  We explore the existence of the collective orbital excitations, orbitons, in
the canonical orbital system KCuF$_3$. Using the Cu $L_3$-edge resonant
inelastic X-ray scattering we show that the non-dispersive high-energy peaks
result from the Cu$^{2+}$ $dd$ orbital excitations. These high-energy modes
show good agreement with the {\it ab-initio} quantum chemistry calculation
based on a single cluster, indicating that the $dd$ excitations are highly
localized. At the same time, the low-energy excitations present clear
dispersion. They match extremely well with the two-spinon continuum following
the comparison with Mueller Ansatz calculations. The localized $dd$ excitations
and the observation of the strongly dispersive magnetic excitations suggest
that orbiton dispersion is below the resolution detection limit. Our results
can reconcile with the strong {\it local} Jahn-Teller effect in KCuF$_3$, which
predominantly drives orbital ordering.
