Friday, July 18, 2014

Amazing Sarawak: Matang Wildlife Center


After enjoying a delicious feast of the famed Sarawak Laksa, and stopping for torches in Kuching’s city center, we all jumped enthusiastically into our car which was now pointing its nose in the direction of the Matang Wildlife Center, based in Sarawak’s pristine Kubah National Park.

Along the road to Matang we were exposed to the raw beauty of Sarawak and Kuching in particular.

We heard fascinating stories and all about the city’s “White Sultan,” Sir James Brooke, an Englishman who was said to have named Kuching after the wild cats in the area (Kuching means cat in Malaysian).

Around 35km after leaving Kuching we arrived at Matang Wildlife Center. Which is exactly that, a wonderful wildlife facility that looks after the regions spectacular animals and provides valuable human assistance to the protected animals and unprotected animals nearby.

Though the team at Matang have other responsibilities, the main program at Matang is of course Orangutan care and rehabilitation.

They use a variety of techniques to raise up abandoned and orphaned Orangutans with the ultimate goal of successfully reintroducing these guys back into their natural habitat.

As you can imagine we were extremely excited to get the opportunity to see these adorable creatures once more.

The other, equally impressive, species at Matang include Sun Bears, Sambar Deer, Civet cats, Sea Eagles, Horn-bills (of all varieties), the Bornean Gibbon, Crocodiles and more.

Unfortunately by the time we checked in the day was lost to travelling (which turned out to be a blessing in disguise) so we enjoyed some free time and headed down to the river which we heard had a few rock pools.

We were so hot and sticky that the disappointment of not seeing the Orangutan’s vanished at the opportunity to spend some time in the cool river. 

Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Amazing Sarawak: Matang Wildlife Center
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