Kuching Final Part - Matang Wildife Centre

We’d seen the sign for Matang every time we left or returned to The Kebun. It really was just a short distance down the road. After our trip to Semenggoh, we thought we’d pay a visit to Matang too and asked Adrian about it. What he told us confirmed that we really should make that tiny effort.

And so on our penultimate day we dropped by and spent an enchanting couple of hours there.

Matang is very much like Semenggoh in that it rehabilitates wild animals. Unlike Semenggoh, however, the work is very much in the forefront. It doesn’t really put up a song and dance and isn’t really set up for the spectacle. Although you can book accommodation on the premises, it is indeed very focussed on the business of healing, caring for, and reintroducing certain species to the wild where possible.

Matang is part of the Kubah National Park and as such you can expect hiking trails and so on too. We were more interested in what Matang itself had to offer though. And we weren’t disappointed by any means.

When we entered the centre, we first spied a few very large cages and aviaries. The wires of cages prevented any nice pictures being taken but we spied some primates as well as Hornbills. This last aviary had very fine-holed double wire fences. I asked one of the workers there if there was a reason for this - snakes perhaps? He did say the Hornbills had tremendous strength in their beaks but was less clear in his reply about snakes. I’d imagine a snake in one of these aviaries could wreak havoc, though I have seen a cobra come out the loser in a tussle with a pair of kingfishers once.

There was also a large cage with a very young Sun Bear in it. This cute chap kept running back and forth, playing with various things in his space, including a large ball, and dipping himself in a water trough at one end. He left us breathless just watching his endless traipsing.

There was a large crocodile enclosure and you almost couldn't see them, so well camouflaged in the mud or water were they.

This young sun bear kept trotting from one end of his cage to the other. It really was quite tiring watching him!

We then took a walk along a trail which brought us around to some very large enclosures with tall viewing platforms. The platform we climbed first afforded us a fantastic view of two enclosures. One of these had a concrete building on one side along the wall of which were a few doors. These doors opened into some sort of work area and in the enclosure were a few youngish orangutans as well as a few adult ones.

Some of the staff came up the platform we were on - all caucasian ladies including one or two who seemed fairly new to Matang. They explained to us that one or two of the orangutan had just returned from some time in the jungle and were exhausted. We laughingly identified them without problem - one lay on her back with a hand over her eyes in a ‘I’ve had a rough night out and why is the darn sun so bright?’ posture while the other, a much younger fella, looked like he’d had a few too many pints of lager and really couldn’t care how he looked lying there in a crumpled heap.

I really have no idea why she was doing this, but she kept it up for a long time indeed.

This is Aman the other large male in the area.

These two had just returned from some time in the jungle and were clearly exhausted!

More sun bears.

We chatted with the ladies and told them of our trip to Semenggoh. They told us that Matang had a couple of large males and the one in the other enclosure had not been able to get along with Ritchie and was thus moved to Matang. The males do need a very large territory - from 500 to 4000 hectares - and this means that the area available in Semenggoh is simply not big enough to support two alpha males. The two had had some tussles and it was thought it would one day end in tragedy so the two were separated.

Looking at creatures that have roughly human shapes, it’s easy to anthropomorphise. Thing is, what do we really know about how these creatures think? We look at orangutans and see furry, cuddly creatures who sometimes seem to smile at us or reach out tenderly with their so0human hands. And we forget a couple of things - firstly that these creatures are much more adapted to the wild than we are and that those gentle-looking hands can grip with astonishing tenacity and tear things apart with great strength. And secondly, we forget that despite their strength and their near-human actions, they are also very vulnerable and helpless. As we destroy their habitat - and we do so at a tragic rate - so too do we destroy their future.

Places like Semenggoh and Matang, and Sepilok, exist to counter this imbalance. The people who staff these centres work very hard to help the endangered species under their care maintain their numbers. The ill are treated and the healthy are hopefully rehabilitated to be independent in the wild once again.

Sadly, some will never return fully to the wild. In the case of Aman he’s had to deal with a cataract operation - the first ever on an orangutan - in May 2007 and despite his much improved eyesight, I wonder if there really is enough habitat for him. Meanwhile, there are places like Matang where they are retaught their jungle skills, and where people may come and see them and hopefully be moved to do something about slowing down the rate at which the jungles are cleared just so that the natural habitat or orangutans and many other species of flora and fauna may be safeguarded and protected.

This Kuching trip was a great eye-opener in some ways. Not just to the natural beauty of Malaysia, but also to the goodness in so many of her people. Adrian and Olivia are hospitable folk, and the few people I met in and around Kuching were just the same, mixing and accepting in a warm and embracing way that we on the Peninsula seem to have largely forgotten.

I think we’ll be back pretty soon…

For more information about Matang, see here and for Kubah see here.
For a Matang volunteer’s record of her time helping animals, see here.
To volunteer yourself, here’s one place you can start.

Kuching Part 1

In some ways this seemed to be a slightly surreal holiday. I'd come across The Kebun on Trip Advisor sometime in July and mentioned it to Mei. She was keen and contacted Adrian who said they were quite booked out until mid-October. We were quite happy to holiday then and asked a couple of friends who might be interested and finally it was Sharon who could make it.

October proved to be a busy month. I was caught up with trying sort out where Chronicle People and Hypnosis Works would operate from as our lease was expiring - all this while Johann and Joe were caught up with various other things.

Mei was busy at work and then we organised a Wong family lunch gathering at our place on the day before our departure and a dinner with Mei's dad and sister on the same day. So the holiday kinda crept up on us and seemed to lack some of the build up characterised by research and shopping that our other holidays have.

So it was that we found ourselves still packing an hour before we were due at the airport. All was right in the end and we were at the airport with enough time to have a cup of tea and a light meal. The flight in to Kuching was uneventful and as we came in we found the weather rainy - our bags were damp from having been out in the rain on the tarmac as they were unloaded.  Still, our spirits were quite sunny especially when I found a nice offer for prepaid Internet access. For RM30 I had a voice and data plan that was bound to be more than sufficient for all 3 of us.

The Kebun is owned and run by Adrian and Olivia and it was she who was at the airport to pick us up. On the 45-minute drive to The Kebun on the outskirts of Kuching, we discovered that she and Adrian have owned the place for some years. It began as a weekend retreat and stayed that way for the best part of the previous decade before they decided to turn part of it into specialty lodging about 2 years ago.

So what exactly is specialty lodging? Well, at The Kebun we got a kampung-style bungalow which was once part of a movie set - The Sleeping Dictionary, starring Jessica Alba in fact. There are 2 bungalows and a long house on the 10-acre plot - we got Olivia's Bungalow which is nearer the entrance and a little larger, with enough beds for 5 in 2 bedrooms. Adrian's Bungalow is a short walk away and has space for 4. The longhouse can hold 10 or so. All this is set in beautiful surroundings with vegetable and herb gardens, goat pens, chicken coops, enclosures for ducks, geese, guinea fowl and turkeys and even a couple of small ponds. Oh, and a little stream that ran just next to our elevated back verandah.

Adrian and Olivia do have a place to stay on the farm, for a farm is what it really is, though they actually have their home some minutes' drive away.

Our bungalow had a TV which Sharon watched news on at night, stacks of DVDs if you wish - and we didn't (why would we when we were serenaded by insect and animal sounds at night?) - a stocked fridge (soft drinks, beer, tuak, cheese, butter etc etc), a well-equipped kitchen and bedroom air-conditioning which we hardly used.

You can make your own breakfast with milk, eggs and sausages provided free. And you can have meals in as part of the package too. We usually had packed lunch which was fried noodles, fruit and vege on one day and fried rice with the same accompaniments the next, and we had dinner in too.

The Kebun is kind of like a cross between a B&B, an overseas friend's house and a small hotel. Some things you do yourself, other things you get as part of a package and some other things you pay extra for like the drinks in the fridge. Well, not the tuak which was complimentary. And which was finished not long after I discovered it…

What you probably wouldn't get anywhere else is a free GPS-equipped car as part of the package. We used this extensively and it made our holiday special and hassle-free.

What I am getting is ahead of myself, so back to our ride in from the airport. Olivia made a slight detour to a little shop where we had our first taste of Sarawak Laksa which is not at all 'lemak' like the laksas I'm more accustomed to. But it certainly was delicious.

I had the Sarawak Laksa which was delicious...

It was raining as I said and the weather report wasn't encouraging. Still, when we did get in to The Kebun, our spirits lifted and not just because the rain also did, but of course because the place is just so endearing. You turn off the main road, head towards the Matang Wildlife Centre and then turn right onto a narrow, winding, hilly road that crosses an old wooden bridge before rising up towards a peak from which you get some expansive views of the surroundings and then a metal gate and a driveway past a goat pen and a geese enclosure to your bungalow nestled amongst lush greenery. It’s a drive home I would never tire of.

The drive in to The Kebun.

A neighbour's house. We thought it was abandoned but later discovered it was not.

Olivia's Bungalow.

Olivia’s Bungalow rests on a slope with the back verandah jutting out towards a stream and the gardens and ponds behind. A deep front verandah looks up the driveway and is a comfortable place to sit and relax. A table and some chairs would be a nice place to have breakfast though we chose to have ours in the kitchen. Sitting here you’ll hear the honking of the geese and the occasional bleating of a couple of goats just a little way up the driveway - a surprisingly relaxing symphony.

The living room opens onto the verandah along one side and is a very comfortable place to sit and relax. As I mentioned, there’s a TV and music if you want, a couple of deep and ensconcing two-seater sofas and a couple of armchairs too. There are ornaments of all sorts and I suspect some of the ceramics and crockery on display are actually worth something. The ikat hanging on the wall certainly is and is protected by an acrylic sheet.

The front verandah.

Sharon and Mei in the living room. 

Getting ready for a meal in the amply-stocked kitchen. 

Remarkably though, no one bothers to lock up around here. Well, we couldn’t even if we wanted to as we never did get a front door key. Thing is that you just feel so safe - for yourself as well as your belongings.

At the far end of the living room is a little hallway with doors to the two bedrooms, a door to the only bathroom, a door through to the back verandah, and the kitchen. Every room, including the bath, was spacious enough to accord comfort and the three of us never felt helmed in at all. How could you though, when every window opened up to verdant greenery and brought in the sound of insect and bird call, the rustling of branches and leaves in the wind, and fresh air. And despite the moquettes (for which we had plenty of quite effective mosquito coils) we did leave most of the windows open most of the time.

The back verandah was a lovely place to enjoy a cigar and some tuak and to have a chat in the evenings. Which is something we did most nights.

Our bedroom which had a queen and a single bed. And a wardrobe. And a dressing table. And a baby cot. And a clothes rack... It was big...

The door to the back verandah

The back verandah.

Off the back verandah. You can see the path leading down to the stream and a hint of the gardens on the other side.

What a lovely view out one of the kitchen windows. How nice to prepare a cup of tea while looking through this window.

A little after settling in, we went for a walk and found the back path which crossed the stream or went along the fence towards Adrian’s Bungalow and the Longhouse. We took that route and also discovered a jetty and a large river at the other end of the property. A couple of workmen looked up and smiled at us as we perused their work on the worker’s quarters I think it was. And that kind of set the tone for our time in Kuching - as we were to discover, almost everyone we met was generally warm and friendly, or at least amiable.

Looking back up at Olivia's Bungalow.

'Friend' or his brother. Quite hard to tell them apart. Cute fellas who came around sometimes.

One of the ponds.

The geese next to the driveway.

The two fellas are near the geese too.

Whereas this lot were round the back in a much larger pen.

A view along the stream.

These silly guinea fowl were so nervous, all I did was swing the camera lens and they;d all scurry to one side. When I swung the lens to follow them, they all came scurrying back the other way.

Herbs and vegetables and other plants...

A couple of ducks along the stream.

The path to the jetty.

Adrian came by later that evening and he turned out to be a restless, energetic guy. Tall, loud, funny and with a glint in his eye that said in equal measure ‘Let’s have a beer’ and ‘Don’t mess with me’. I liked him immediately and when he found out later that I liked the Tuak and offered some to me to take home to Singapore, I liked him even more.

He showed us the car and clarified a few things and we started planning the next day’s itinerary - it was to be Gunung Gading and the hunt for Rafflesia.

More information on The Kebun can be found here.