Oranugtans in Sumatra, Indonesia: Part 1

The old man of the forest - that is what the name Orangutans means. Mankind's closet
relative on earth. These animals in the wild are seriously under threat due to habitat destruction. Natural forests are  being cleared at an alarming rate, mainly for palm oil plantations. The best way to save the last remaining patches of indigenous forest in the world is for the locals to see the value of the forest and the animals in the form of Eco-tourism. There should be more money getting to the local population through a health tourist business then the money ending up in a few people's pocket, which is the case with the large mono-culture plantations such as palm oil.

Family outing to river
The patch of forest at Bukit Lawang in Northern Sumatra is such an example of the benefits of Eco-tourism. There was an orangutan rehabilitation centre there. This is no longer functional and the rehabilitated orangutans are now living free in the forest. One of the items on my bucket list was to see orangutans in the wild and with this work trip I was doing to Indonesia, the opportunity to see wild orangutans presented itself to me. There are basically two main options to see wild orangutans. The one is on the island of Borneo, which has now been divided up between Malaysia and Indonesia. The largest part of the Island of Borneo is now called Killimantan and is part of Indonesia. There are a few places in both the Indonesian and Malaysian side of the Island of Borneo where Orangutans can still be seen in the wild. There are also a few orangutan rehabilitation sites on both sides where these fascinating animals are being re-introduced to the wild environment. The other place to see Orangutans in the wild is on the Indonesian Island of Sumatra. As I was due to do some work in Meden on the island Sumatra, I arranged a short visit to Bukit Lawang to look for Orangutans.
All of the arrangements were done through Robert of Trek Sumatra (www.treksumatra.com). I must say that they offered an excellent service and they were very accommodating to my needs. I first booked a two day jungle trek, with an overnight stay in the jungle.
Bath time
This sounded really great when planning the trip, but as the time got closer, I started thinking that these old bones would not do so well sleeping on the ground in the jungle. Also, after working for two weeks, the first in Singapore for a conference with folks from the University and then a week with the company in Indonesia with some intense meetings, I was also pretty stuffed.  So when I arrived, I changed my plan to stay in the hotel and do the day treks into the jungle.  After the very successful first day, I decided not to do another jungle trek on the second day and again, Robert from Trek Sumatra was most accommodating. The main reason for me changing my plans was that I managed to see wild orangutans on about 10 different sighing in the day before. The other reason for me changing my plans was that the orangutans area was on the top of a mountain and it was very, very hot. I was pretty stuffed after a long day of trekking through the jungle.
Bukit Lawang is about 5 hours drive from Medan. Distance wise it is probably not that far, but the roads were not in very good condition, mainly due to heavy traffic of palm oil trucks. Most of the vegetation along the route was palm oil plantations.
Locals playing with Tourists
I was expecting quite primitive facilities on this part of the trip and much to my surprise, I was staying in a very comfortable hotel room, with air con - which was great, as it was HOT! The name of the hotel was Rindu Alam Hotel.
Hotel room

There is a fast flowing river, called Bahorok River, which runs through the village. This river was very popular with both tourists and the local kids. It is also the bathing and washing area for the locals. Although there were bus loads of tourists, the place still had the untouched by the tourist industry feel. Really laid back and peaceful. The first day after I arrived, I spent exploring the village and the river. Just the village already made the trip worthwhile. In the next post, I will talk about the trek into the mountain to look for wild oraganutangs.
Playing in the river

Wild baby Orangutan

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