Sumatra – Bukit Lawang – Part 1

Ecotourism has become increasingly important to me over the last 4 years. When I know that my money is being put to good (both for the good of locals as well as for the environment), I enjoy myself more. So, when I began planning our holiday in Indonesia, one of the first things I checked for was “Eco-Tourism in Sumatra”. There were quite a few options to see Sumatran wildlife all over the large island, but one company in particular caught my attention.

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Click Here to learn more about this wonderful company! You can also click here to go to their Facebook page!

I sent them a message and within a few hours I’d received a response from Janine, who proceeded to help me plan out our entire stay in Sumatra.

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Visiting with the lovely Janine after our 2-day jungle trek

There were 2 parts to the tour I booked with Janine. Part 1 took us to Samosir Island, which we toured on our own. Part 2 of our trip was an eco-tour we booked in and around Gunung Leuser National Park. We were very happy to have hired a driver for the 7 hour drive to Bukit Lawang; the little jungle town just outside of the national park. Enok was professional, friendly and even made some interesting stops during the 7 hour drive from Lake Toba to Bukit Lawang.

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Including this volcano, which blew up in a pretty major way a few weeks later! (don’t worry, no one was hurt!)

We arrived in Bukit Lawang after dark and in the middle of a massive thunder storm. Our guide, Sardi, arrived with an umbrella for me and a flashlight for Dave and we got our first glimpses of this sweet jungle town.

It seemed like Sardi knew everyone. He greeted people by name as we walked past the restaurants and bars, and everywhere we passed, we heard a chorus of people welcoming us to Bukit Lawang.

It was a fantastic way to start our 4-day Eco-Tour.

Day 1 – Getting To Know the Area

We spent our first day hiking through rubber plantations and visiting some of the area around the Gunung Leuser National Park. We saw some wild life while we were out and about and learned about the locals from Sardi.

There were 2 main activities planned for our first day. The first activity was to visit the Bat Cave. As you may have guessed, it is home to 2 different kinds of bats, who were equally cute and sleepy when we arrived. Sardi informed us that pangolins are sometimes spotted in the Bat Cave, which got me pretty excited!

Pangolins are currently the most illegally trafficked animal in the world. They’re killed for their meat and their scales, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. They’ve been hunted to the verge of extinction, and up until we reached the bat cave, I didn’t even know there were any of these interesting animals left in Asia!

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Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see any, but it was still exciting to know that there was a possibility (however small). We also got to chat with Sardi about the poaching of pangolins in Indonesia. He told us that several of his family members had been poachers in the past, but was able to get them to understand the importance of protecting these animals and now, those same family members are working to protect them.

Our second big activity for the day happens to be one of my favourite memories of our whole trip. Sardi lead us to a beautiful little spot on the river, where he spent the next hour preparing us an incredible Indonesian-style barbecue. Dave and I spent the time cooling off in the beautiful river, which was much needed after our hike to the cave. We even spotted a family of Thomas Leaf Monkeys while we sat and enjoyed the cool, clean water! It was quite the sight!

Sardi prepared some incredible bbq fish and chicken along with a gorgeous fruit platter. We all sat together beside the river and enjoyed his beautiful meal. We chatted about Sardi’s family and about our lives back in China. It was a gorgeous way to spend a few hours!

After lunch, we made our way to the guesthouse where we were spending our first two nights of the tour. It was a beautiful spot, and with no electronics with us (we left them at our hotel in Bukit Lawang), we were forced to just sit back and enjoy the peacefulness of the area. We walked around a little bit and enjoyed the stream that ran through the property. We spotted some more Thomas Leaf monkeys and laughed at their antics, as they played in the trees. It was the most relaxed I’d felt in months.


Day 2 – Sumtran Culture

Day 2 of our time in Bukit Lawang was spent quite differently from Day 1. The focus was more towards the local culture than the local wild life. It was a nice shift and it provided us with opportunities to try out some things we’d never done before.

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I tried my hand at coconut carving. I didn’t do very well, but you can learn more about that here.

We spent a lot more time with Sardi, walking through the jungle and even taking motorbikes through the trails. At one point, we reached a rather muddy area, and I noticed there was a woman (also on a motorbike), waiting patiently for us to make it through before she went herself. I laughed and told Sardi that if the same situation were to arise in China, everyone would try to go at the same time, and we would have scared any animals away with all the honking that would surely have ensued.

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I took this picture on our way back from coconut carving. I really feel like it’s one of my most representative photos of the whole trip. People in Indonesia were so warm and friendly both to us, and to one another.

My favourite part of day 2 was our cooking class back at the guesthouse. We learned how to make traditional Indonesian dishes, such as Sambal, Tempe and, my personal favourite, Pepes (a way of cooking fish in banana leaf, over a fire).

As good as the meal was, the company is what made it so great. There was quite a mixture of people at the guesthouse that night and we got to know them all a bit. In addition to the Indonesian staff, there was a woman from Switzerland and a woman from Germany, as well as a Dutch man who was about to begin a 7 day jungle hike. We sat around for hours, chatting about our travel experiences. Both of the European women were in the area doing humanitarian work, which was very appealing to me (perhaps, one day…). When it was time to go to bed, I was both sad to see the night end, but excited because the following day…our jungle trek to see wild orangutans would begin!

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Sitting down for dinner at the Guest House. For the most part, the guesthouse goes without electricity (it’s about 5km from town), but at night they have a generator for necessities. It’s a shame I couldn’t get a clearer picture, but I ‘m glad I thought to get one at all! It was such a perfect way to end Day 2.

Next time, I’ll be devoting an entire post about our Jungle experience with the Sumatran Orangutans, so stay tuned!

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Let’s just say… I made good use of my camera!

Day 9 – Victory!!!

This is my victory face.

I share it without any concern for the lack of filters or the lack of makeup because this photo was taken about 10 minutes after we arrived at our jungle camp, after a long 6 hours of hiking. I couldn’t be prouder of this unflattering photo!

The trails were easily the most difficult I’ve ever done. It was only 5km from where we started, but it was up and down hills and through slippery terrain and hopping over logs.

By the end, my legs were absolute jelly and I was having a hard time balancing. I managed to only fall once, but only because Sardi was there helping my along to make sure I didn’t fall again.

As soon as we arrived, we stripped down to our bathing suits and hopped in the cool stream behind me. It was a perfect way to finish the trek.

Day 7 – Horas Bukit Lawang!!

Horas!! Hello, Welcome!! It’s all we heard as we walked through Bukit Lawang late Friday night. People here are unbelievably friendly and the smile doesn’t fade when they know you aren’t buying anything.

Our experiences in North Sumatra have been so wonderful, and a lot of that has to do with the way we’ve been treated. Everyone is so kind and welcoming. Everyone wants to make sure we are happy in their little town.

I took this picture as we were walking through town over the weekend. People had come out from Medan for the holiday and were playing in the river. When they saw I had a camera, this family started shouting “photo!!! Take our photo!!!!”.

I’m so glad I did because I feel like it captured the feeling of this beautiful little “Gateway to the Hills”.