Sepilok is small, and that is exactly its strength. Everything you want to see here sits on the same patch of forest, within walking distance of your bed. You do not have to drive anywhere: you stroll up to the platform in the morning and the day fills itself.
It is all about the orangutans here, and fair enough. But if you only do the ten o’clock feeding and get straight back on the bus, you miss half of it. Between the two feedings there are the sun bears, above the forest hangs a walkway, and once it gets dark a completely different forest opens up.
So how do you get the most out of one or two days in Sepilok?
How to get there, where to sleep and how many nights to stay is all on our Sepilok page.
Two feedings with the orangutans
This is what you came for. At ten o’clock the wooden platform on the edge of the forest goes quiet. A ranger walks out to the feeding platform with a basket of bananas, and then the waiting starts. Somewhere a rope pulls tight, a branch bends, and along that rope an orange orangutan comes swinging in.
Nobody knows in advance how many will come. The orangutans live free in the forest and only turn up when they are hungry, so when the trees are full of fruit, they stay away more often. That is why you do both: at 10am and at 3pm. Your ticket of about €6 is valid all day, and the afternoon is a lot quieter on the platform.
After the morning feeding, walk past the nursery. Through a window you watch the youngest orangutans practising their climbing, clumsy and determined at the same time. The centre has been taking in animals that lost their mother or were kept as pets since 1964, and this is where their second life begins.
Be there half an hour before the feeding, pay in cash and reckon on about €2 for a camera fee. No flash, no food on the platform, and never touch an orangutan, not even when one walks right past you. The centre closes briefly at midday, and on Fridays it shuts at eleven in the morning.
Our verdict: come at ten and come back at three, because no two feedings are the same
Sun bears across the path
Directly opposite the rehabilitation centre is the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, and it is the surprise of the day. The sun bear is the smallest bear in the world: black, with a yellow patch on its chest and a long tongue for licking honey out of tree trunks.
From the viewing platforms you look down on the enclosures, where the bears climb trees and play with each other. Along the way you read why the bear is endangered, and that story stays with you longer than you would expect.
Entry is about €6.50 and the centre is open from about 9am to 3.30pm. That makes it a perfect fit for the gap between the two feedings, while the orangutans take a break.
Our verdict: the ideal midday break, and for a lot of people an unexpected highlight
The walkway through the treetops
At the Rainforest Discovery Centre you first walk quiet trails past a lake, and then suddenly you are on a walkway some twenty-five metres above the ground. Up there you are eye to eye with the canopy. Hornbills fly past, squirrels dart along the branches, and the rainforest lies under your feet like a green roof.
From the lookout towers you see how far that forest goes on. It is a completely different view of the jungle than from the feeding platform: not one animal up close, but the whole forest from above.
Entry is about €6.50. Come early in the morning or late in the afternoon, when the heat drops and the animals get active.
Staying at Tanini Sepilok? Then the centre is 800 metres from your bed. Put it on the morning of your second day: you get the walkway in the first light and still have the afternoon free.
Our verdict: the best view in Sepilok, at its finest in the first and last light
Night walk in the rainforest
When it gets dark, a different forest opens up. With a guide and a torch you walk the trails of the Rainforest Discovery Centre, looking for everything that hides by day: sleeping birds, tarsiers, frogs, stick insects and, if you are lucky, a flying squirrel.
The guide makes all the difference. They know where to shine the light and spot a stick insect where you only see a twig. That is how you see animals in two hours that you would never come across in daylight.
The walk runs from about 6pm to 8pm and costs about €6.50. Book ahead, because places are limited. Bring a head torch, long sleeves and mosquito repellent: around dusk you will really need them.
Plan it for the evening of your first day. That way you have seen the orangutans, the sun bears and the forest at night in a single day, and you can head to the walkway at your own pace the next morning.
Our verdict: the perfect end to a day full of animals
An afternoon in Sandakan
Half an hour down the road is Sandakan, a port town with a story. The war memorial stands on the site of the camp from which prisoners of war set off on the death marches to Ranau during the Second World War. It is quiet, moving, and a place that stays with you.
Afterwards you wander past the old colonial houses on the hill and end up on the waterfront, by the market and the fish. This is your spot for fresh fish and seafood, because Sepilok itself has hardly any restaurants.
A Grab gets you there in about half an hour, from €7. Plan it for your second day, or for the afternoon before you move on to the Kinabatangan.
Heading to the Kinabatangan next? Most lodges will also pick you up in Sandakan. That makes it easy to tie an afternoon in town and the transfer to the river together.
Our verdict: a fine afternoon of history and fish after a day full of animals
Got time to spare in Sepilok?
Plan Fridays differently
On Fridays the rehabilitation centre closes at eleven in the morning. If your visit lands on that day, catch the ten o’clock feeding without lingering, and move the sun bears or the walkway to the rest of the day.
Rain comes with it
Sepilok is a rainforest, so yes, it rains. The feeding platform is covered, so a downpour will not ruin your morning with the orangutans. In the wet months the trails do get slippery and muddy: wear shoes with some grip.
Eating in and around the village
Restaurants are thin on the ground here. You eat at your hostel, at the café at the rehabilitation centre or at a little place by the main road: simple, good and cheap, around €2.50 for a meal. In Sandakan you have breakfast in the kopitiams with roti and tea.
Cash and mosquito repellent
Bring cash for the entry fees, because the rehabilitation centre works with cash. And put on repellent, especially around dusk. Also keep a good grip on your bag and sunglasses: the macaques at the centre are quicker than you think.
Our top five in Sepilok
Only got a day or two? In short, our five for Sepilok:
- The ten o’clock feeding, with the three o’clock one thrown in for free
- The sun bears in the break between the two feedings
- The walkway at the Rainforest Discovery Centre in the early morning light
- A night walk with a guide and a torch
- An afternoon in Sandakan, with the war memorial and fish on the waterfront
Still got time? Swing by the nursery once more. The youngest orangutans never climb the same way twice.
So what do you really have to do in Sepilok?
Both feedings. Not one, but two. The orangutans come when they feel like it, so if you only stand there once, you are gambling. Come at ten, cross over to the sun bears at midday and be back on the platform at three. Your ticket is valid all day, so it costs you nothing extra.
For that you do need to sleep in Sepilok, not in Sandakan. Then you walk to the forest in the morning without rushing, and you do not have to go anywhere over lunch.
And if you have one more evening: head into the dark with a guide. After a whole day of looking up at the treetops, a stick insect in the beam of a torch is the best way to end your time in Sepilok.
