George Ellis: Bukit Lawang & Tangkahan
21st – 22nd June – ‘The Gate to the Hills’
On the way we stopped in at Wanda’s house, one of the guides and an old friend of Emma. We were warmly welcomed into their house, which was located amongst an abundance of forest and rice plains. We sat and had a chat with Wanda and his family and gained a small insight into a local Indonesian lifestyle.
Eventually we reached our very beautiful Ecolodge in Bukit Lawang, located on a river and overlooking some of the local town. We settled in and took advantage of the slightly more touristic nature of the lodge with a few Bintang’s (Indonesian beer) and some food other than noodles and rice! The next morning we packed and set of on our 7 hour trek to the forest where we’d camp for the evening with some of the guides. We soon discovered that Bukit Lawang actually meant ‘the gate to the hills’, so our trek was somewhat ‘up and down’ to say the least.
On the trail before entering the forest we came across quite a large, striking sign stating the rules regarding behaviour in the forest and towards the orangutans. The touristic nature of Bukit Lawang and its history as an orangutan rehabilitation centre meant that the orangutans encountered there were somewhat habituated compared to those seen at Ketambe. With this, and along with some psychological conditions, some of the orangutans had the tendency to be slightly aggressive and approach humans in hope of being fed. We’d heard stories of Mina, a mother orangutan who could be particularly aggressive, which were passed on like some sort of local legend. When we got into the forest however we were officially cautioned regarding her behaviour, and we became slightly apprehensive. Within the first half an hour of our trek, we were alerted of the presence of one of the orangutans nearby – the guides were all in communication with each other via walky-talkies – and we swiftly headed towards it. Within minutes we encountered our second orangutan sighting of the trip, a mother and her child.
The contrast to the fully wild mother and child we saw at Ketambe was noteworthy; this time we were seeing them a lot closer up, in the presence of quite a lot of other tourists and we knew that they were more habituated. All of this added up to make it seem slightly less of a unique meeting compared to that of Ketambe. Nevertheless we were still breath-taken as always and enjoyed the closer views we had of the apes, also using the opportunity to take better some good quality photos. We carried on the trail and what we were about to encounter was, in my opinion was the highlight of the day. One of the guides alerted us again to what he believed to be a pair of wild gibbons, the elusive nature of these apes and their general rarity excited us, and we eagerly followed. We slipped off track to follow the calls, and there they were, high in the canopy to begin with but eventually began to swing down past us using their typical majestic brachiating movements. I decided to ditch the camera and fully embrace the moment through the binoculars, we stayed there for a while, just watching – another magical moment!
We continued trekking throughout the day, stopping for some lunch on the way. Afternoon drew in and we reached camp – a bunch of tarpaulin tents on some makeshift wooden flooring situated on the banks of a crystal clear-flowing river. We washed off in the river as soon as we arrived and settled into our haven for the evening, relaxing and playing games with the guides as night drew in.
23rd – 24th June – Sustainable tourism surveys
After a fairly restless night’s sleep on the hard ground, cushioned only slightly by a self-inflating mat, we ate breakfast and had our morning wash in the river – bliss! Throughout the morning we witnessed the morning migration (and scavenge for food) of the long-tailed macaques on the other side of the river, along with a pretty sizable monitor lizard hanging around the river also in search of breakfast.
Some of us then went on one last short trek in the Bukit Lawang forest, and in fact for our time in Indonesia! It wasn’t as eventful as previous treks, but we still did come across a squirrel, an eagle and plenty of insects, and served as a nice farewell to the forest. We headed back to camp where we got our swimming kit on ready to tube back down the river to the lodge. We all boarded the inflatable rafts and set sail down the river! After forty minutes of navigating the white water we arrived back at the Ecolodge, soaking wet but stoked! We ate dinner and met with Amanda in the evening to discuss our plan for tomorrow. To serve as a comparison to Ketambe we planned to carry out more questionnaires at Bukit Lawang the next day, splitting up into teams and spacing ourselves out amongst the various guesthouses along the river to maximise the number of results. Our last full day at Bukit Lawang came and we set out to carry out our questionnaires and explore some of the other lodges and restaurants. We gathered around sixteen results from tourists spanning many demographics and met back in the evening to discuss the results.
On examination of the questionnaire results, many themes were hotly discussed – namely regarding the sustainability and information distributed by the Ecolodge, surrounding lodges and guides themselves; ideas on how to change tourist’s attitudes and behaviours regarding conservation efforts and sustainable behaviour; and tourists’ main motivations to visit Northern Sumatra. Having not drawn many solid conclusions however, it became clear just how complicated each issue is.
25th – 28th June – Tangkahan and two weeks in the Tropics
We said farewell to Bukit Lawang early on the 25th for the journey to our last destination – Tangkahan. After arriving at the community-ran Jungle House around midday, we were greeted by the manager, (Alex) and given a guided tour. Similarly to Bukit Lawang, the lodge was situated on the banks of another beautifully clear river fitted with many large rocks suitable for jumping off of, and its very own hot spring!
The restaurant was surrounded by Thomas langurs and overlooked the river. Behind it were our separate lodges, and a few tourist shops. We spend the rest of the day relaxing by the river, and later on in the evening Alex took some of us to play football in one of the nearby palm oil plantations, ‘Estadio Palm Oil’ he called it. We awaited our turn on the bench as they played by the ‘winning team stays on’ rule, and eventually we got the call up. Having never played in such heat before, we were exhausted within about 10 minutes and I don’t think I’d ever sweated that much in my life (nice). It was evident that the locals were passionate about the game, and it was nice to find some immediate common ground in order to break the language barriers. As darkness came we headed back to Jungle House for the night.
Our last day in Tangkahan came (and second last in Indonesia!) so we were determined to make the most of it. At breakfast we decided to venture up the river in search of a waterfall, and then head off into the village to visit an elephant sanctuary. Our river trek lasted around four hours and involved a lot of slipping on rocks, swimming against current and innovative thinking in order to keep the camera equipment dry! Nevertheless it was all worth it, considering some of the sights we saw.
In the afternoon we headed off into the village to get up close and personal with some elephants again, and finished off the day with another game of football. During the evening, Alex built a bonfire and we reflected on our time in North Sumatra – what we’d learned, what we’d experienced and potential (but ambitious) resolutions for some of the issues we’d come across regarding ecotourism, human-elephant conflicts and the diminishing rainforest. After a few beers and sing-songs we all headed off to bed. The next day we travelled all the way back to the capital where we’d spend the day embracing the more urban side of the country. In the evening we spent one last night in our trusty Jangga House and reflected on the trip with slideshows of peoples pictures.
We were up at dawn on the 27th to make the return journey! The 12 hour flight back certainly felt longer than the outbound journey, possibly because we were following the daylight back across the globe. We were eventually reunited with the familiar sight of Bournemouth coach station at around 11pm on the 28th. We said our farewells and headed off in our separate directions to share our stories and get back to our normal lives; all taking with us however memories of an enlightening, enriching and overall unforgettable two weeks in the tropics – until next time!
