Fyz Arrives at the BSBCC..

Jan 16th, 2012

I Arrived in Sandakan airport and waited to be picked up by Waipak Ng, project manager at the Bornean Sunbear Conservation Center. Apparently he was running a bit late as i remember because i ended up waiting an hour or two longer than intended.. In any case he arrived and greeted me with a friendly smile. We then drove to the BSBCC lodge house aptly called Bjorn Hala (bear haven). Since i arrived quite early in the day, i was put to work straight away, but not before given the full introduction or safety by WaiPak.

WaiPak and Natalie

 The Founder Wong siew te had left the same morning i arrived, for Taiwan. He would spend the next three weeks there celebrating Chinese new year with his family. And so i did not get the chance to meet him right away.. I was introduced to the current crew who consisted then of 2 other volunteers and 2 keepers. The volunteers were Joanne and Roshan. the two keepers are Daniel and David. All whom ive gotten to know and call friends.

Back- Me and Roshan.    Front - David and Daniel

During the great flood of January 2012

Entrance to the new bear house

Outdoor enclosures are all electrified

Joanne chillin in the kitchen/rest area

  The first few days theyre we're a bit daunting and there were many Sunbears already there. 23 at the time. 18 in the new bear house and the rest at the old bear house. Each had a name that i Hadnt gotten to know..yet! As of now I can fondly recall each of their names and demeanors. the first row of cells to the right were of mostly female bears with the exception of one male sub-juvenile(julaini) theyre names are as goes from left end to right end.

Females on the right, Males on the left.

Maumatai

WanWan and Maumatai: elderly females, then the subJuviniles: Natalie, Rungus, Julaini and Ah lun. following that are the lovely lady Bears in thier prime Cerah, Jelita and Lewa. the pen next to that is a mixed bag and have the bigger bears of the female groups: Suzie(the biggest) Kuamut(2nd) Keningau, Tokob and the grumpy old lady Manis.

Natalie

Ahlun

 To the left hand side of the bear house are the Males. first off is Big Om. then Linggam who loves to grab. Following that is the nearly blind Gutuk and then lastly, the Aggressor, Bermuda. In the old bears house were kept the Cubs Mary, and Fulong. the Adults there were the Infamous Kudat and Panda who were rescued from a mini zoo whom wrongly labeled them as "Pandas". and of course the oldest male in the center with by far the longest claws, the highly aggressive Amako. Since then 2 new cubs have been surrendered to the center. Debbie and KoKo.