We weren't quite sure what to expect when we visited Matang Wildlife Centre.

Despite reading some negative reports, we had decided a while ago that we'd like to actually see for ourselves. But two previous attempts to visit were thwarted (the website always seemed to report it open, even though the first time it was closed because of the covid restrictions, and the second time it was closed because some of the animals were sick).

Today, though, it was open, and for MYR 20 apiece, visitable.



This is not a zoo, the authorities are keen to stress. It's basically a rescue centre, and most of its denizens are here because they have been confiscated from people who have kept them illegally as pets.

Some of these creatures have some pretty awful histories... And of course, having been abstracted from the wild as youngsters, they have few of the skills they need to survive on their own. So, once rescued, they can't just be shoved back into the forest, and left to get on with it.

Ideally, what the centre seeks to do is rehabilitation (there are notices about "semi-wild orangutans", for example, who have been released into the neighbourhood apparently with some degree of success). But many of the animals are just too damaged for this to be feasible. So they're likely to live out their days here.

The forest setting is really beautiful (and there are more walks to be done in this area, if the rain ever ceases sufficiently for me to feel safe doing them).




The enclosures for the sun bears are quite spacious, and it was good to get clear views of these lovely animals (I used to sometimes glimpse sun bears from the aerial walkway over Sunway Lagoon, which was my route to work in our early days in Malaysia).




The orangutan also have a fairly extensive space, although inevitably you're conscious of walls in a way that you aren't at Semenggoh, where the animals are free to come and go.








Normally, you can also see crocodiles here, but their areas are still out of bounds after two inhabitants made a bid for freedom earlier this year (one is still on the lam, I understand).

The smaller enclosures, which house binturong, monkeys, hornbills, and the like, are less inspiring, and you feel a bit sorry for their inhabitants.

But these animals' lives were wrecked a long time ago, when someone had the bone-headed idea that they could be kept as pets... Things were really never going to be optimal for them after that.




Could these enclosures be bigger, greener, more natural? Undoubtedly.

Could such improvements be achieved on the park's current budget? I don't know.

Are the animals better cared for here than they would be if they'd been left with the pirates who stole them, or the amateurs who bought them? Without doubt.

Is anything in this world ideal? No.

There's more information on Matang's projects here. Sadly, as we learned last year in a Malaysian Nature Society talk, the illegal wildlife trade persists, despite heroic attempts to stamp it out. While this obscenity continues, fed by greedy suppliers and stupid customers, there's going to be a need for places like Matang Wildlife Centre.

At the end of the day, I would say: Go; see for yourselves; support the objectives with your small entrance fee; keep your expectations realistic; and remember the bigger picture.

And afterwards, you can have lunch at Azzlyn Lyn Seafood, in Telaga Air... It's a while since we've been, but it's always good here. Big plates of crispy squid, prawns with sambal, and veggies, plus drinks, came to MYR 55 (GBP 9). And the view from the airy deck is thrown in for free...