I REALLY don’t want to become a ‘once-a-month blogger’ and I am really sorry for the lack of posts. This is down to two things… The first? Because I have actually travelled around so, so, SO much that I haven’t had ANY time for bloggin’.
Second, that work has well and truly kicked in now, and I have had a semester’s worth of work to plan and organise. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a real workaholic – I’m not complaining about my work or workload, I’m merely explaining the reasons behind my absence. Apologies again!
But back to Borneo. What a place. You might have read my previous post on the islands that I visited while I was there. But where this post finds its habitat is in light of the truly amazing wildlife that I encountered when I was there and I didn’t even see the proboscis monkeys! What I did see was a whole menagerie of different creatures. Let’s see what I saw…
Sea Turtles
Unfortunately they aren’t teenage (they are significantly older) nor mutants or even ninjas, but are, in fact – turtles. You might have read about Henry and Harry in my previous Borneo post. Of course there were others, but these two were my favourites.
Sun Bears
What on earth are these adorable little things? Well, dear reader, you will be pleased to learn that these beauties are called Sun Bears (I know, AMAZING, right?) and are in-fact, the smallest specie of bear in the entire world.
Named because of the colour of their sun-kissed nose, these bears have been in a bit of trouble. So much so, that I just read this article about the travesties that these creatures face when they are kept as pets. So heartbreaking.
But it’s good to see some work being done to help these awesome little things. The visit to the sun bears was totally unexpected, but since it is just opposite the orang-utan rehabilitation centre, it certainly is worth just popping in.
Entry fee is just RM30 (again, around five/six quid) even though I paid the local fee (thanks Malaysian visa!) It is a brand new centre, only being open for around a year or so, I believe.
But has a large enclosure where the sun bears begin to experience what it’s like to live in the forest (as they are supposed to!) There’s a small viewing platform for visitors which looks down on the bears. There are telescopes provided for when the bears are down at the bottom, near to their sleeping quarters, but there were 2-3 bears hanging around the top that I didn’t need it.
The staff were very lovely and gave lots of information and were on hand to answer any questions that we might’ve had. Definitely something cool to do whilst you’re in Sepilok/Sandakan for sure. When else will you see them again, right?
Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: The Borneo Diaries – Wildlife
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