Note: This itinerary can be done in reverse order if flight arrival times in Kota Kinabalu are too late for the same day connecting flight to Sandakan.

• Students arrive in Kota Kinabalu aboard their international flight and transfer on a short domestic flight to Sandakan at 1:10 pm. Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in South East Asia, may be visible along the flight route.

• From Sandakan we transfer 30 minutes by charter bus to the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Center in time for the 3:00 pm afternoon feeding of orphaned animals.

• The words “orang utan” are Malay for “people of the forest” as people here have long recognized the close link between humans and our orange cousins – an ape that shares 96.4% of our DNA.

• At Sepilok, the world’s largest orangutan rehabilitation center, we will see far too many orangutans that have been captured as pets or orphaned when their mothers were killed. Widespread and permanent deforestation of Borneo’s forests combined with the lowest reproductive rate of any mammal on earth, have now put this magnificent creature on the endangered species list.

• Students will engage in discussions on this issue today, considering who is more in need of rehabilitation - the orangutans or the poachers, loggers and authorities that fail to enforce laws protecting them?

• Just 500 meters from the orangutan center is the lovely Sepliok Forest Edge Lodge where we will check in to our accommodation for the night and enjoy a delicious dinner.

• A trip orientation and group bonding session will be followed by an evening of stargazing from the soothing comfort of the lodge’s outdoor Jacuzzi pool.

Overnight: Sepilok Forest Edge Lodge