Feb 11 – Orangutangs

This morning the ship docked in George Town, Penang, Malaysia.  We boarded buses and headed out for a drive.  We passed through George Town…

to a strait...

and over a very long bridge...

where we saw a lot of large fish farms.

The drive ended in a Lake Resort (tons of families around)...

where we boarded a boat to the island sanctuary.  

Just off the docks was an enclosure the a couple of orangutangs,

one with a baby.

One of the orangutangs swung out on a rope to a platform...

where he used hand signals to insist on fruit.  One of the rangers threw out apples.  

When the orangutang missed and the apples fell in the water they were retrieved by one of the monkeys.

We took a walk through the small island.  All of the orangutangs are rescues except for a few born in the sanctuary.  The sanctuary does not have a breeding program but allows for the natural breeding of the primates. 

We met the patriarch of the island, a “grumpy, old man” who had been rescued from an abusive situation (hence being grumpy). 

We also met Big Mama and her son…

and Adam, a handsome gent who often liked to deck himself out in leaf hats and strings of flowers.  Unfortunately, he was unadorned today.

The sanctuary provided nice informational signs and the guide was excellent. It was a good shore excursion.

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More Orangutangs
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While wandering the sanctuary we spotted a Pacific Swallow,

took photos of some flowers,

and saw a pretty butterfly (the top of the wings were blue/violet but he just wouldn't leave them out long enough to get a photo).

In the evening, we attended the performance by the ship’s singers and dancers.  Excellent show.