JUST ANOTHER TEACHER: VISITING THE ORANGUTAN AT SEMENGGOH WILDLIFE CENTRE

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

VISITING THE ORANGUTAN AT SEMENGGOH WILDLIFE CENTRE - PART ONE

MONDAY, 5th SEPTEMBER 2022 ~ Once the rented car was handed over to us at the airport, we drove straight away to the very first spot in our itinerary: Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, as it was near. We were worried initially we might miss the orangutan feeding session that should take place at 9:00 a.m. but luckily there was enough time to get to the centre.

The entry ticket for an adult Malaysian was RM5.00 and another RM10.00 for the electric buggy ticket rides. You better get on the buggy unless you are willing to walk uphill to get the spots to see the orangutan which I think will take about 30 - 45 minutes one way. The buggy service was only introduced in the park on 30th August.

We were already warned by the officers at the counter that we might not be able to see the orangutans during the feeding sessions as the fruit season was in session. The beasts might not be tempted by the fruits offered by humans as natural fruits were already in abundance in the wild. We just kept our fingers crossed.

There was already a big crowd waiting to get into the buggy. It seemed everybody wanted to meet the orangutans during this school holiday when they came to Kuching.

Most of the visitors came in bigger groups. We managed to squeeze through to get onto the buggy earlier as there were only the two of us who could simply fill in the vacant seats. The buggy could accommodate 13 passengers at one time.

Once arrived at the buggy station, we had to walk a short distance to get to the first feeding area.

The crowd was already forming to see the park rangers giving food to the orangutan and there was only one in sight. I was told by the ranger that the one that we were observing was known as Jubli. He/She was quite faraway but we should be thankful at least one orangutan came to get the food offered.