Patrick Comerford
Semenggoh Nature Reserve south of Kuching is a unique opportunity to get up close to semi-wild orangutans and to see these remarkable animals in their natural habitat.
Father Jeffry Renos Nawie of Saint Augustine’s Church, Mambong, in the Diocese of Kuching, had already spent a full morning with me at the Sarawak Cultural Village last week. Then, at the weekend, he brought Charlotte and me to see the orangutans in Semenggoh Wildlife Centre.
The wildlife centre is part of the Semenggoh Nature Reserve and is one of three orangutan rehabilitation centres in Malaysia where semi-wild orangutans can be seen in the natural forest. It is 24 km south of Kuching and is one of the most popular attractions in Sarawak.
The orangutan (pongo pygmaeus) is found in the rainforests of Malaysian Borneo (Sarawak and Sabah), Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan), and North Sumatra. This is one of the world’s largest primates and is almost completely arboreal. The word orang is the Malay for ‘person’, while utan is derived from hutan, meaning forest. So, the name orangutan literally means a ‘person of the forest’.
Mature males, with large cheek pads and a throat sac, can reach 150 cm in height, weigh up to 100 kg, and have an arm span of 240 cm. Females are smaller, and both sexes having long reddish hair. Females give birth every 7-8 years and mature at 12, while males mature at 15. Orangutans can live for over 50 years in captivity.
They are primarily fruit eaters, but also eat leaves, insects, bark, flowers, eggs, and small lizards, and build new nests each night in the forest canopy. They are generally solitary due to food scarcity and the lack of predators.
About 20,000 to 27,000 orangutans are left in the wild, and they are an endangered species because of deforestation, habitat encroachment, hunting and the live animal trade. Rehabilitation programnes in Malaysia and Indonesia, including the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre in Sarawak, work to reintroduce rescued orangutans and to educate the public.
The Semenggoh Wildlife Centre was set up almost 50 years ago in 1975, and cares for wild animals that have been injured in the rainforest, orphaned, or were once kept as illegal pets, orphaned or found injured in the rainforest.
The centre rehabilitates injured or captive animals for release back into the wild, conducts wildlife research and breeding programmes for endangered species, and seeks to educate the public about conservation.
The centre has cared for endangered animals from various species, but it is best known for its successful orangutan rehabilitation programme. Because of the high number of orangutans reintroduced to the wild, the forest reached its capacity and many of its rehabilitation activities were shifted to the Matang Wildlife Centre.
Semenggoh now focuses on studying orangutan biology and behaviour while providing a natural haven for semi-wild orangutans, including those born in the wild to rehabilitated mothers.
Over the years, many orangutans have been successfully rehabilitated and released into the 653 ha forest reserve. A number of these ‘graduates’ have had young and these orangutan have spent their entire lives roaming wild within this protected area.
Released orangutans spend most of their time in the forest but some return to the centre where they are fed twice daily.
Today over 20 orangutan are living at Semenggoh and the forest reserve has reached its capacity. But Semenggoh remains the best place in Sarawak to get up-close with orangutan.
The best time to visit Semenggoh is during the morning and afternoon feeding sessions (Patrick Comerford, 2024)
The best time to visit is during the morning and afternoon feeding sessions, at 9 am and 3 pm each day. As it gets close to feeding time orangutans sometimes descend from the trees. A park ranger gives a short talk and safety briefing five minutes before feeding time.
One of the rangers then heads to the feeding platform with a bucket of food and sometimes bottles of milk, and calls out the orangutans in the nature reserve by name. The food includes bananas, pineapples, oranges, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, coconut, papayas and hard boiled eggs.
On most days, the orangutans descend from the canopy to the trees and vegetation near the platform. Sometimes they grab some food and quickly move off into the forest. But on other occasions they hang around for 30-60 minutes. Sometimes there are 1-3 individuals and on other days you may see 4-8 or more orangutans.
However, on other days no orangutans show up. This happens during the fruiting season when there is abundant food in the forest and the orangutans do not need to return to the centre for free feeding.
The best-known of the orangutans in Semenggoh may include Ritchie, the dominant male, or a mother with a young baby. Ritchie was born in 1981 and arrived in Semenggoh on 9 January 1989 after he was rescued by the well-known Kuching journalist and author James Ritchie, who found him caged and for sale in the Batang Ai dam area.
From a debilitated 30 kg primate, Ritchie is now a 140 kg alpha male who rules the forests of Semenggoh. He is seldom seen these days but is said to be still fit and strong. However, he fears other male orangutans will take over him, and does not like to see Edwin and other male orangutans near him.
Semenggoh is open to the public from 8 am to 10 am and from 2 pm until 4 pm.
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