Welcome to the Jungle!

Our first stop in Indonesia was to the village of Bukit Lawang to do a 2 day, 1 night jungle trek. Though the main goal was orangutans, there are seven different types of primates in Gunung Leuser National Park and we were lucky enough to see six of them, even though the sixth one was very far away. This was a fantastic, affordable (only $200!) experience that I would recommend to anyone. I’ll even plug the company we used, Sumatra Eco Travel, because they were amazing! Not only do they organize a nice trek for their clients, they also engage in many green initiatives to help preserve our planet which very few of the other companies out there do.

Our tour group consisted of Kaitlyn and I and a couple from the German city of Aachen, which is where Zoe’s family lives, which made me really excited to have that connection! We also had two guides, Anton and YP and one cook, OneOne, who worked so hard to make this trip wonderful for us all.

The Animals

The most exciting part of the trek was, of course, the orangutans, so I will start with them. Over the course of our 7 hour journey, we managed to find a total of six of them: two mother/baby pairs, one solo female, and, after we had given up hope, one solo male. It was amazing to watch these things hang around and swing from tree to tree like their limbs were just noodles.

We saw many of the Thomas’s Langur Monkey at the beginning of our trek. These were pretty cute.

We heard the White Handed Gibbon before we saw them. They make interesting sounds to communicate with one another. We also caught a glimpse of a Black Handed Gibbon but he was too far away to get a picture of.

The Long Tailed Macaque is called the ‘cheeky monkey’ by the locals. There is no shortage of these guys. They were spotted several times in the jungle and also knew exactly when to show up at our camp to scavenge for food scraps once most of the tourists had left. These are the same type of monkey we encountered in Lopburi, Thailand.

Pig Tailed Macaques have a similar demeanor as the Long Tailed Macaques. They are just there for the food. The difference in their tail is curled similar to a pigs.

Other random animals include a turtle, a frog and many insects.

The Accommodations

So while here, as part of our package, we spent two nights at the EcoCottages in Bukit Lawang and one night in the jungle. I am sharing with you the EcoCottage pictures because this place was like staying at the Ritz after all of the $5 hotels we have been staying in lately!

Our camp in the jungle…not so much like the Ritz. This might be more like what you’d get if you paid $5 for a hotel in the US!

The Food!

There was no chance we were not going to starve on this trip! Our guides took good care of us, hauling our lunch through the jungle and having dinner and breakfast cooked at camp.

The Jungle

Before we made it to the national park, we passed through an area where farmers were tending to their rubber trees. Indonesia is the world’s second largest rubber supplier, after Thailand. However, rubber plantations do not bring in nearly as much money as the palm oil plantations and so it is becoming more and more difficult to find people who want to continue in this industry because it is not as lucrative. It was very cool to see them in action though!

Here are several pictures of what trekking through the jungle looked like. Don’t let the pictures fool you though. This was HARD! My feet are still sore from the gripping they had to do and I wiped out twice going downhill! The pictures just do not do the reality any justice.

Our camp was located alongside a river. After seven hours of trekking, it was really nice to be able to jump in and cool off. Not to mention how nice the sound of a running river is while you are trying to sleep!

From our camp, we walked just a little ways upriver and got a massage from this waterfall.

The Transportation

Eco Travel arranged to have someone pick us up from the airport and drive us the four hours it took to get to Bukit Lawang. Along the way, we passed a ton of palm oil plantations, which I found fascinating.

To get to the waterfall, we needed to cross a river that had a pretty strong current so our guides put us in a rubber tube and hauled us across as they fought the current.

The more exciting transportation was how we got back to our hotel after our night at the camp. We had to go back downriver, so the best way to do it was via the traditional form of transport which was several rubber tubes tied together. The river had its fair share of small rapids and giant rocks which our guides navigated through using bamboo sticks. It was a blast!

To conclude, this was an experience of a lifetime and I would highly recommend it to anyone!!