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Published: March 25th 2015
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There he was!
Hanging around as if this was a boring part of his day job. It was just a walk in the woods. We entered from the village and climbed up the hillside over tree roots. It was drier in this jungle than we had experience in the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. And there he was!
Hanging nonchalantly from the branches above us was 120 kg of Orang Utan. He seemed remarkably unperturbed about 10 tourists pointing cameras at him. He just hung there as if this was a rather boring part of his day job. He was a good age, over thirty. Males tend to live until they are in their early forties and develop a flat face with large cheeks.
So in the New Forest you have ponies and in the Sumatran jungle you have orangutans. They are just part of the scenery. In six hours of walking round the jungle near Bukit Lawang we saw six individuals as well as two family groups of Thomas's Leaf monkeys, which are unique to Northern Sumatra. We saw a couple of young orangutans: they separate from their Mother at 5 or 6 and become sexual mature at 15 or 16. None were aggressive and they were not shy either. The females
You can look them in the eye.
Note the flat cheeks denoting that he is a male probably in his thirties live longer than the males: sound familiar?
Orangutans are slow moving creatures. They do not stay in one place. After eating they will make a crude nest and then sleep to concentrate on digestion. They will make three or four nests a day and never use the same one twice. We saw one old nest, a simple weave of thin branches high in a tree, that apparently only takes a few minutes to construct.
It was mesmerising to see the orangutans so close in a wild environment. You could look them right in the eye although we were careful not to use aggressive body language. If they turn aggressive as the odd one has they can be dangerous.
Interestingly Sumatran Orangutans differ in their habits from those in Borneo. In Sumatra they stay in the trees whilst in Borneo Orangutans live 60% of their time on the ground.
These and other interesting facts about the jungle and its plants came from our guide, Edi. He had been guiding for twenty five years and it was particularly enlightening to hear him talk about the medicinal uses of the plants.
His father had taught him. He had three grown up sons. One was a biologist and an 'expensive' guide. His youngest son helped on our walk although was some what disengaged and seemed to smoke a lot.
We only had one day because of our schedule otherwise the two day tour with a night camping in the jungle looked attractive. There are tours up to seven days. If you look long enough and deep enough you can find elephants and tigers in the jungle reserve. The guides we talked to had never seen either.
The interesting wildlife is not restricted to just big mammals. At breakfast a lady sweeping up found a scorpion. It was 6 or 7 centimetres long (excluding tail!) and looked vicious enough to be kept only at broom's length. On the walk Edi pointed out ants 3 centimetres long.
Bukit Lawang is the main centre for viewing orangutans in Northern Sumatra. We arrived from our long journey from Malacca in the heat of the day. It was a sweltering twenty minute walk to the local 'Guide Association' office which we used as a base from which to
A Thomas's Leaf monkey
They travel around in groups of seven to twenty unlike the orangutans who are loners. scout out bungalows. There was lots of choice and in the end I picked Wisma Leuser Sibayak which had a massive room by the river for 200,000INR. You could pay as little as 50,000 for an ensuite room and the 'Ecolodge' started at 350,000INR.
Bukit Lawang has been the centre for orangtan watching since the early 1970's when it was the focal point for rehabilitating orangutans back into the environment. That stopped in the nineties when the surrounding environment reached saturation.
It survived a disastrous flood in 2003. After a deluge up the mountain a wall of water and debris 12metres above normal river height swept through the town killing around 500, one third of the population. At that time guesthouses were right at the water's edge and were just swept away. Fifty tourists were killed. Apparently it lasted ten terrifying minutes. Two guides we spoke to had both been there and each had lost several family members. Most of their bodies were never recovered.
The river is now channelled and the guest houses higher up. There are a series of hanging bridges slung over the river which give great views.
The river is a super swimming area. There seemed to be kids playing in the water from dawn until after dusk. We lay in the cool water and chatted with Moos and Emma after a good day's trekking.
It would have been easy to stay longer to chill as Moos and Emma did. Our schedule meant we were on the tourist minibus to Lake Toba the next day.......reflecting that a day walking in the woods would never quite be the same again.
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