Sabah: Shangri-La Rasa Ria Nature Reserve

During my stay in KK, I made it a point to visit all the top resorts of Kota Kinabalu. Due to unavailability of the hotels during CNY and last minute bookings on my end, I couldn’t stay at any of these resorts, and therefore felt the need to visit them to appraise them via my hotel critique lenses. J I love hotels, resorts, B&B and what not, and even though I don’t get to stay in them, I love visiting them and checking them out for future purposes.

One of my first spots to visit was the Shangri-La Rasa Ria – particularly for their own private Nature Reserve. I was very impressed by their facilities and the nature reserve and will definitely be back one day to visit. I managed to grab one of their fact sheets for public information for anyone interested to visit:

Rasa Ria Nature Reserve Concept Statement

The Rasa Ria Nature Reserve was established by Shangri-Las Rasa Ria Resort in collaboration with the State Wildllife Department of Sabah in June 1996. The main purpose of setting up this protected ecological space was to help facilitate rehabilitation programmes for endangered species of fauna as well as those endemic in Sabah.

· The fauna are given sanctuary, sheltered from human-induced injury as well as from risks of being collected and domesticated by people. If released into the wilderness of the jungle in their current states, the fauna are unlikely to survive or fend for themselves. The Rasa Ria Nature Reserve provides a home until they reach an appropriate stage when they are ready to be rehabilitated into natural habitats.

Highlights of the Nature Reserve Activities

In Search of the Orang Utan

10am and 2pm for 1 hour. Conservation fee: RM 50 per person, non in-house guest: RM 65.00 per person. 72 hours prior booking required.

• Learn about the orang utans, its natural habits and related rehabilitation and conservation efforts.
• Watch our orphaned baby orang utans from a viewing platforms.

Summit Breakfast

Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. 6.30am for 2 hours. Rm65.00 per person. 72 hour prior booking required.

• Witness the sunrise with backdrop of Mt. Kinabalu – South East Asia’s highest mountain
• Enjoy continental breakfast at the 15ft high observation tower located at the highest point of the nature reserve
• Suggested attire: T-shirt, good walking shoes, hat

Noctornal Animal Watch

Nightly. 9.00pm for about 2 hours. Conservation fee RM 20.00/adult/10 child.

• A chance to encounter rare species of Borneo’s nocturnal wildlife like the sambar deer, barking deer, mouse deer, civet cat, slow loris, common porcupine and many more.
• Suggested attire: long trousers, long sleeves and track shoes.

Visit to Canopy Walkway

Every Thursday, Tuesday and Saturday. 3.00m for about 2 hours. Conservation fee: RM40.00per person. 72 hours prior booking required.

• Trek through the rainforest and witness life in the treetops as you walk along the 10m high canopy walkway. You may be able to see birds & butterflies below or a group of long tailed macaque monkey jumping from tree to tree.

Orang Utan viewing & Canopy Walkway visit

10am for about 2 hours. Conservation fee: RM70.00 per person.

• Combination of two activities
• Proper jungle attire with good walking shoes, hat and insect repellent

Sandakan: Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation centre

Orangutans at feeding times

The Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre was fine. Based on the previous reviews on Tripadvisor and one of the hotel guests comment, I had lowered expectations of the Orang Utan Centre - in fact most people tell me that they prefer the Rainforest Discovery Centre over ths Orang Utan rehabilitation centre. (I didnt quite manage to make it to RDC- due to time and leech limitation issues).

They had a Malaysian Rate for the Orang Utan Centre - its RM 5 instead of RM 50 for non-Malaysians. For RM 5 and RM 10 (for cameras) it was fine - basically its 30 minutes of orang utan feeding at 10am and 3pm. When I was there I saw 2 orang utans clutching their babies having bananas and rambutans. The orangutans were definitely worth the fees - I would feel differently if I were paying RM 50 though.

The Orang Utan Centre also had some facilities such as - free lockers that can fit backpacks, a very clean air-conditioned toilet, an AV room and a basic display room for orangutan information. It also had a restaurant but it was a little overpriced - RM 6 (egg sandwhich ) RM 3.50 (iced coffee), RM 1-2 (hot coffee), RM 2 (mineral water). It also had full lunches such as rice and noodles as well as desserts like ice cream.

More orangutans at feeding times

A few things though - you can't bring in water, bags into the rehabilitation centre as the orangutan may grab them. Since its the rainy season (Dec-Jan), they also sell ponchos for RM 5.
In summary - I'm happy to have gone to Sepilok to see the orangutans at least once in my life as a Malaysian. For RM 5 admission + RM 10 camera - it was worth it. For anything more, Im not sure I would feel the same, as there is nothing much to do there except watch the feeding.
It is more advisable to come over when its not the rainy season in Sandakan - as it was raining almost the whole day - all the guests ran for cover as the downpour came over us in the middle of the feeding. The downpour was equivalent of a thunderstorm - those that cause flashfloods in the middle of KL.