So, the sanctuary was amazing.
The first thing that struck me was the island's layout. An interesting quirk of the Bukit Merah orangutan sanctuary is how the humans and orangutans are separated; here, the hairless primates are behind bars. While we walked through the sanctuary in a narrow caged path, it is up to the orangutans to come up and see us.
How amazing is that?
On this island in a lake, there were 24 resident orangutans. Over the day, we caught a glimpse of about 11 or 12, including 6 incredibly playful juveniles!
Words cannot describe how endearing and beautiful these young apes were, here are some photographs*:
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| A juvenile female we found playing with two rambunctious males. |
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| After an accidental head butt, the males split up and pouted for a moment before resuming their wrestling. Behold the pout! |
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| Just snoozing in the tall grass. |
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| It may look like a hug, but it's actually a bite. These two infant males spent a some time gnawing at each other, pushing and biting, slapping and pulling...all in good fun, of course! |
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| One of the largest males in the part - look at those cheek flanges! |
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| This was amazing. This female clapped at me, made eye contact, then offered up a hand. Maybe she wanted to borrow my camera? |
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| Great mumma with a lovely baby! AHHH!!! So cute. |
It's you lucky day!!! Why?
Because...
Bonus Photos from the adjacent Eco-Park!!!
...that's why.
Sleepy bearcats - totally adorable.
Also, have a sunbear. Being endearing.
*my camera's exposure was far too low (but I didn't notice in the excitement of the day) - you might notice the resultant discolouration :P
