An awesome experience - Kuching

There were a number of options for the week after Lesley and Billy getting back from Singapore and Matt having to return to the UK. One thing we were both keen to do was to see the Orang Utans there are three main places to go. Koto Kinabalu and Sandikan in Sabah and Kuching in Sarawak. All three were at least one flight away. I had been to Kuching in January 2010 and didn't see a single one. I had visited Koto Kinabalu in October and seen three, including my adopted Koyah. I had never been to Sandikan but some of my fellow travellers had and had said it was OK. After some deliberation ( and the fact that a return flight was only RM40 we decided to try Kuching. The good thing about the capital city of Sabah is that there are also other things to do as it is a fairly vibrant city. The trip was booked for two nights. We would arrive, do a day at the Semengoh rehabilitation and then have most of the following day free before the early evening flight to Miri.




The flight I had arranged at a very cheap price was with MAS. It should have left Miri at 3.00 and reached Kuching at 5.30. This despite the fact that a direct flight was only 50 minutes. The reason for the cost and time was that we should have made two stops. As I was checking in at the MAS counter asked if we were travelling on a 'big' plane. I've no idea! That seemed to be the right answer as we were boarded onto the direct jet flight rather than the indirect twin prop and actually arrived at 4.00 rather than 5.30. Ding Dong, result....

Once it Kuching we jumped in a taxi to the 'harbour view' hotel which wasn't near a harbour or have a view..



Once again the taxi driver did not disappoint, his driving was atrocious and seemed to believe he was on the qualifying for the son to be staged Malaysian Grand Prix which is being staged in Sempang, Kuala Lumpur

The trip to the rehabilitation was awesome. We headed out to Semengoh early in the morning, there are two feeding times in the park, one at 9.00am and one at 3.00 pm. The taxi driver had agreed to take us and wait before returning to the city centre. All for a very reasonable price.

As I said, my previous trip to the rehabilitation was not that much of a success. I did the trip in one day and didn't see a single primate.The ranger that was guiding us not the jungle and to the feeding station this time was also not that encouraging stating that "this is not a zoo and the animals make the decision as to whether they want to tun up or not"

We were lucky and did get to see three of the residents. We ddid decide however that a visit for the afternoon feeding session was a good idea and after an hour got the taxi back to the hotel and arranged for the taxi to pick us up at 3.00pm

Across from the Harbour View hotel is a small bistro called 'James Brooke Bistro' James Brooke was the first governor of Sarawak during the colonial days, he was responsible for the introduction of the penal laws in this part of Malaysian Borneo. After a very nice lunch of Malaysian rice (much nice than the nasty goring we had eaten few days earlier. As I went to pay the bill I flicked through the customer comments book and came across an entry from his great great grand daughter who was on a trip tracing back her roots. I thought that was really nice and just shows how close we all are to history.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel where we were meeting the taxi driver.

I was not too disappointed not to see more than three Orang Utans in the morning but the afternoon session was just amazing. As we walked through the jungle towards the feeding station there was some anticipation. The ranger had not mentioned the fact that we may not see anything this time and we were not disappointed. Sitting on the feeding station was one HUGE Alpha male, his name is Richie and according to the ranger he was in a very bad mood. We stood and watched for a short while and he sat and watched us back. gradually, in the next 10 minutes we were surrounded by the animals. There must have been a least 20 of the creatures. It was quite simply an amazing experience.

Richie, at one stage decided that he wanted a closer at his observers and headed towards the crowd of people, there was a bit of panic and he was guided away by the ranger. As we were leaving one of the females actually followed us up the track towards the car park. Apparently she was one of more aggressive of the group and once again there was a bit of panic but nothing happened. It was all very very exciting. The rest of the trip to Kuching consisted of wandering around the city. The flight back was not as good as the flight there as this time we didn't get the first class treatment and he journey was on a twin prop aircraft via Bintalu. we finally arrived back in Miri at 7.00pm. A fantastic trip !!


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Location:Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia