Aug 2007

We checked out of our room and went to the reception desk to wait for our transfer to the jetty, where a boat would take us out to Selingaan Island. The transfer was 15 minutes later than I had expected so I was getting antsy and cantankerous waiting for it. But the van arrived and it only took about 30 minutes to get to where we were going. We entered the tour office and went in to the office to pay. This went smoothly until we found out that they only accepted cash, and we had just used all ours to pay for our hotel room. A little frustrated because we could have put the hotel on Visa, Andrew went of in a taxi to find a bank machine while I waited with the bags. He returned shortly, and then we loaded into the boat and were off to Pulau Selingaan, part of Turtle Islands National Park. Click the park name for more information about it.

It was a very smooth ride as there were only tiny waves. We passed quite a large village of stilt houses over the water as we were leaving. All in all, the boat ride was an hour long. Along the way, we saw a couple of islands we though we should buy.

When we arrived on the island, we grabbed our key and were told about meal times, and that we had a lot of time to kill until the evening came. We went to our room and laid down for a few minutes before grabbing our cameras and going out to explore a little. We walked along the beach where the turtles come up to lay their eggs. This time of year, green turtles were nesting (July - October); hawksbill turtles nest from February to April. Click the names of the individual turtles for more information. We picked up some garbage, and I tried to get some pictures of the birds, paparazzi-style. After we walked around for a while, we talked to some people, and the someone semi-official looking came up to us and asked what tour group we were with. We told them, thinking this was a stupid question because there is only one organization that takes groups to the island. Well, apparently we gave them the wrong answer, because we had to move to a different table. I figured if we had assigned tables, maybe they should label them.

After we ate lunch, we walked around the side of the island and saw some people snorkeling, swimming and relaxing. Andrew didn't want to go snorkeling because of his ear, and I didn't really want to go because I know my back would get a nasty burn. It was getting pretty hot, so we decided to go back to our room and chill out for a bit. Andrew napped, as you might have guessed. After he got up, we went outside and Scrabbled and relaxed before dinner. Before we ate, though, we walked around the information centre and then they played a film about the park and the projects that they do. After dinner, we had to stay in the cafeteria area until someone came to get us to tell us there was a turtle. While we were waiting, we chatted with some people about travel, music, TV, etc, etc. Then around 23:00, a guide came in and told us "Let's go". Luckily we were in group 1, so we got to go first. There were about 20 of us who went out to see the turtle laying her eggs. I sort of took off running without Andrew, because I was not going to miss any of this. Apparently when she's laying eggs, the turtle goes into a sort of trance or something,so I guess maybe we weren't disturbing her that much. There was only one flashlight allowed, and we had to be very quiet so as not to disturb other turtles that might come ashore. As soon as the eggs were laid, the ranger took them out of the nest and put them into a bucket to move them to a nursery nest. This particular turtle laid 88 eggs that night (we were told she might lay more clutches this season).

Once she finished laying eggs, she was measured, and her tag number was checked. We then quietly followed the ranger to the nursery where the eggs were placed in a nest designed to keep out predators.

After this, we then went to watch the release of that evening's hatchlings, maybe 30-40 of them. They released them close to the water's edge, and their flippers went like little propellers trying to get to the water. One little turtle started heading away from the water. I figure he might not make it in the big bad world if he can't find the ocean when he's a metre away from it. He did eventually get turned around by the ranger. Overall the survival rates for sea turtles are incredible low. Note: unfortunately I can't take credit for the following three shots. I bought these ones at the gift shop on the island.

This was the end of the program for the evening. Thank goodness, as we were both pretty tired by this point. We went back to our room and packed for our early departure the next day. Our impression of "Turtle Island": it was really amazing to see, but it was overly packaged and touristy for us. I think next time we'll try to do a volunteer stint rather than a package tour.

We woke up a little later than we had intended and went for a very meager breakfast at the cafe. We finished eating and went up the road to the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. It was only about five minutes away. At the centre they rehabilitate orphaned orang utans. Sometimes, if a baby orang utan is found, people will try to keep it as a pet. This is a very ill conceived plan, and it is also illegal. The young orang utans are taken to the center and taught the skills they need to survive in the jungle. Over the course of about ten years, they gradually reintroduce the juveniles into the wild, and encourage them to go into the jungle on their own, with less reliance on humans for survival. Please click here to learn more about they important work they do.

So we arrived, paid our entrance and camera fees, and headed in to the first feeding platform. It was about 300m on the boardwalk. This platform is the only one open to the public, and is the first step that the juvenile orang utans take toward independence. There are three other platforms, incrementally deeper into the jungle. We arrived there at 9:15 and there weren't many people, but there were two orang utans. One was swinging around on the rope a bit, and the other was just sitting in the shade on the feeding platform itself. We set up shop at a good viewing position on the railing, but there was a bit of orang utan poop on the railing, so we moved a few steps away from it, still in a good position. And then we waited for the 10:00 feeding. It was hot, and the crowds started to arrive, and some shade would have been good, but I was not relinquishing my spot to anyone. About ten minutes before the feeding was to begin, more orang utans started to arrive. All told, there were ten that came to the platform that morning (8 juveniles, and one adult female with her baby). We watched them grab a breakfast of bananas, sugarcane, and milk. One of them just grabbed a bunch of bananas and swing out on the rope to avoid having to fight for food. The food was pretty well gone after ten minutes. The mom and baby were the first ones out of there.

We decided to leave before the whole crowd moved at once, checking out the gift shop and drinking some water. There was an information centre across from the entrance, so we checked that out; it was really informative. They played a movie at 11:00 about the rehabilitation process, which was also very informative. After the video, we went over to the restaurant to grab some ice cream and water and sit for a bit out of th sun. It was getting really, really hot, so we decided to go back to our room and get some air conditioning. We went to lunch and did exactly that. We Scrabbled, and Andrew fell asleep while I sudoked for a while on our balcony. The remainder of the day consisted of relaxing, birdwatching and eating dinner.

I witnessed the rare touristicus bird, and managed to get a picture. The touristicus is found all over the world in many different shapes and sizes. They are usually seen sporting a fanny pack and a camera, with long white socks protruding from their sensible shoes. Their plumage? A t-shirt from their last migration.

While at dinner, we had a chat with a couple of Australian ladies who were wondering where they should go next. We enthusiastically recommended Tabin and said that everyone there was great. They sounded very interested, and we felt good about passing along the good word. After dinner we went back to our room and packed our bags, watched some CNN, and went to bed.