Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island Foundation

This is an amazing foundation that is wholly funded on donations. The boat ride over is worthy of the entry fee. Just spending one hour talking to the guide and hearing the story of the Orangutan's 🦧 is amazing. Seeing them is also amazing, if travelling from a distance do this alongside something else as it's only just over an hour. Beautiful place, not overpriced and easy to find.

The entire experience exceeded our expectations. Highly recommended. A pleasant boat ride across the pretty lake to the island sanctuary. Very nice well maintained facilities, info displays, and walkways. Our guide was friendly and knowledgeable and answered our many questions well. It’s a small area that only takes 45 minutes to tour. There is a lakeside restaurant on the mainland by the departure dock with terrace dining or a/c inside.

As we didn't have time to travel to Borneo, I was surprised to see that there was a sanctuary her in on the peninsula.
The guide we had was attentive, knowledgeable and cared deeply for the Orang Utan in their care.
I knew that they had an enclosed walkway to view the Orang Utan from but was amazed to see them so relatively close.
This place has no government funding and is reliant on tourism and gifting and from this perspective, it gives a great and accessible way to see these beautiful primates.
I recommend going and supporting this organization.

Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island Foundation is doing fantastic work rehabilitating and taking care of Orangutans until they are released back to Borneo jungles. The tour begins with a 15 min boat ride to the island followed by 30 mins guided tour.. Guide was very knowledgeable and compassionate towards Orangutans🙂

Decided to write a review for my visit here 2 months ago after going to the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary yesterday.
The experience at orangutan island was better as you can get up close to the orangutans and there's also a dominant male. The guides here are also more informative and show more dedication to their work. My family enjoyed ourselves here more than at Sepilok, it's a pity it's not as well known.
I WhatsApp them to book the tickets before driving to the Jetty. Check their Facebook page for the latest update on ferry times. I understand the place is temporarily closed due to low water levels at the lake so the ferry cannot be used.

Many seem to think you have to go to Borneo to see the orangutans, but the Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island Foundation is doing great work rehabilitating and caring for animals until they can be released back to the jungles in Borneo. After visiting, I'd highly recommend going out there. It is an easy 1-2 hour drive out of Georgetown (depending if you have a Touch 'N Go card to pay tolls), a rental car will cost you 135-160 RM for a day and tickets at the dock are 30-40 RM, just call to book your time on the boat. The ferry is part of the entry ticket and only takes 10 minutes. Their only funding to care for the animals comes from tickets, so go visit! No conservation effort is ever as perfect as the animals getting to exist in the wild, but this facility is helping to delay or hopefully prevent the extinction of these incredible creatures. It's worth the half day out from Georgetown.

Well worth the time and ticket price (inclusive of the ferry rides). The guide is very friendly and knowledgeable about the animals - kudos to her - hence able to answer all our questions. Orangutans seem to be well fed and look healthy. Also liked the secluded environment where the orangutans can roam around.

Do note the tour timings and location (located inside the resort, just follow the signboard)

I have never close up with the Orang Utan and it's worth it. Tick off my bucket list.

IMPORTANT: Last boat leaves to the island at 3:30 PM! Best (and exciting) experience in a long while, all of the Orangutans has their own unique story and almost all of the people there are volunteers and they can need all the help since they depend on the people. After a huge fire and corona they had a crisis and no doctors at that time. Just buy some merchandise or donate there or on their website. They have so much love for the Orangutangs and they take the time as well. Other reviews about just seeing 4-5 Orangutangs of the +- 15 is just nonsense! It’s not a zoo after all, it’s a 15 hectare island. So just go and enjoy🥳

This was a brilliant experience and such a worthy cause.
15 minute boat trip to the island then met by the guide. She was friendly, polite, courteous and clearly very passionate about all the orangutans welfare and the organisations objectives.
She really did her best to make sure that everyone in the group had the best experience possible and answered all questions.
We didn't see every orangutan but the ones we did see were close up and personal. The time just flew by...
A brilliant experience and 100% recommended.

We had a very pleasant experience at this conservation area, it exceeded our expectations. We have been to one in Sarawak and although this one was smaller and we saw fewer orang utans, it wasn't that important as we had more quality time with the guide. We took a pleasant boat ride on a peaceful lake to the island, and the lady (regrettably didn't get her name) who guided and explained to us about their work was very sweet and you could tell she was very passionate about her work. We had her full attention (because there were very few visitors at any one time) so we had plenty of time to ask her anything, she even told us about how they felt broken hearted to release one of their orang utans that they brought up since he was a baby but they accept that it was ultimately for the creature's own good to be released back into their natural habitat. The tickets were very cheap and definitely not enough to cover the expenses for this conservation, they rely on donations to keep going. I would highly recommend this place.

It was an amazing experience, you have to ride on a boat to get to the island. Keep in mind that there are specific times for the boat to leave. There is much space for the orangutans (a whole island!!) and visitors can only walk 200m. The orangutans walk around freely so you may not see many of them. The workers there were SO nice and passionate about the animals, it amazed me. Definitely give the foundation a visit when you are in the neighborhood.

Great sanctuary where orangutans from Borneo are looked after and rehabilitated before sending them back there.

Ticket is 40RM with price of boat included.

Amazing place to visit and see some wonderful orangutans 🦧

Amazing experience. We went out on the first ferry mid-week and had the place to ourselves. The rangers were really friendly and allowed us to get in closer to take pictures and our guide was chatty and shared lots of information about the orang utans.
We staryed the night at the resort beforehand which I wouldn't recommend, the whole place is a ghost town on Tuesdays as everything is closed.

Wonderful organisation that looks after rescued orangutans, with the aim of re-release. They also facilitate breeding to increase the rapidly dwindling wild population.

Knowledgeable and caring staff.

Do the right thing and leave a sizable donation.

Recommended for those who love to gain new knowledge. And if you go there, pls don't make noise. You might irritate the orang utans. The tickets are reasonable.

The conservation is amazing. You get to go very close to the orang-utans. Even with the fence in-between, it was a wonderful experience. (It’s the humans behind the fence here, not the orang-utans!) The tour begins with a 15 min boat ride to the island, followed by a ~30min tour. We were told whether the orang-utans were engaging depending on their moods of the day. But we were lucky enough to see 5 of the 17 (?)orang-utans on the island. Three of them got up close and personal with us. The mom was in a foul mood and she even spit at my camera when I pointed it too close. Lol. Overall, a fantastic experience. And with COVID in the past couple years, they seems to be in rough shape financially. Please do visit and help them out.

Just a short boat ride from Tanah Merah Resort, the experience was surreal. Was my first time being so close to an orangutan.

5 stars go not only to the well-maintained island, but also the ongoing efforts in conservation and educating the public.

Met with a short rainfall but it was still worth it. A must visit.

Note: children and old folks get a discount.

Our family visited this park and we all very much enjoyed it. The guide who took us thru the park was very friendly, informative and appeared to be very much focused on animal welfare as well as ensuring we enjoyed our time and interaction with the Orangutans. I would very highly recommend visiting here. The work they do there at the park is fantastic to protect this amazing species. It is a great boat ride out to the island also, very quick and comfortable. Very highly recommend as a must see place to visit the island. Also adult tickets are only 36 Ringgits to buy at the island for entry to the reserve so beware of buying at other websites that say they have the lowest prices.

Thank whichever God you pray to for the existence of this sanctuary that protects these amazing animals from the ravages of Palm Oil plantations that have decimated their habitat. A visit to this island sanctuary is essential for any person who wants to ensure that Orang-utans survive the destruction of their natural habitat by big business that has shown no empathy for these magnificent orange forrest dwellers.