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Published: January 25th 2007
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Pete and his wife
(she's on the left) Pete:
Where do they have Orang-Utans?
Ang:
Not in this part of Malaysia, but they do in Sumatra, Indonesia.
1 Hour later bargain Air Asia tickets had been bought to Medan in Sumatra and we had formed a new plan for the next couple days.
Feeding time in Bukit Lawang
About 30 years ago a couple set up a rehabilitation centre in Bukit Lawang to reintroduce orang-utans into the wild. Although they seemed to have stopped their work and moved away the locals keep the feeding programme going, offering fruit twice-daily to supplement the semi-wild orangutans' diets and to make some money from the tourists watching. We went to see an afternoon feeding sessions. After waiting 40 minutes, a mother and baby orangutan arrived for some bananas. The baby was really playful. We had our photo taken near to them and the baby grabbed hold of Pete's fingers and wouldn't let go ...
That night we had dinner at the "Jungle Inn". After straining our eyes looking out across the river for orangutans in the forest for a few minutes we realised there was an orangutan and its baby in the tree a few metres behind us!
We really wanted to see orangutans in the wild so decided
to employ a guide and trek for a day in the Gunung Leuser national park. We ended up in a group of 5 with 2 guides, people we got to know quite well by the end of the day. After walking for less than an hour one of our guides spotted an orangutan and he led us along a path into thicker jungle. It was a good spot - there were actually 6 orangutans in the area including a mother and baby. We stood watching them whilst they sat in the canopy above and ate fruit from the trees. Fortunately Pete was watching the orangutan above him closely and just about managed to move out the way avoiding the first "hot shower" he would have had in a week or so.
We walked on getting very sweaty. The terrain is very hilly and it was hot and humid so it wasn't long before we were dripping. Reaching the top of one slope we stopped for a break and to learn about a few of the trees around us. We heard the leaves move in the trees near us and were joined by another mother and her young baby. She
Golden Shower
Fortunately Pete looked up just in time to see the yellow rain drops falling and got out the way was very inquisitive, posing for photos. We guess she was used to being given food from trekkers as she came quite close and our guide had to shoo her away. It was an amazing experience.
Not surprisingly it began raining in the early afternoon, useful in disguising our sweat patches. We sheltered under some trees for lunch and then continued walking/sliding up and down slopes.
Heed the warnings in the Lonely Planet
We had decided to take the option of tubing down the river after the trek, invisaging a relaxing ride back to our guesthouse instead of walking. We considered it a safe option - the monsoon was over so the river levels had dropped and we had heard of other people enjoying the trip. We arrived at the river bank to find 4 heavily repaired inner tubes roped together. We climbed on and once in position the "driver" pushed us from the bank and we began floating down the river. We soon came upon some rapids and the tubed rolled over them like a caterpillar. The rapids were pretty big and from rafting in Nepal we reckon they were about Grade 2 or 3 which
when you are on a rubber ring is quite intimidating. After the first tricky section Pete announced that this was probably the least safety conscious thing that he had done in his life.........
It seemed good fun...until the driver fell in. Within seconds we had knocked into a large rock on a bend and up flipped. Quite a frightening moment considering no-one had life jackets or safety helmets and there was no-one/nothing to stop us floating off to the next set of rapids. Somehow we all managed to grab onto the innertubes and kick our way to the side of the river to assess the damage. Just at that point we saw Pete's walking boots pass by and one of the guides jumped in to rescue them - an impressive feat considering the strength and speed of the river. At the side of the river we compared cuts and bruises. Luckily no-one was seriously hurt although we all were shaken up. It was at this point it became apparent that we were supposed to have 2 more inner tubes between the 8 of us but that the bloke bringing them hadn't turned up. No wonder the raft wasn't steady.
As the Indonesians began to tie the inner tubes securely together again and then indicated we should climb on Ang put her foot down and said she was not getting back on but was going to walk back to the village. The guides stated this was not possible. Ang was not budging. They decided that, with 5 river crossings, we would be able to walk back. So we did. Crossing the river was quite hairy - the current was strong and the water deeper than us in places. However, we were more in control than on the dreadful tubes. We arrived back a couple of hours late but, bar a few aches, pains, bruises and cuts, were unharmed. They three guys left on the tubes were quite relieved we didn't stay on as it was more stable and they had a few more hairy moments downstream. We all needed a few beers that night.
Back to the calm of Malaysia
Bukit Lawang was a great place to visit. It was a real shame we only had a couple of days in Sumatra; we would have loved to visit other places in Indonesia. The journey back to
Medan for our flight to Kuala Lumpur was probably the bumpiest of the trip so far. The roads were in a really bad state and the bus was a few decades old. We passed villages and through countryside which should have been tropical rainforest but a large multi-national company has arrived, cut it down and replaced it with palm oil plantations so we can all have soap, margarine and cosmetics.
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Ann and Mick Barlow
non-member comment
Envy
Hi Ang and Pete - I am reading this every day and am so envious. You look like you are having a wonderful time. Mick and I are thinking of you.