Discover endangered orangutans and explore Semenggoh Nature Reserve on this half-day tour. Catch glimpses of orangutans living in their natural habitat, learn about their incredible behavior and ecology, and stop in at a local pottery factory.
Show more
The Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is located just 12 miles south of Kuching in Borneo's 1613-acre Semenggoh Nature Reserve. Since 1975 the center has been accepting animals either orphaned, injured, or rescued from captivity and reintroducing them back into the wild.
The Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is not a zoo; unless quarantined, the animals are not kept in cages and are free to roam about the thick, green forest canopy.
Rather than just attracting tourists, the primary goal of the wildlife center is to actually rehabilitate animals and get them back into the wild if at all possible.
The endangered orangutans are the primary reason that people visit the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, although the rangers do work with other species including crocodiles and hornbills. The center offers an increasingly rare opportunity to view orangutans in a natural habitat; many orangutans in the refuge are considered semi-wild and rarely come back to the rehabilitation center.
About the Orangutans
Orangutan means "forest people" in the local language; the name fits well given the primates' superior intelligence and human-like personalities. In 1996 a team of researchers witnessed a group of orangutans making sophisticated tools - and sharing them - for extracting seeds from fruit.
Orangutans are native only to Borneo and Sumatra and are considered extremely endangered. Of the estimated 61,000 orangutans existing in the wild, a little over 54,000 live on the island of Borneo.
See Also: Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center