She's top banana at Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary

SANDAKAN, MALAYSIAN BORNEO–Any theatre impresario will tell you that every great show needs a bona fide diva.

Here, in the middle of a rainforest, her name is Noreen. She primps for the cameras if she's in the mood, she can be coy and her displeasure at the driving monsoon rains is anything but subtle. She is a star.

We all stand in a various assortment of rain gear, plastic ponchos and soggy clothes with cameras poised and mouths agape at the miracle of the orangutans, with their inquisitive eyes and incredibly humanlike gestures.

We are an especially appreciative audience given that Noreen and her fellow cast members stood us up earlier in the day. Despite living in a rainforest, orangutans don't much care for the rain either and we learned the hard way that the show must not necessarily go on.

Fortunately, at the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, your admission tickets gives you two chances a day to trek along a raised platform into the forest and watch staff arrive with bags of bananas for these great apes.

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