Did you know, proboscis monkeys can only be found at certain parts of Borneo? These monkeys can be found around the mangrove forests and in the coastal areas of the island. Not sure what they look like? Well, they have an unusually large nose, reddish flat-top hairstyles, and pot bellies. Yeap, not only us humans get big bellies 😊
Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary opened to the public in the year 2000 providing a safe haven for proboscis monkeys and to educate people on sustainable ways of co-existing with nature and its inhabitants. The privately-owned sanctuary is located within an oil palm estate approximately 38 KM away from Sandakan.
Back when the 1997 – 1998 El Nino drought and palm oil development starting closing in, the monkey’s found an unlikely source of comfort. Just as the 400-acre site was about to get cleared off, the Lee Brothers’ discovered there were proboscis monkeys living in the mangrove forest. Moved by the monkey’s plight, the Lee Brothers’ converted the land into Sabah’s first Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary.
Over the years, the sanctuary restored the degraded forests and expanded its land to 500 acres of coastal mangrove forests. Today, the sanctuary houses one of the largest isolated populations of proboscis monkeys in Borneo.
Location: Miles 19,jalan sps 3,kampung sungai tiram, 90000 Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia