Semenggoh Wildlife Centre is one of three orangutan rehabilitation centres in Malaysia where you can see semi-wild orang-utans in natural forest. It is one of the most popular attractions in Sarawak and is highly accessible from Kuching.
Introduction
Semenggoh Wildlife Centre is an orangutan sanctuary and nature reserve. It offers the chance to get up close to semi-wild orangutan. Located approximately 24km from Kuching, Semenggoh was set up in 1975 to care for wild animals that had been previously kept as illegal pets, orphaned or found injured in the rainforest.
Visiting Semenggoh
The best time to visit is during the morning and afternoon feeding sessions. These take place daily at 9am and 3pm. Its a good idea to reach the centre before the feeding commences. Sometimes the orangutan come early and hang out near the HQ. If you are there early you may get a chance to watch them before they move to the feeding platform. As it gets close to feeding time orangutans sometimes descend from the trees near the HQ area. 5 minutes before feeding time a park ranger will give a short talk and safety briefing. You then follow the rangers along a jungle path to the feeding area. One of the rangers will head to the feeding platform carrying a bucket of food and sometimes bottles of milk. He or she will then call out the names of the orangutans that roam the nature reserve. The orangutans are given are variety of food including bananas, pineapples, oranges, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, coconut, papayas and hard boiled eggs.
On most days orangutans will descend from the canopy to the trees and vegetation near the platform. Sometimes they will grab some food and quickly move off into the forest. On other occasions they will hang around for 30-60 minutes. It really depends on luck. Sometimes there are 1-3 individuals and on other days you may see 4-8 or more orangutans. If you are really lucky Ritchie the dominant male will turn up or maybe a mother with a young baby.