People of the forest - Semenggoh

When we decided to go to Malaysian Borneo there was no question about it: we would visit one of the wildlife rescue centers in the hopes of seeing an orangutan. We chose the city of Kuching as a base for the 2,5 weeks we spent on Borneo. One of the main reasons we chose Kuching is it's proximity to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre.

There are a few different spots on Borneo where you can see semi wild orangutans. We opted for Semenggoh because it is not included in most organised tours (they tend to go to Sepilok in the east) but still accessible enough by publing transport (as opposed to Matang).

Mother and baby sighted

Semenggoh is a rehabilitation centre and the orangutans living there are thus semi wild. They are used to humans and no longer wild enough to be set free. But they can move about within the conservation area as they please.
Twice daily food is placed on feeding platforms in the reservation, but this is no guarantee the apes will show.
If there's enough food in the forest, they usually do not come to the feeding platforms. We were aware our trip might be in vain, but wanted to at least give it a try.

Mother and baby coming down to feed

From Kutching we took a bus to Semenggoh, about a 40 minute ride, so we arrived in time for the afternoon feeding session. From the bus stop it is about 20 mins walk on a paved road to the feeding platform.
In the past you were allowed to walk ther over paths through the forest, but since the current alpha male is too aggressive the paths have been closed to humans. I think that's a good sign for the apes, don't you? The rules are set to make the orangutans more comfortable, not the humans.

Aplha male Ritchy on the feeding platform

As we waited near the platform, we could read a bit on the individual history of each ape and the family relationships. Within the reservation the apes are comfortable enough to breed!
We had good hopes of spotting an orangutan since it was past the fruit season, which means less food to find in the forest. We were not dissapointed! Our first sighting were a mother and child! Still fairly high up in the trees, but who cares?? This was more than we had hoped for!

Edwin had so many facial expresions!

As the rangers placed some food on the platform, they came further down and started munching. But suddenly then she went up again!
It soon became clear why: the trees started swaying... and Ritchy came down! Ritchy is the current alpha male, and an impressive sight, even from the safe distance we kept.
We stayed another hour or so to watch the apes eat and interact. A few more oranutangs came down, including the comical Edwin. Utterly satisfied with our sightings we went back to Kutching.

Enjoying lunch

But before we left Borneo we decided to try our luck again... so a fortnight later we visited Semenggoh for the second time.  An even more impressive visit.
This time we saw another mother and child, both a bit older than the previous visit. The youngster was happily eating his banana inside 'our' viewing hut. And because visitors have to keep their distance from the residants, this meant that the humans were standing in the blazing sun, while the apes were enjoying a lunch in the shade: imagine that!

Ritchy: 150kg of muscle

Then suddenly the mother started walking, and the rangers appeared very concerned. Another visit by Ritchy! But this time not on the feeding platform. He followed suit and decided to have lunch in the hut as well.
And if Ritchy does that, you show respect. An adult male orangutan can litteraly rip you apart. So the humans were hoarded out of his way, while leaving room for the moher a child orangutan that were leaving. (We learned that since she had a young child to care for, she did not want to be impregnated and therefor stayed away from the alpha male.) It was a very crowded  parking lot! Even more so when Ritchy decided to follow the others...

Mother and child hurrying away

Luckily all went well in the end, and the rangers made sure to keep as much distance between the human and apes as possible. The only thing was that Ritchy decided to sit down right next to the road, and do some people watching. The same road we had to walk to get to the bus stop.....
After some time, we knew we had to start walking. The last bus of the day would be there in half an hour. But what about Ritchy?
After strict instructions from the rangers, do not look at him, no camera sounds, no photos, no talking etc. we walked passed him, as far to the other side of the road as possible, but still only 6 meters away!  Equally impressive as scary if you ask me, but what an experience... Definitly a top 10 visit!

Ritchy near the road, seeing us off