Sepilok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC)

The main reason for us coming to Sepilok is to visit the Sepilok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre . The centre looks after and cares for orphaned, injured or formerly captive orang-utans and rehabilitates them for release back into the wild. It is only one of four such centres in the world.

There are thought to be less than 20,000 orang-utans remaining in the wild and they are only found here on Borneo and also Sumatra. They are the only great ape that is found outside of Africa and are the only ones who build and sleep in nests.

Those who have been orphaned at a young age need lots of care and the supervisors may have to teach them how to climb, forage and build nests, all the skills they would normally learn from their mother. The very young even have to be bottle fed every 4 hours like a human baby.

As the animals develop the human support is gradually withdrawn and they slowly move into the wilds of the surrounding forest.

As a visitor you don't get to see most of the rehabilitation areas due to quarantine issues (orang-utans are susceptible to human diseases) and the disturbance that it would create. What you do get to see is two daily feeding sessions that take place in the forest. Food is put out to help supplement the diet of animals that have already been released so that they can come and get additional nourishment if needed.

It's great to see the little ginger fellas swinging so gracefully through the jungle but a big problem is the humidity. We don't know what the humidity actually was in the jungle but in Sandakan, the nearest town, it was 92%. The sweat was pouring out of us when we were just standing still let alone when we actually tried moving anywhere.

As with any wildlife spotting it's totally pot luck what you see. We were really lucky on our last visit to have a very close encounter with a fully grown female orang-utan on the walkway to the feeding area.

Once the orang-tans have finished eating then the macaques dive in and fight each other for any leftovers.

Sepilok Jungle Resort

We've stayed in some disappointing accommodation but Sepilok Jungle Resort has probably got to be one of the worst.

The resort is really shoddy and in a state of much needed repair and maintenance. The whole place has an air of dishevelment about it, which is a real shame as the jungle setting that the resort occupies is a lovely spot.

Our musty fan room was fairly scruffy with a nice leaky toilet in the dirty moldy bathroom.

Worse though are the staff, they are probably the rudest and most surly of any place we have ever stayed in. They seem to spend most of their time hanging around the guests restaurant in a big group socialising with each other, playing music on their phones at full volume or singing, rather than helping the guests. Any requests made to the staff are usually met with a scowl. When the staff aren't in a big group, busy doing nothing in the restaurant, they seem to shouting at each other or singing loudly on the grass outside our room.

The resorts own literature makes much of their "friendly staff" and also trumpets the "tranquility and serenity". With all the racket from the staff it's possibly the least tranquil place we've stayed. It's definitely the least professional staff we've ever encountered.

After our first nights stay we went out fairly early and came back at after 1pm to find our room hadn't been cleaned. When we went out again an hour later and asked if it could be done and were moodily told "no", as the guy on reception turned back around and carried on with his important game of solitaire on his PC. The following morning we again asked at breakfast if we could have our room cleaned. This time we were told yes but when we returned it still hadn't been done. A fine example of the excellent and friendly service provided by the staff at Sepilok Jungle Resort.

We've only ever seen the cleaners and maids in the guest TV room watching soap operas rather than getting the soap out and doing any cleaning.

It wasn't just us who had problems with the staff either. We were talking to some other guests who were staying in one of the dorm rooms. When they checked in they asked if the bathroom/toilet could be cleaned as it was filthy. They too were simply told "no".

There's a swimming pool too but we're too scared to use it in case we got poisoned by the slightly odd looking water.

The other big problem about staying there is that it's pretty isolated and therefore they can charge what they like for food, drink and excursions. All of which are overpriced.

The best thing I can say about the place is that it's only 5 minutes walk from the Sepilok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Centre. Although that still isn't compensation enough to recommend staying there and putting up with the grotty rooms and moody staff.