22 August 2006 - Shangri Lah Rasa Ria Resort

I'm so excited! I’m going to the Orangutan Sanctuary at Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort today. The trip starts at 10am with a coach ride from another Shangri-La resort – Tanjung Aru Resort to Rasa Ria which is located about an hour’s drive north west of KK.

The coach arrived at Rasa Ria with time to spare so I headed off to the café for an iced Lehmon teh before wandering off to tourist shop where amongst other things they were selling batik artwork on silk and wood. The paintings are done by deaf and mute people who live locally and the selling of the goods provides the people with a source of income. I bought three large batik silks, not just because I liked the idea of giving the disadvantaged people an inocome, but also because the artwork is beautiful and I knew they were exactly what I was looking for to fill the large wall in my dining area.

Having left the artwork in the safe hands of the shop attendant I headed off outside to take a look around. The Rasa Ria grounds are GORGEOUS! They have a pristine beach, Bali styled gardens which offers a quiet place away from the hoards, they also have more traditional garden layouts which are filled with tropical plants, of which the flowering gingers were definitely my favourite. The Orangutan feeding time wasn’t until 2pm so I had some quiet time lying on one of the many seaside lounges relaxing before heading into the sanctuary.

The experience started with a briefing on what the group, about 50 in number, could and couldn’t do after which we were showed a five minute section of a video which described the Orangutan and it’s habits in the wild. Then we were off! We were lead along a fairly steep forested track to the viewing platforms which were perhaps a ten minute walk away. Once there the keeper placed fruit food on a feeding platform which at it’s closes was probably about 200m away from the viewing platform. Once the food was distributed we were soon joined by two older juvenile Orangutans who climbed down the trees virtually above our heads. Once these two were seated a younger juvenile climbed tentatively down a tree RIGHT above my head.

Initially the two older Orangutans wouldn’t let the younger eat but kept chasing it off whenever he/she approached but after about 10 minutes & lots of daring moves the younger was allowed to grab food but only while remaining off the platform. Once the little one had had it’s fill it was off climbing saplings & swaying on ropes occasionally returning to the food to grab another bite to eat before heading off to play some more.

While this was going on the other two looked like they were having a siesta on the feeding platform with one lounging on it’s back while the other just sat there looking around at the strange creatures looking at it. I felt very sad leaving the sanctuary, it was certainly a very emotional experience for me coming face to face with a creature that is so incredibly close in DNA to humans. The keepers appear to be correct when they say that the Orangutans resemble human children who are around six years old in both personality and intelligence.

After about half an hour it was time for us to head back to the resort. After grabbing my paintings & sitting down enjoying the music provided by two men playing local music on local instruments the coach arrived to ferry us back into KK.

I managed to sit next to a very interesting woman on the way back. She was another Australian woman who was well traveled and was more than happy to relate her experiences of Sabah to me. We talked the whole way back about Sabah’s social and environmental issues, issues at home etc etc etc Needless to say the time passed very quickly. Too quickly perhaps.

I decided to disembark at Wisma Merdeka as I wanted to hunt down a Sabah pin for my backpack to go with the Brunei pin that was already there. I didn’t have any luck unfortunately.