Orangutans!

Less than an hour out of town and we arrive at the Semenggoh Wildlife Sanctuary.  The orangutans live in the surrounding forest, but come to the sanctuary to feed, and we happen to have arrived close to feeding time.

In no time we start to see them up in the trees and moving towards the feeding platforms.

Ritchie, the big male, dominates the feeding platform for a while.

They come close enough to take bananas out of the guide's hands before scuttling back up into the trees.

It's amazing seeing them so close in their natural habitat - no walls or cages between us and them - a unique experience.  And they're true acrobats too.

There are times I wish I had a decent SLR like some of the other tourists - I lust after a zoom lens and decent exposure control - but my little Casio point and shoot just manages the job and doesn't weigh me down with expensive gear.

So a magic orangutan experience, and no need now to go rushing off to another sanctuary in Sabah in the east. 

All we can hope for now is these magnificent animals continue to have sufficient habitat to live a natural existence.  Tricky, given the voracious demand for palm oil which is seeing the rain forest decimated to make way for the endless hectares of palm trees we saw around KL.

Back to town and we book for the river boat trip.  A good way to see Kuching from the comfort of a boat with a beer in hand and running commentary.

Someone with a sense of humour creating a dragon sculpture.

Some native Sarawak dancing at the end of the trip was an added bonus.

So day one in Kuching is a resounding success.  Roll on our cultural experience tomorrow.