.
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