Sun Bear Sanctuary

July 13, 2016

Part of our tour at Samboja Lodge was the Sun Bear Sanctuary which we were led to after our experience at the Orangutan Island.

After waiting to see the baby orangutans without any luck, we finally decided to check out the sun bears. Besides, the feeding time was over anyway and the orangutans had disappeared. For this trip, we had to hop on the car because the location is far from Orangutan Island. We were so excited to see sun bears because it was our first time experience.

The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation is best known for its efforts in orangutan rescue and rehabilitation. But BOS is also involved in the rescue and confiscation of a number of other species, including the Malayan sun bear. At the request of the Government, Samboja Lestari is home to 46 sun bears, confiscated from the illegal pet trade or rescued from deforested areas. (Source: BOS Sun Bear Sanctuary).

The place is surrounded by fences and there is an observation deck for visitors outside the fence. And since (of course) Ayu has problem with heights, she didn't join until the end of the "journey". The guide claimed, even though there is a high fence between the visitors and the bears, some of the visitors were caught trying to touch the bears. We saw a lot of cages and based on the explanation from the guide, they usually put the male bears in the cage when they get really aggressive. They actually divided the male and female bears and we saw few baby bears too along with the female bears, cute overload.

This is how far Ayu could go

Playground 1

Playground 2

In case you are wondering why they are called sun bear, the sun bear has an orange-yellow circle stretching under its chin down onto its chest. They got the name because the circle on their chest looks like the rising sun. Joe was being a smartass and said it's because they love sun so much and they only come out when the sun is shining lol.

Female sun bears

Male sun bear

The guide took us closer to another side of the fence to see the female bear called Lady. She was too busy with herself and ignored us. We visited the place right after the feeding time, so this Lady was too full and she was feeling very sleepy. We caught her falling asleep several times while sitting in her tree. We kept calling her name but she never even bothered to look around either due to her being sleepy or because we just weren't that interesting to her. We even found a squirrel there eating her watermelon and she didn't seem to care.