ABOUT MATANG WILDLIFE

Matang Wildlife Centre

Matang Wildlife Centre is situated at the western corner of the Kubah National Park in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, and is covers around 180 hectares of lowland forest.
The aim of the centre is:

• Education. Students from primary to tertiary institutions can do nature studies as a supplement to their classroom activities. Special groups and the general public are also welcome.
• Research. The Centre will cater for researchers from local and overseas universities.
• Conservation. Endangered animal species confiscated from the public will be rehabilitated here as an effort to promote awareness on the conservation of these species.
• Recreation. Visitors can relax by the rock pools and waterfalls, or trek along the nature trails.

Matang is near the beautiful town of Kuching which has a charm about it, not a large tourist place and has kept its traditional charm. I have stayed at a wonderful guest house called Singassanna Lodge, the people bend over backwards to help you and have turned out to be really good friends over the months.
From here its only a 40 minute drive to Matang Wildlife Centre, a great place very peaceful except for the noises of the forest which is tranquil in itself, and volunteers and visitors can stay in chalet accommodation which was nowhere near as basic as I had expected.
The rain forest is wonderful hard to describe the feeling when you are there.
Click the links below to find out more information about the animals at Matang which I will keep adding too:
- Orangutans
- Sunbears
- Macaquettes

MATANG WILDLFE CENTRE IN APRIL 2008

 

There are now so many more animals, Samba Deer are in abundance and plans are being made for the local community to start looking after them this has been welcomed by all the locals and if successful will take a big strain off the wildlife centre.

 

There are now 5 Bintarong(bear cat) 2 civet which have paired up really well together, 9 pig tailed macaque and 12 long tailed macaque with more monkeys due in any day. A large croccodile arrived after a 17hr drive from Miri.

The local staff are still working well with the volunteers and barbeques that now involve all the workers and their families are sometimes a weekly event, this communication has made a real difference to the daily work as everybody gets to know each other so well.

On the 29^th April George a large dominant male Orangutan was transported from Semmengohh rehabilitation centre to Matang after Richie the Alpha Male made it abundantly clear that George was no longer welcome there, they had had a massive fight and it was a rush against time for Hillary our Orangutan man to  stop any further fighting by coaxing George into a cage. The vet was then informed and asked to arrive early the next morning to sedate George ready for the move, it was a great responsibility for all concerned as sedating and transporting such a large potentially dangerous animal weighing in at well over 100kilos posed a great many risks, a team was put together and everybody knew their job, the whole operation ran like clockwork and George arrived sleepy but awake enough to be aware that there were two very interested females Chiam and Ganti in the cage next to him. He has settled in well and the plan is that he will eventually be released with the two females

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Doris is still happy to go into the forest but is reluctant to climb trees, she is spending time with Mamu and they have become very close the plan is that she will feel so attached to Mamu that she will follow her into the trees, as soon as Mamu see’s a tree she is off climbing so hopefully his plan will work. This course of action has meant that Tingsan and Mamu have stopped for the moment being in the forest 24 hours a day, the weather has been very wet especially at night and more can be gained at the moment in concentrating on Doris. Doris has shown her maternal side and is happy to carry Mamu around as if she was her own baby this is encouraging to see as it shows she has some maternal instinct.

My visit was far too short this time but I’m glad that I came back  my plan is still to go to South Africa and learn about smaller primates where this will lead me I am not sure but hopefully once I have gained some knowledge on the care of these animals I will be able to put this experience to use.

A DEAR LITTLE DEER

I arrived at work one morning to find a baby deer was to be collected from the deer enclosure, unfortunately we have a large dominant male out there that posed a threat to it and as the baby already had slight injuries to its legs it was felt for its own safety it was to be removed.. The deer whom I named Sanganne ( after the lady deer keeper at the centre) was a lot larger than I had first thought so after catching it and carrying it back to the centre in torrential rain we were both filthy

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She was taken back to the centre and put into quarantine to be checked over and her injuries looked at. We. weighed her and took measurement for our records.

She was obviously tired after her mornings activities so we offered her a bottle of milk which she was eager to drink but found drinking from a bottle a lot harder to get than her mothers milk so a small syringe will be used until she learns how to suck out of a rubber teat and then we left her to rest

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She has settled well and is quite happy for us to look after her and give her milk, once she has established a good feeding pattern we will move her into Doris the female Orangutan’s enclosure, Doris has played substitute mum for lots of orphaned deer so she will be fine.

and then when she is a bit bigger we will move her into a new enclosure that volunteers have been working on this month it is set in the forest and covers about an acre, it has been so carefully thought out and made with everything a deer could possibly want it is in dense forest with a stream running through it,there we will be able to safely look after her with four other young deer.

   

My First Experience Volunteering at Matang Wildlife Centre
Many things happened within that first couple of weeks, it took time to get used to the routine and every day bought something different, a young orphaned orangutan had been bought to the centre and named Ting San, a cheeky little girl who captured everybody’s heart, a large crocodile caught up in a fisherman’s net had to be careful untangled and the start of talks into building a new sunbear enclosure, anything can happen so no day is ever the same. The local people welcome you with open arms and the staff at Matang Wildlife Centre are very dedicated to their work and love to share their time with the volunteers.

Living and working with people you have never met was exciting and I would thoroughly recommend it, weekends were good as you left the centre and were able to visit other places of interest.(see article on Bako)
The Great Orangutang Project is working with Sarawak Forestry to build up this centre and on my return visit, after a period of 4 months so much had been noticeably achieved. The animals seem very content and enjoy the daily enrichment which is mainly done by volunteers. Nobody ever seems to want to leave after their experience.

You can volunteer at Matang with the Great Orangutan Project (who i went with!)
My first visit to Matang
I had the most wonderful experience at Matang Wildlife Centre. One of the main issues was Aman, a very large male who had developed cataracts, I very rarely saw him move, and although he seemed content to just remain in one place most of the day. He was very sociable when you went to visit him, it seemed a shame that he had no interest in his surroundings obviously because he could not see them. I can remember putting hard boiled eggs in the grass very near to where he sits and watching him trying to find them, he knew they were there but could only feel around with his hands to find them it was actually quite upsetting to watch.
Whilst there I was also fortunate to be one of the first group of volunteers to meet Ting San, a young female orphan she had arrived at Matang Wildlife Centre the day before we arrived. She was from the start an independent young lady, always knowing what she wanted and invariably nearly always getting it., she was quite small and after having been wormed and a good diet introduced came on leaps and bounds, I was fortunate to spend that month watching her getting used to her new home and getting some security back in her life
Baby Ting San (Gus)
The other big change whilst I was there was a change in all the animals diet, by the end of the month most of the animals had had other foods introduced and on the day I went home I can remember seeing the bears laying in the sun sleeping and looking very contented, I have to say that was the highlight of my experience.
The centre is small with a variety of animals it has a very friendly atmosphere and everyone is very passionate about what they are doing, there is a lot more to do but it will happen. The orangutans are great, playing with Doris and watching little Ting San grow up daily was amazing, its an experience very hard to put into words but as long as you are prepared for hard work in hot conditions and can cope emotionally with different standards of animal care you will have a great time. I have the pleasure of going back to Matang in July 2007 and am looking forward to seeing the improvement of Aman and the rest of the centre.
Mamu:

Contemplating: Doris takes a momement to think

A new year at Matang (2008)
January 2008

I returned to Matang Wildlife Centre not sure what to expect, it was a new year with new staff and a new beginning. It was great to be back and all the animals seemed happy and contented, the keepers now work a full day which makes all the difference to the place, quarantine was clean and the place had an air of efficiency about it, there is a new manager there who is determined with the help and expertise of Way out Experiences to make the place a centre of excellence. I had two priorities, the first to see the progress of the bear project and the second to see Ting San, the young orangutan with whom I had spent last summer with. Both were great.

Sunbears

The cages for the night dens had been erected and were just awaiting a roof but otherwise progress had been good and was almost finished, hopefully within the next two weeks the 4 sunbears would have a new home, the bears looked well and Leo and I fed them live grubs, the two females Corine and situ ate them readily where as Bernie and Jo the two males were more cautious. Feeding these bears a more natural diet is the way forward to the first steps towards their rehabilitation.

Nearly There: New Sunbear outdoor enclosure

Ting San

Ting San was calm and obviously very happy with her new mentor, a local man named Hillary. My work with her rehabilitation into the forest last year was rewarded with a great deal of affection. She clearly remembered me and kept herself firmly by my side arms and legs attached to me so that I could not escape, as much as I was touched by this visible sign of affection I am also aware that this contact is not what she needs as her future lays in the forest and not with human contact. So she was, after a very touching reunion, encouraged to leave me and returning to the trees, which she did without any stress. It was a very emotional afternoon all round as not only did I have the love of this amazing animal but I was also priviledge to be able to be at the start of taking Doris an 8 yr old female orangutan into he forest to start her long journey back to the forest where she belongs. She leaves her enclosure daily and is taken along the boardwalk to the platform (built by volunters) where once she has settled in is quite happy to allow me to video her confidently swinging through the ropes, having only ever seen Doris in her man made enclosure this is an amazing sight. Hopefully she will develop a love for the forest and be eager to continue returning there.

Ting San learning what she can eat in the jungle