I went back to the Orangutan center in the afternoon, to see if I could get some more nice pictures, and maybe catch a glimpse of the dominant male from this jungle. It turned out to be a good move as more Orangutans arrived for feeding today and also the Macaques put on quite a show before feeding time!
As I arrived at the feeding platform so did the whole Macaque group that lives in the jungle here... all 40 plus of them! They sauntered alone the walkway next to the few people that had bothered to come back this afternoon. There were two dominant males in the group, both very obviously bigger and more aggresive than the rest. The biggest one must have mounted at least 4 females during the half hour we waited to see the Orangutans fed! I would have got a picture, were it not for the lesser known jungle inhabitant, the 'German twat', who gathered around in a large group to watch, in the way of everyone else. This while they all owned cameras with a lens as big as my fucking arm!! I will not be donating any cash for the upkeep of this particular species... (they also make various appearances in visitors photos and videos, noisy, ignorant cocks!).
At one point two female Macaques, both carrying babies had a huge fight, right in amongst the people standing there! One of them was seriously biting the other, which produced a really high pitched and wild squeal of pain. This brought lots more females running over to join in/see what was going on, scattering nervous people as they ran! Highly amusing to watch from my 'not as cocky as the rest of you' perch a few meters away. The males didn't bat an eyelid at any of this, and more interested in 'hooting' at each other and parading up and down pushing their chests out!
I was fairly glad when they all wandered off into the jungle, the dominant male coming back to speed up his various females at intervals as they lagged behind. Some of them looked and acted quite cute, but these things are not to be messed with in any way!
The staff mentioned to me that the Orangutans might not appear this afternoon, as they frequently don't bother later in the day. Shortly after the wardens took up their seat on the platform though, 6 Orangutans can swinging in, 4 of them in a neat line together!
I had a perch much closer to the feeding tower this afternoon, and it was nice to observe them 'meeting', playing and eating together. They were given suger cane, which two of them sat infront of a warden for as he broke the cane and twisted it over them to produce a sweet drink for them. They sat with their arms around each other both craning to drink the stuff, very comical. As they started moving away, so the four who swung in together all moved a few meters along their rope off of the platform and hung around (literally) for a while, all hanging on to each other and bunched up. Very amusing!
After they'd finished their games they made their way back into the jungle and the big male Macaques moved in to eat peacefully together. Obviously from the loud crunching when they tucked into the cane, it was a bit hard for the females and young, or at least not to their taste...
As I walked back through the center I noticed a young Orangutan in the trees near one of the buildings. He was being watched by staff members who were trying to get him to go back into the jungle. He had been recently released from the rehab center and so liked going to hang out by the buildings he recognised! I left after 20 minutes or so as he clearly was not coming down no matter what tool they used (bananas, apples, biscuits, etc!).
That evening I called the jungle trekking people and arranged to go in two days time, which gives me a day to move to Sandakan, a bigger town than where I was, and maybe sort some kit out for a jungle stay. The evening meal was not a buffet tonight, but a 5 course meal, all served up in a silver service stylie... I really couldn't be arsed, but there is no other eating option out here! It was superb food for the price (about a fiver!), but as soon as I had eaten, I sloped off away from the ultra quiet dining decking and crashed in my room. (no storms tonight! ;))
My new photos won't be on photobucket for a few days, this PC has issues and I can't keep my camera or USB memory connected to it long enough to up load them all. I have stuck some on my Facebook photo album though for those that use it...
