Shangri-La Rasa Ria Nature Reserve

If you're planning to go on a vacation in Kota Kinabalu, Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort is the way to go. Ranked number 2 out of 80 hotels in Kota Kinabalu (Trip Advisor Ranking), this resort boasts an engaging range of facilities and activities, including a nature reserve for Orangutans to educate visitors and guests.

For our 5th day in Kota Kinabalu, we arrived at the reserve around 845am. Take note that most activities here start at 9am onwards. Refer to the list of activities and schedule here: List of activities in Shangri-La Kota Kinabalu.

We chose to do the Orangutan viewing and feeding. To differentiate Orangutans from other apes, their hair is typically reddish-brown instead of the brown or black hair typical of other great apes. They are native to Indonesia and Malaysia and are currently found only in rainforests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. The word "orangutan" comes from the Malay words "orang" (man) and "(h)utan" (forest); hence, "man of the forest".

Before starting the trek up the reserve, you'll be asked to watch a 30-minute documentary about Orangutans and what they do to them in that nature reserve. You'll see how they foster and take care of the Orangutans. Some of those creatures even treat the park rangers as their parents. There was this one baby Orangutan that kept on crying whenever the park ranger attempts to distance from the baby.
(Reminder: Bring and apply Mosquito repellent.)

Trek through the rocky trails

The trek up won't be easy for older folks though. There will be steep steps and rocks trails. It's a 10 to 15 minute hike up the reserve, depending on your pace.

To train and familiarize them with their surroundings, Shangri-La made it really forest-like inside the reserve. There are several feeding platforms in various locations. To train them to go around, they would change the feeding location from time to time. Eventually, they will be trained to go to the platforms to find for food until they get used to finding food on their own.

This nature reseve is the stage 1 of their rehabilitation. They will be fed here, fully assisted and nurtured until they are ready to go to the next stage. Then, they would be brought to the Sepilok rehab center in Sandakan for the next step.

Among the primates, they are one of the most intelligent creatures and is said to be more than 96% human-like! We weren't allowed to go near the orangutans but they come near us at times. Rangers warn us that they can be curious at times and might go near us. They reminded us not to touch them so they won't be too comfortable with human touch so that when they return to the forest, they won't be too familiar with humans because some might do them harm.

We paid the travel agency RM 135.00 (Approx 1,900 pesos) per pax for this tour. Includes a half-day tour and hotel-destination-hotel transfers.

If you are interested to visit this reserve, check out Shangri-La's official website.

Here are some photos around the resort:

All about Kota Kinabalu:
Shangri-La Rasa Ria Nature Reserve
Proboscis Monkey and Firefly tour
Island Hopping: Manukan Island and Mamutik Island
Little Italy Restaurant - Kota Kinabalu
Kota Kinabalu Shopping Malls and Market
Kinabalu Park and Wild Boar Experience
Poring Hot Springs
Best Western Kinabalu Daya Hotel
Pekan Nabalu Lookout Point

Cheftonio
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