Day Four - Sandakan

Headed over to the feeding platform at Sepilok again today for the 10am feeding. There was a lovely Malaysian man (who I later found out was named Dato) at the gate who was super welcoming because we were volunteers. On our way to the platform a big male orangutan came out of the jungle ahead and started to walk along the fence towards us. As he stopped and posed on the railing we tried to get a picture, but sadly my camera lens was quite foggy from the humidity. Then next thing we knew a ranger came rushing out of the jungle with a stick, and warned us that this orangutan was known to bite people, so he hurried us past and we continued on to the feeding platform. I later found out that this orangutan was named Ceria, and we would regularly encounter him during our project. He is a rehabilitated orangutan who is rather reluctant to return to the wild, and prefers to cause mischief around the centre! In the past he has pulled down the trousers and pants of a volunteer, and the day before he had deliberately peed on some tourists from the roof overhead the viewing platform. You must have eyes in the back of your

head when around orangutans.

Once we got to the platform you could see the trees swinging in the distance, like the scene where the T-Rex emerges in Jurassic Park. Six orangutans visited in total – it is so funny to watch them interact, grabbing fruit and running off, and swinging in all sorts of positions. Then Ceria acted out again and climbed over the top of the viewing platform and down the other side behind the tourists, who started running and yelping as he bolted along the platform, with the ranger shouting 'run, run!'

After lunch we were picked up in a mini bus by driver John for a tour of the nearby town of Sandakan. We began with a visit to the War Memorial, which is on the site of a former POW camp where thousands of Australian soldiers were held by the Japanese during WWII. They were then forced to go on death marches to Ranau –

through hundreds of kilometres of forest. The majority died, with only six surviving from the camp.

We then took a trip to the Sandakan Buddhist Mission Temple – which had an amazing outlook to the ocean, and the interior certainly didn't disappoint either.

Afterwards we headed to the water village and took a stroll down one of the 'streets'. There is a real character to the place – people had baskets draped over the side for catching fish, plants were growing in coke bottles, and there were even chickens in a cage hanging out over the water. There were quite a few people living there, and some of the houses were brightly coloured with Malaysian flags, while others were much more dilapidated. There were smiley, happy children everywhere, who were so enthusiastic to wave and say

hello.

There was a boardwalk all the way out to the final house – but the planks were rickety and loose and there were plenty of gaps! If more than one person stood on it, it wobbled. While I'm sure the locals have no problem, I wasn't quite brave enough to go right to the end, although I did make it most of the way.

Then it was a couple of pit stops for leech socks, gumboots and groceries before it was back to the rest house. I invested in a few things like a better pillow, some storage for the bathroom, water and some other drinks – a bottle of vodka here is about £4, but wine is quite expensive for some reason.

Upon arriving back we found out we were actually having a welcome dinner and some of the local rangers were joining us. The staff set up

a buffet style dinner, with fried chicken, pumpkin curry, omelette and vegetables in oyster sauce. It was very nice, and about six rangers came, including the head ranger Elis, and Amoy - who also works here at the rest house in the evenings. I will be working with her in the outdoor nursery next week.

We all went around the table and introduced ourselves. We tried to talk to the rangers, but they don't have too much to say for themselves at this point. One of the girls up our end of the table spent the whole time on the phone and everyone seemed really shy and reluctant to answer questions – but I appreciate English isn't their first language and I am hoping that once we start working with them they will open up a bit more and things will get easier.