Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
One of Matang's rarest creatures is the false (Malayan) gharial, the most endangered of
the 16 species of crocodile. Easily identifiable thanks to its long, thin snout, scientists es-
timate that only about 2500 are left in the wild.
Rare birds that live here include a buffy (Malay) fish owl, a changeable (crested) hawk-
eagle, a white-bellied sea eagle and a confiscated mallard duck (an exotic in these parts!)
who's taken to following around a lesser adjutant stork, thinking perhaps that it's his
mother.
Many of the centre's caged animals are fed from 9am to 10am.
Trails
The
Animal Enclosure Trail
(8.30am-3.30pm)
takes visitors through the jungle past an-
imals' enclosures and cages. The 15-minute
Special Trail
, where you can see pitcher
plants, is wheelchair accessible. If they've got time, rangers are happy to guide visitors
around.
The Pitcher Nature Trail and the Rayu Trail to Kubah National Park are closed because
of the risk of attacks by semi-wild orang-utans.
HIKING
Volunteering
(2/4 weeks incl food & lodging US$2048/2984)
For details on paid volunteering - nothing
glamorous: we're talking hard physical labour - contact the
Great Orangutan Project
(
www.orangutanproject.com
)
or, at the park,
Leo Biddle
( 013-845 6531)
. In keeping
with best practice, volunteers have zero direct contact with orang-utans because proximity
to people (except a handful of trained staff) will set back their rehabilitation by habituat-
ing them to humans.
VOLUNTEERING
Sleeping
You can stay in a longhouse-style
Forest Hostel
(4-bed room RM40)
with fan and at-
tached bathroom, a spacious, two-room
Type 5 Forest Lodge
(chalet RM150; )
that
sleeps eight, or a
campground
(per person RM5)
equipped with open-air rain shelters (no
need to bring a tent, just a mosquito net and sheets or a sleeping bag). Book accommoda-
tion by phone, online via
http://ebooking.com.my
or at the National Park Booking Office
in Kuching.
