Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo
Updated Sept 2026 feeding times, fees and hours verified
The world's first orangutan rehabilitation centre. Open since 1964, run by the Sabah Wildlife Department, with 60–80 orang utan living free in the forest around it, 25 km from Sandakan. Everything a visit needs is here — feeding times, tickets, the nursery, how to get here, and what's honestly worth your time.
Morning feeding on the outdoor platform. Arrive 30–45 minutes early for a front spot.
Afternoon feeding. Quieter than the morning session in most months.
09:00–12:00 and 14:00–16:00 daily. Friday: 09:00–11:00, then 14:00–16:00 (midday prayer break).
Non-Malaysian RM30 adult, RM15 child. Malaysian RM5 / RM2. Camera RM10 (phones included). One ticket covers both feedings.
The outdoor nursery is open within visiting hours — often the more reliable place to see young orang utan.
Cash (the counter takes no cards; the nearest ATM is in Sandakan) and RM1 for a locker — bags and food can't go onto the boardwalk.
Checked against the centre's posted schedule, September 2026. If you spot a change, tell us and we'll repaint the board.
Not a zoo, not quite a sanctuary — a working forest hospital with a public gallery.
Sepilok opened in 1964. Conservationist Barbara Harrisson started it — the first official orangutan rehabilitation project anywhere in the world. Sixty years on, the mission hasn't moved. Take in orphans from logging, plantations and the pet trade. Teach them the forest. Give them back to it — 4,294 protected hectares of it, wrapped around the centre. The full history is a remarkable read.
Sixty to eighty graduates now live free in the reserve. Around 25 orphans are in the nurseries. More than a hundred have been released. The feeding platform serves the same meal every day — milk and bananas — on purpose. The forest is supposed to taste better. When orangutans skip a feeding, the system is working.
Visitors watch from a platform at the forest edge, and from the outdoor nursery — opened 2014, two viewing rooms, one air-conditioned — where the young ones learn to climb. Animal Planet filmed here. So did Michelle Yeoh.
Six things to settle before you go. Each one has its own page on this walk.
Sightings aren't guaranteed — and that's the centre succeeding, not you failing.
The orangutans here are semi-wild. They can ignore the platform completely — and in fruiting season, many do. The Sabah Wildlife Department says this openly. So do we. What tilts the odds is below; the full picture is at are sightings guaranteed?
The Sun Bear Centre sits directly opposite the gate. Founded 2008 by Wong Siew Te; forty-plus rescued bears; nearly 80,000 visitors last year. A kilometre on, the RDC runs a canopy walkway and the area's best night walk. For the whole area — all three centres, where to stay, where to eat — see the complete Sepilok destination guide and its where-to-stay pages.
Entrance fees fund the work. There are deeper ways in. Orangutan Appeal UK has backed Sepilok since 2001 and runs the official adoption scheme. The centre takes volunteers. And the education hall explains why the nurseries are never empty — deforestation, palm oil, the pet trade. Half the point of visiting is walking out understanding that.
10:00 and 15:00 daily on the outdoor platform. Gates open 09:00–12:00 and 14:00–16:00 (Friday 09:00–11:00 and 14:00–16:00). Arrive 30–45 minutes early for a front spot.
RM30 adult and RM15 child for non-Malaysians; RM5 and RM2 for Malaysians; RM10 camera fee, phones included. The ticket is valid all day, so one ticket covers both feedings. Cash only.
Neither — it's a working rehabilitation centre. The orangutans are patients being prepared for release, not exhibits. That's why sightings aren't guaranteed, and why visitors keep to boardwalks and platforms.
Two to three hours covers a feeding session, the nursery and the boardwalk. A full day adds the Sun Bear Centre and the Rainforest Discovery Centre next door.
No. Contact risks passing human diseases to orangutans and undoes their rehabilitation. Keep your distance even if one approaches the boardwalk — let the staff manage the encounter.
25 km from Sandakan city (about 40 minutes) and 11 km from Sandakan Airport (about 20). Taxi or Grab from the airport is around RM45; the Batu 14 Sepilok bus from Sandakan is RM6. From Kota Kinabalu, fly 45 minutes to Sandakan. Full routes: getting here.
Yes — guided night walks run 6–8pm daily at RM30 per person per hour, minimum four people, booked before 5pm. Most visitors never hear about it. Details: the night walk.
No — independent visits are easy if you're staying in Sepilok. A tour earns its cost when you're combining the centre with the Kinabatangan, Gomantong or the Turtle Islands, or working around a tight flight schedule. See the tours.
Tell us your travel dates and who's coming. No obligation, no payment until you confirm.