Day 53 - More Tough Goodbyes

We hopped in the truck again to go out and cut some more banana trees for the babies. I borrowed Jack's machete and tried for myself this time. The plants are kind of soft and watery at this stage of their development, and indeed very easy to cut. Once we got back to the centre we got to go into the medical area so we could collect a big blue playmat and take it for cleaning. We took it outside and jet washed and scrubbed it – it actually came up pretty nice. It was really heavy, so it took all four of us to drag it back in and hang it up. The orangutan that had been brought in the other day was in the room, in a tiny cage. He was resting in a tiny hammock made out of a tea towel, which makes you realise just how small he is! Jeremy also came into the centre with Michael, who is volunteering with the sun bears. We all ended up locked in the ranger's office briefly as Ceria was prowling around again!

In the break, Jack and I went to say goodbye to Jeremy, as we finished a bit earlier than expected. He was due to leave at midday for a friend's wedding in Kota Kinabalu, and this was the last time we'd get to see

him. When we arrived we had just missed the red leaf monkeys! Super annoying, as we have been trying to see them for ages, and keep missing them!

Back at work, after a miserable lunchtime of wallowing, Ceria took one look at us and decided to make a beeline straight to us. He ended up chasing us all around the building before James intervened! We then had another hammock to hang, this time in the medical area out the back. There are two very tiny baby macaques in a cage near there at the moment, and Ibri was saying Chinta managed to grab one and pull it through the bars, except for its head, which was stuck inside. Luckily someone noticed, before she pulled it off!

James got out the drill again and we headed inside to drill some holes and affix the hammock to the cage. In the cage right alongside us was another new arrival. She was very curious, watching everything we did. She also decided her favourite game was to reach through the bars and shove people's elbows out of the way. She thought this was hilarious! We then headed out to clean the big cage, when an emergency van arrived and took out a cage containing an absolutely massive snake! Not only long, but thick.

In the evening we were due to do another night trek at 7.30pm – through the forest this time, but it began to pour with rain, so it was cancelled. Not long

after James told us, there was the loudest thunderclap we have heard yet! We all jumped out of our skins!