Bukit Lawang and the Sumatran Orangutan!

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The 4am morning sermon at the SM Raja mosque was an unwelcoming wake up call for the day ahead. Nik had also developed a rash and swelling on her hands and feet the night before so were unsure whether we could even make it to Bmukit Lawang! What next for Nik!? Nevertheless we decided to make the 3 hour journey and chose to go in a tourist minibus direct from our hotel rather than trek across the chaos of Medans streets to the bus station. After escaping the polluting city roads we found ourselves traveling through an endless "plethora" of palm oil "jungle" plantations regimented in lines which were far more organized than the morning bustle we had just passed through. Below the palm oils, skinny cows harvested the limited undergrowth and there was an earthy woody smell that seeped through the open windows of our minibus. As the distance to Bukit Lawang lessened, the size of the untreated pot holes increased, ensuing a maze like route along the jungle road. Many travelers deem Bukit Lawang s the highlight of there time in Sumatra. The small jungle village offers the chance to smee wild and semi-wild orangutans at the Bohorok Viewing Centre. Once a rehabilitation centre the viewing area encourages orangutan’s who were displaced by illegal logging to reemerse themselves back into the primary forest of the Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser. (National Park). Bukit Lawang had also encountered affects caused by rampant deforestation when in 2003 a flash flood killed 280 and decimated the village. When we arrived in Bukit and crossed a rickety rope bridge you could see deforested jungle and palm oil growth on the scarred hillside. The beautiful semi-braided river also curved around the village and a concrete weir now offers some flood management. Nik wasn’t feeling great so she waited downstream as I paced 15 minutes upstream to the highly recommended "Jungle Inn" searching for one of their special rooms. Once I had passed numerous smiling locals I arrived at a well presented "losman" (guesthouse) situated near a meander. We were in Luck! We stayed in the rock room. Costing only 4 pound 50 each, our rooms’ main feature was the long rock face running the length of the room. Our bathroom had living ferns growing from the walls and to top our jungle themed room our balcony overlooked our very own waterfall and was complete with a hammock to watch the water trickle down.! It was truly amazing and a welcomed change from a small box room! I hastily scurried back to Nik who was being pestered by one of the many tour guides wanting you for a trek. Nik also loved the interior design of our room yet happier to lie in bed. After a quick cooling shower we were soon out for the Orangutan feeding time, crossing the river by boat and then heading uphill into the jungle. Before we even arrived at the feeding platform we spotted our very first Orangutan. Looking in some way related to Nik, a huge male Orangutan crunched through the dense vegetation clearly visible by his well maintained ginger hair. The guides continuously allows us to view at a near yet hesititant distance to avoid the dangerous swing of the male which is 7x stronger than a human. Elsewhere another enjoyed a cup fed mush of meal worms and a female effortlessly swung from the jungle branches. We were only 2 meters or so away from the female! Nik "gingerly" took selective and elegant snaps of the younger one, only to happy to watch as it clambered up a tree. It was obvious they were semi wild because they really looked at home in the lush jungle. Unfortunately my flip flop broke, so like a man of the forest I too went barefoot and squidged in the orangey soil. On the way back to Bukit we also saw a Mekak posing in a bush. Then it started to rain and on our return, our jungle bedroom turned into a "living" room acting as a jungle refuge for frogs and a millipede which slowly scurried over the tiled floor. The waterfall outside gushed almost immediately and our rock looked more like a waterfall inside! In the evening we ate at the Jungle Inn with a two Swiss lads we met in Medan just in ore of the beautiful jungle surroundings!.

The following morning we relaxed with a view overlooking the river and jungle side. A local played a guitar as we chilled and watched Thomas Leaf monkeys jump from tree tops across the river. The guitarist was a guide, like many locals hanging around, but we chatted and liked him so booked a 1 day jungle trek for the following day. As Nik enjoyed relaxing, singing and playing the guitar I went in search of some flip-flops in the village, yet had no luck due to my flipper feet. Locals from Medan visited Bukit at the weekend and it was tiring saying hello to everyone as I walked passed and answered their basic questions. Many gave a curious look at the sight of a westerner and some wanted pictures with me. On my return our now guide wanted Nik to join with him to make a band! During the early afternoon we relaxed in the beautiful surroundings and took a dip in the cold river water. We enjoyed feeding time so much the day before that we chose to again. However when we arrived at the platform, there weren’t any sign of hungry Orangutans! Another indication that these were semi-wild primates. It was a rhythmic beat of a stick that a guide used to communicate with them to show it was feeding time, and sure enough a wild male soon arrived to the feeding platform in a bullish fashion, Closely followed by a younger female and a young one swinging high up in the trees. It was brilliant to watch the gentle movements of these jungle giants expressing a readable body language. At one point we were so close we could have leant over and touched one. We felt very lucky to have seen them comfortable in their own surroundings and were blessed further when 3 more Orangutans chilled out in a tree when we went back to the river. In the evening we shared a drink with about 20 Makaks as they jumped and jostled over our accommodation. 3 species of monkey in 1 day! Amazing! We went to bed to the sound of our waterfall.

4th May
Our day trek in the Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser was a once in a lifetime experience. Our guide shared the fees we paid to him with another as a community method to allow all to work during the low season and with fewer people heading to Bukit in recent years. A bonus for us because myself and Nik had two guides to ourselves. We started our trek through a rubber plantation where our informative guide told us how the locals bleed the (rubber tree or "condom tree" nicknamed by our guide) into coconuts ready to sell at market. Once in the national park grounds we bundled through a barely trodden and subsequently overgrown pathes where we immediately spotted some Thomas leaf monkeys or "funky monkeys" nicknamed by our guide due to there Mohawk style haircut. A myriad of ants from mm to an inch also scurried along the fallen branches and in the undergrowth. We also watched a line of termites carry wood in a very orderly fashion across our track. Further along we passed a gigantic resin tree where the girthy mega structure sprawled high into the sky. The guides showed us how they use the tree for firelight on longer treks. The jungle was teeming with wildlife yet still no sign of an Orangutan. So "Rinto", one of the guides scanned the local area for the most silent rummaging whilst "Amman" told us about the Bukit flash flood a few years back. Good news from Rinto. We headed in near proximity to the feeding ground heading downhill passing a flute shaped honey bee nest on our way. Then we silently stopped in our tracks because we had spotted 3 Orangutans perched high in the tree. Fortunately the steep terrain we were on gave us an excellent canopy view through the vegetation. Happy with our spot, we watched for about 20 minutes as one swung from the tree tops and a large male sat in his nest with his long beard fully on display. Further along we walked up a steep hill where we saw the semi-wild "Mina" notorious for being an angry woman and protective over her baby of which she was cradling. It was so amazing to see her as she cuddled, kissed and played with her cute little baby, rolling around and letting it suckle. Niks beautiful smile was constantly beaming as Mina lay on the floor and held her child in the air, Zimba at pride rock style. Amazing.. We took a steep decline down a primitive trail using the branches and roots as a banister and staircase to avoid the slippery orangey brown soil, meanwhile the guides would stop and mention any information about the deep jungle habitat. We had a very sufficient lunch complete with passion fruit and manderin at a perfect spot beside a stream. It was also interesting to notice that it was more polite for the guides to give me, the male, food first. A contrast to Britain and a reminder that we were in Muslim habitat as well as Orangutan! During lunch we spotted a turtle as it stealthily traveled upstream through some rapids. Afterwards we headed uphill again where Nik started struggling, yet our guides where happy to wait whenever we needed. We were both fully content with the amazing sights that we had seen and were happy to end our trek a little bit early for an easier route down to the river. So we clumsily headed downwards both tripping in the steep conditions and at one point Nik was completely horizontal, grasping onto a branch for dear life with a grip similar to her ginger orangutan cousins! To round of a brilliant trek we took a tube raft back to Bukit splashing downstream in the rapids just in ore of the beautiful surroundings. When we were back we moved out of our rock room for the dryer "garden inn" because our wet close were constantly soggy! As the evening rains came again we watched Makaks clamber for cover on "losman" rooftops from our balcony.

Bukit Lawang 10 out of 10.

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