Now we sit in the car back to the airport and can not help but wonder if this short detour into the jungle was worth the whole effort.

In the run-up to the event, we spent a lot of time thinking about the usefulness of this side trip, especially from an ecological point of view or from the point of view of animal welfare. Accordingly, we have also been looking for a suitable provider for the tour and were (fortunately) not disappointed. Our guides were exemplary, any garbage (even leftovers) was taken, no animals fed and not otherwise attracted. Nevertheless, tourism naturally has a significant influence on the habitat of the monkeys, because a large part of the guides does not behave according to our research, unfortunately, and also the problem of waste in the main season should be significantly higher.

Now, of course, there is the inevitable question of whether, with this detour and the fortunately well-chosen choice of tour operator, we are exacerbating or improving the problem of ape tourism. Our response to this is not least due to the good and ecological overall concept of our provider / inn, because in addition to the animal-friendly tours, the inn supports the local school and is strongly committed to less plastic waste in Bukit Lawang (for example, no plastic straws).

But the final answer gives us the drive back to the airport. Because only now we are aware of the frequently mentioned problem with the palm oil industry in Sumatra. As soon as we leave Bukit Lawang, we drive for about 2 hours through endless plantations (a mind-blowing British company) and past countless old (and stinking) diesel trucks for the transport of the raw material. The plantations are interrupted again and again by villages in which the plantation workers live. Sadi (our tour guide) told us about the poor working conditions on the plantations, where he had worked before his current job and barely had enough money for life, let alone education, for his children. Again and again we see signs with warnings about landmines.

These images allow us to understand what would be the end of tourism for the (admittedly relatively few) people living on it, but also how it protects the primeval forest and the orangutans living there from their incorporation into the palm oil industry. The entrance to the national park itself provides an example of this. Here, rubber makers have so often moved the landmarks a few meters until the government has enlarged the landmark several times and installed a fixed information board to stop it. All this just for the possibility of maybe 1-2 additional trees to plant. One can at least hope that tourism (with all its problems) is by far the better alternative for all involved, another seems out of sight due to the poverty of Sumatra as the poorest island in Indonesia.

Conclusion: The tour was an absolute highlight and was therefore 100% worth it, but also our restless during the planning conscience has been soothed in any case. In addition, the people of Sumatra are infinitely hospitable and we can imagine taking a closer look at the island (and perhaps also the national park)

sorry, only google translate…

Now it was time. The tour in the jungle, for which we had taken 2 days for arrival and departure in purchasing, should start. Here again the advantage of traveling in the low season, we were only with a couple from Munich and a Dutchman and our two guides on the way. In the high season there should be tours with up to 27 tourists. The disadvantage of the low season, it is rainy season and accordingly promised to be slippery and dirty, combined with the constant hope that the rain shower in the afternoon we haunt only in the jungle camp. But now first in order.

First we went through some rubber plantations in the direction of the National Park. Had we been worried the day before no orangutan to see, they should be crushed after 15 minutes. The first two orangutans were already waiting for us in the plantations, and then also mother and child. That started well.

However, our guide told us directly that the two of them are somewhat more aggressive contemporaries, who – caused by the constant feeding of tour guides – try to steal tourist backpacks or to take as hostage for food. The company, which we had chosen after a long research, promised not to do exactly that and the two leaders also stuck to it. However, 3 out of about 40 tour operators are of course only a drop in the bucket and the monkeys try it again and again, of course. They penetrate as far as the land of the rubber farmers, who shoot them partly simply . Our leaders then tried to lure the orangutans back into the jungle behind us to spare them such a fate.

Arrived in the national park first a small shock, because the first 30 minutes we ran constantly in some completely inappropriately dressed (mostly Chinese) groups with flip flops. Fortunately, these were probably only for a short guided walk into the park, because after the first climb, we were almost alone in the jungle … oh yes and already saw the second group orangutans, again mother with child, but this time even with the associated father.

And then we were also in the jungle and as promised it was mushy and slippery, but also just incredibly peaceful and beautiful. During the next 4-5 hours of trekking we saw another 3 orangutans and a variety of macaques, one of them even tried to steal our lunch with our guide and almost fell from one after a rather violent outburst of rage Breaking branch

After a last and at the same time quite challenging (because wet and muddy) descent, we reached our camp. At least we thought … Because actually it was first called “shoes off” to wade again about 300m through a stream. But then we actually made it and after we made ourselves comfortable in our wooden hut (where shelter is probably the better word), we jumped first in the stream to refresh ourselves – and after about 6 hours hiking at around 30 ° C and 95% humidity at least the coarsest sweat from the skin to wash   Incidentally, it also started to rain directly …

After the cat wash there was dinner and our guides again exceeded themselves. We were – in addition to the obligatory rice – seven different dishes served and we felt more like in the restaurant and not in the middle of the jungle. After that, stories and jokes were exchanged with fresh ginger tea and campfire for about 2 hours before a few well-deserved surprisingly quiet hours of sleep awaited us.

After breakfast the next morning we went (of course) back up the mountain, which we had slipped down the day before, but when we reached the top the next triple orangutan sighting was waiting for us. As you can see again, without sweat no price (and from the first there was really enough …  )

After a short fruit refreshment waited then still the horror of the local tour providers on us. Mina, an orangutan lady who has reportedly already hurt more than 100 tourists and leaders due to her aggressive behavior. The story tells that she was rescued from a kind of animal show a few years ago, and trying to outwit her again went awry, which is why she regularly “attacks” tourist groups. How much of this is true is difficult to assess, but in any event, one of our guides tried to distract them with food until we were several hundred yards away. That alone shows that there is at least a grain of truth in the stories, because although our leaders strictly kept the feeding ban, there was no discussion at Mina.

Then the last (and again very exciting) descent was waiting for us, which brought us back to the Bahorok River about 4 hours after the departure in the morning, passing two small waterfalls. There, the last highlight of the tour waited for us, because it did not go back on foot, but on swimming tires across the river. Thanks to the rainy season and the flow in the river, which was not to be underestimated, the whole fun lasted 15 minutes until we got out in front of our guesthouse.

The next morning we went back to the airport at 6 o’clock to not miss our flight back to Kuala Lumpur at 12 o’clock.

Die erste Sichtung

Die Mutter

und der Sohn

 

Eingang zum Gunung Leuser NP

und die Wanderung kann losgehen

wie man sich den Dschungel vorstellt

 

Der erste Makake

Mehr laden...

sorry, only google translate…

After we have (more or less) kept our feet still for over 15 months, it is finally time for a new adventure. When planning we had originally thought only about Malaysia and Thailand. At some point during the research, we stumbled over an alleged jewel of Indonesia, namely Bukit Lawang in the middle of the jungle on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Now you may already think that this is not necessarily just a stone’s throw away from Germany, but it turned out to be our longest planned change of location …

Leaving the house on Thursday morning at 7:30 to the airport to board at 10:30 for 5:30 hours in the plane to Abu Dhabi. After a three-hour stopover there is another 6:30 hours to Kuala Lumpur. Medan, the only sensible airport near Bukit Lawang, is served only 2-3 times a day from Kuala Lumpur, so another 7-hour stopover was waiting for us. That this is actually only half as bad, we recognized very quickly. We did not find any airline that would let us book a ticket from Munich to Medan. Therefore one is responsible for the achievement of the connecting flight and has to undergo during this time both entry and exit from Malaysia as well as an airport change (of course incl. Pick-up with re-check-in of the baggage). Under three hours no chance … Then again about an hour’s flight to Medan and you only have 60km to Bukit Lawang in front of you. Sounds good? Not really … Because although we had organized a private transport, this route takes at least 4 hours (if you’re unlucky with the traffic, even up to 6 hours). Et voila, Friday at 23:30 (17:30 German time) is after 34 hours in the middle of the jungle 🙂 Of course we knew all that before and decided anyway. How so? After a good dose of sleep you can already feel the endless peace of the jungle at breakfast on the river the next morning!

We also used the first day mainly for acclimatization, but also to explore the area of ​​Bukit Lawang on foot. The village itself is like the last bastion of civilization in front of the jungle and just as picturesque it is! We also scrambled through a bat cave and stumbled on the way through a rubber plantation, quite interesting.

In addition, we got to know our two Munich colleagues for the first highlight of the trip, and on the second day: a jungle hike in one of only two remaining natural habitats of orangutans, in Gunung Leuser National Park. We will of course report 🙂

Die "Brücke" zum Gasthaus

Bukit Lawang

Bahorok River

Ein erster Blick in den Dschungel

Kautschuk Baum

Fledermaushöhle