TOURISM FEELS IMPACT OF HAZE
At Semenggoh, fruit and other food, including coconuts, bananas, sweet potatoes and sugar cane, are placed on feeding platforms twice a day, giving visitors a chance to see orangutans emerge from the forest.
For British tourist Kenn Brooks, the encounter fulfilled a long-held ambition.
“This is one of the bucket list things,” he said, adding that he and his wife wanted to make the trip while they were still fit and healthy enough to do so.
The hot and hazy conditions have, however, kept some visitors away, with the centre seeing smaller crowds.
Sarawak Tourism Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said conditions in forested areas could be more comfortable than in Kuching city because of the dense tree cover.
While it remains unclear how much the haze is affecting the orangutans, he said fewer visitors could also give the animals more space.
For now, the orangutans appear to be coping with the conditions, but rangers say they will continue to keep a close watch for as long as the haze persists.
Tour guide Saini Saibudin hopes the Indonesian government will do more to stop forest burning, which affects wildlife.
“If no one is going to protect the orangutans, there will not be any more orangutans in the world because they can only be found in Sumatra and Borneo,” he said.
