Our Jungle Trek - Official Trailer!

Sumatra! We may have only visited two areas but we loved it. Flying from Bandung to Medan, we faced the usual problems transferring to Bukit Lawang - hot, cramped bus, dropped off at the wrong stop, over charged for second bus - but these stories are getting boring now as it has happened all over Indonesia, and bound to keep happening through Asia, so we'll spare you the details! We arrived in Bukit Lawang and took the first tuk-tuk ride of our trip towards our accommodation. Crossing over the slightly scary makeshift bridge, we made it to Thomas' retreat, our home for what turned out to be the next six nights. We picked a good night to arrive, it was Thomas' birthday and there was lots of free treats up for grabs, followed be a sing song around the fire down by the river. All the locals loved the sounds of their voices - the singing went on for hours!

We travelled to Bukit Lawang especially to do a jungle trek and after a good days rest, we joined a group of five others for our trek - Sam, Paul and Don from England, Julia from Germany and Alex from Austria. We set off at 9am along with our three guides, excited and eager to see some orang-utans. The sun wasn't out but it was extremely humid and although the trek was generally easy it wasn't long before we were breaking a sweat. The ascent happened almost straight away but it was at a nice easy pace. It was only about twenty minutes before we saw our first orang-utans. A female and her baby were "hanging" out in the trees, four metres away from our path. We stood for a long time watching the baby orang-utan cautiously testing the ropes, swinging between vines and trees. Further into our trek, our guide pointed out termites, the Thomas leaf monkey, the macaques monkey and the flora and fauna throughout the jungle.

Video of our first spotting of orang-utans

We had regular breaks during the 7-hour trek. Our guides cut open some delicious fruit to refresh us. Presented better than any restaurant, we feasted on pineapple, bananas, watermelons and dragon fruit. Lunch was nasi goreng with prawn crackers - cooked that morning and packed up in paper, it was still a bit warm when we started to eat. Mid-lunch, Mena, the orang-utan known for her "aggressiveness", started to approach. We had to move a bit away, lunch on the move, and the guides then gradually coaxed her towards us. She also had a baby with her. The guides fed her some fruit, we're not quite sure they should have done this according to blogs we had read previously, and she didn't seem too threatening. Later, whilst eating again, a big male orang-utan made his way up through the trees to where we were eating. Much scarier being close to this guy but we managed to walk by him unharmed, once we finished taking our photos!

Mena, the aggressive orang-utan

Can't get much closer than this!

The male orang-utan helping himself to our lunch

Rob "monkey-ing" around

It was getting to late afternoon as we started to make our way to camp. There was a very tense moment when we came upon Jackie, the orang-utan who can be friendly enough to hold onto the hands of trekkers as they pass by. Jackie took a liking to one girl, Sam, and was very reluctant to let go. The guides tried to coax her away with fruit but instead of letting go of Sam, Jackie dragged Sam with her far enough to reach the fruit. It took the three guides together to prise the urang urans grip off Sams arm. Once free, we quickly moved on. The skies opened and through the torrential rain we started to make our descent to camp. At parts it was very steep, where we practically absailed down, using bamboo vines to hang on! We arrived at the camp with a relieved sigh, drenched to the bone. We had been dreaming of the cool river swim all day so we weren't going to let the rain stop us - we got straight into the river, fully clothed, to wash off the sweat and dirt from the trek!

Dried off, we sat down to tea and biscuits. The chef/camp head/entertainer introduced himself and it was nothing but giggles and laughs from then on! We had a feast of fried chicken, pumpkin curry, tofu and fish with rice and prawn crackers! Washed down with a few beers, we played games and sang songs. Some "Bob Marley" cigarettes were passed around and we had a great night in a half open camp in the jungle, with the rain bucketing down outside! Our sleeping quarters were basic, 7 mattresses laid out on the floor, protected from the rain but we slept fine!

Beers with the group - refreshed from our river bath!

We woke to sunshine the next morning. We had another splendid, well presented meal before we headed off to a nearby shaded waterfall for a swim. We waded through the river to reach it and spent an hour relaxing there and getting our faces painted by the guides. Back out in the sun, we swam in the river before returning to camp for lunch. Luckily, there was no 7 hour trek back to Bukit Lawang! We tubed it along the river back to our accommodation. With a driver at either end, the sun shining above us, the water beneath us keeping us cool, we sat back and enjoyed the trip back to the village.

Fruit platter, jungle style!

Group shot at the waterfall

Waterfall Selfie

The artistic face painting skills of our guides!

Tubing back to Bukit Lawang!

Overall, it was a brilliant experience! We only trekked about 6km, probably an ascent of 350metres, so not too physically demanding. We saw about 12 orang-utans in total! The torrential rain only added to our experience and the day we tubed back along the river was the sunniest day we saw in Bukit Lawang so really it couldn't have gotten better! We had fantastic food, fantastic guides, a fantastic group and a lot of laughs. There is such a chilled out vibe in Bukit Lawang that we stayed in the village for three extra nights, hanging out with our trekking group, exploring bat caves, having some good cheap food, lots of beers and lots of laughs.

Perhaps we overstayed our welcome by one night, however. We ended up staying until Sunday - there's a big party in Thomas', where we were staying, on Saturday night. We thought it might be like the sing-song that welcomed us on our first night but this was a much bigger affair! The staff were setting up from 12 that afternoon and the band practised all day - drums, electric guitars, amps - the works! And all of this was right outside our room! We ended up moving down the river to a quieter room but returned to the party a bit later. Very quiet when we first arrived, we joined Sam and Paul and helped them finish the bottle of jungle juice - fermented tree sap and fruit juices, with a strength of about 20% but who knows how that's regulated in the jungle! Apparently, the way to drink it is to mix it with beer so that's exactly what we did! The dance floor was empty, the band were playing only to us, and we were starting to think we could have stayed put - no need to move rooms as this party's going to be over before it starts. Nevertheless, Rob and Paul went out to get another bottle of jungle juice, returning with two bottles, tourists from other hostels began to stroll in, locals from the village followed next and suddenly it was like a full blown night club in the jungle! Of course, this would happen the night before we're due to do an 8-hour journey across Sumatra the following morning!

We think it's safe to say the following day was the worst of the trip to date - for Val anyway. Up early to catch our ride, she braved two slices of toast, thinking it might settle her stomach. Climbing into the back of the people carrier, Val lay down, hoping to sleep through the trip. Roads in Indonesia are not like roads in Ireland however, the next three hours were spent with her head in a plastic bag :( After a 6-hour bumpy ride, we arrived in Parapat, only to have to wait 90 minutes for the ferry across to Samosir Island. There was no beer that night and the words "jungle juice" are now banned!

Rested and recovered, we were able to explore Samosir island the next day. Samosir island is surrounded by Lake Toba, the largest volcanic lake in the world. It was a great place to chill for a few days - we explored the village Tuk Tuk, walked to the nearby village Tomok. Val got to have a Magnum gold which she's been dreaming about since her trip to Bali 4 years ago and Rob got to have the worlds most expensive shitty coffee (Kopi Luwak)!

Picturesque Lake Toba and the Batak style buildings

Our time in Indonesia was amazing - the people of the country are the friendliest we've come across (besides the bus drivers!). We were constantly being greeted by little kids, smiling and saying hello! We had some great food, met some great people and made some great memories.

So long Indonesia!

Click here for Sumatra Gallery

Sumatra, Indonesia

Rob & Val

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