Watching Orangutans in Sabah, Borneo

The Island of Borneo has a lot to offer, but inevitably a major aspect for me is its unique wildlife. Surely there are several species worth watching but in my head 2 of them caught my attention from the beginning: Orangutans and Proboscis monkeys. This blog is for the orangutans 😉

They are found in the tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, with the Kinabatangan River and Danum Valley as good observations options in the context of Malasyan Borneo. When I visited in October 2025, it was very challenging to see them from Kinabatangan river since it was not the season where the trees are full of fruits that brings orangutans closer to the river, so they tend to be deeper in the forest.

Luckily, there is still a magical place in the region that offers a chance to see them, and spoiler alert, it does not dissapoint! First video complication of the experience below!

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center

Sepilok is a small town near Sandakan in the state of Sabah, Malasyan Borneo. It is well known for its orangutan rehabilitation center, providing a great opportunity to still see them in their stunning natural environment. It´s all win-win if you are in the area looking for wildlife and you also get to support this conservation effort.

Sepilok orangutan rehabilitation center was founded in 1964 to rehabilitate orphaned, injured, or displaced orangutans, primarily victims of habitat loss or the illegal pet trade

It covers 43 square kilometers of tropical forest. The moment you get in, you are definitely walking in another natural world that has been carefully preserved. This makes more sense when you understand the big palm industry in the area, hence these are protected areas to ensure the survival of these beautiful and charismatic animals.

While the orangutans are naturally the stars of the show, the center itself is worth the visit because of the natural beauty and easy access to a well preserved tropical rainforest. If you get very lucky, you can see orangutans get super close just as you walk by the paths.

One small dosis of cute orangutans

They provide medical treatment, nutrition, and survival-skills training to young orangutans. Gradually they reintroduce them into the surrounding protected rainforest once they can live independently

Feeding platforms

There are specific times for feeding in the morning and afternoon in the outdoor open platforms. The ticket is valid for the entire day, so many people choose to visit in the morning, then visit the nearby Sun Bear conservation center, and come back to the second feeding time to increase the possibility to see more orangutans.

Everyone got excited when they arrived to the feeding

The center is big and orangutans are really free to be anywhere they want, that´s why we were told even feeding times are not a guarantee that you will see many of them either, but understandably as a visitor, it increases your chances to see them if you try those times.

Lucky to have seen one big male! His big face is impressive!

They live IN the rainforest, their habitat. The food is meant to be “repetitive” or boring, so that eventually they get their natural instincts back and find their food sources by themselves. They monitor which orangutans come back and which ones don´t.

I almost forgot to take me in the shot before leaving 😊 when the activity decreased. This shows you where you are. This is nothing like a zoo and a true habitat for them to recover and get ready.

Ironically, the expected behavior is to see less orangutans coming back to the feedings. That is a good sign that full release to the wild can happen soon.

Video from a different area, the nursery, I will explain next 😉

Orangutan nursery section

The nursery section at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre serves as a safe learning and recovery space for infant and juvenile orangutans who are not yet ready to live independently in the forest. Also a must visit!

Here you see A LOT of activity, it should not be missed!

The recommendation is to be already at the outdoor nursery at 9 am to take comfortably a place to watch them. As always, it is a matter of luck how many orangutans will show up for the feeding. This is where we spent more time and we saw many orangutans. They were very playful and super fan to watch.

Some things they do here:

Provide care for very young orphans: Many infants arrive after losing their mothers to deforestation or poaching. The nursery offers close supervision, bottle-feeding, and medical care.

Teach essential forest survival skills: Keepers act as surrogate mothers, helping the young orangutans learn: climbing, nest-building, foraging for natural foods, and social skills with other juveniles

Build strength and confidence: The nursery includes ropes, platforms, and trees that allow safe practice before they move into the more natural forest environment.

Prepare them for the next rehabilitation stages: Once they are strong, healthy, and skilled enough, they “graduate” to the outdoor nursery or forest training areas, moving one step closer to eventual release.

Allow observation without causing stress: Visitors typically view the nursery through a glass wall, ensuring that young orangutans remain calm and minimally disrupted. As you can probably see from these pictures and videos, there is some glare especially for photography from the windows. Compared to the open feeding platform, here you are behind big glass windows but the experience is AS great.

Not my best selfie but the only one I got 😊

This area is where I saw the most orangutans, maybe altogether I saw.. 15 or so; mothers, babies, young and also one (and only one) big male.

Bonus track me-photos 😉

As always, there are not enough photos or videos in a beautiful natural place like this, but the feelings remain forever. Some selfies in the area, including being the head of an orangutan (of course!)