Sandakan --- 12 to 14 June
From Kuching we flew to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the state of Sabah, where we went on a brief
city tour before taking a connecting flight to Sandakan, arriving there at about 6:00pm.  We
checked into the Sabah Hotel, with nice facilities and set in a beautiful garden but in a somewhat
isolated location.
The morning after our arrival we went to Sandakan's main tourist attraction, the Sepilok Orangutan
Rehabilitation Center located in a forest about 15 miles (25 km) from town.  Orphaned and injured
orangutans are brought to the Rehabilitation Center to be prepared for life in the rainforest.  To
aid in the transition to life in the wild, food for the orangutans is set out twice a day on an elevated
platform in the forest a few hundred feet from the Center's buildings.  The young orangutans
initially come to the feeding station for their meals but as they mature they gradually become less
dependent on the supplied food and gradually gravitate to foraging for their food in the forest and
eventually are no longer dependent on food supplied by the Center.
At the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center we, together with about 150 other tourists, waited
at the feeding station for the orangutans.  The feeding platform was first approached by one young
orangutan, then another, then more until there were a dozen or so adolescent orangutans eating at
the feedingplatform and cavorting to the amusement of the viewers.  Unfortunately we saw no
mature orangutans, who are much larger and look quite different from the immature ones we saw.   
The Center offered a movie presentation related to orangutans and includes a souvenir shop, a snack
bar, etc.   I got the impression that the main purpose of the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation
Center is to serve as a income-producing tourist attraction and that the rehabilitation of orangutans
is secondary.
Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center
Orangutan Feeding Platform
Young orangutan on his way to lunch
Three young orangutans on the rope
In the afternoon we went on a bus tour of Sandakan featuring the Chinese Buddhist Puu Jih Shih
Temple, located on a hill offering beautiful views of the surounding countryside.

Next morning we flew back to Kota Kinabalu.