Visiting Soraya & Bukit Lawang: One of the most memorable experiences of my life
In June 2018 I joined the LEAP team on a trip to Sumatra as a member of of one of BU's Life and Environmental Sciences SERT projects (Student Ecological Research Team).
Our first destination upon our arrival in Indonesia was Bukit Lawang which is roughly a 4-hour drive from Medan airport. The name translates to “Gate to the hills” which once arriving at Bukit is understandable from the terrain. Our first evening was spent unpacking and settling in to our accommodation and watching the long-tailed macaques traverse the rooftops of the town.
The following day, we met up with Wanda (our forest guide during our stay in Bukit) who took us on a 7-hour trek through the forest on a less touristy route. For some of us this was our first experience being in an exotic forest in 30-degree heat and 100% humidity but that didn’t prevent us from having an amazing time. Early on we stopped for a fruit break where I tried snakefruit for the first time (hadn’t even heard of it before at that point) and really enjoyed it. It was after this break that we truly realised how Bukit Lawang got its name as we began walking uphill very steeply for the best part of two hours. After reaching the top of the hill and stopping for a lunch break we began the descent down to the river at the base of the hill. During this part of the trek we were privileged enough to encounter a fully wild female orangutan with her baby clinging to her. As someone who is interested in the behaviour and lives of primates it was fascinating for me to witness first hand the behaviour of an orangutan in an encounter like this, she stayed high up in the canopy and consistently moved to avoid our line of sight. As well as disgruntled vocalisations she also began to drop parts of the canopy as a message to us to move on, which we quickly respected.
What made this encounter even more interesting was when on the following day Wanda took a group of us on a 2-day trek through a more touristy part of the forest, and within the first half an hour of being on the trail we saw 4 orangutans all quite close up with crowds of over 20 people all taking photos of them. In comparison to the wild female, these more habituated individuals seemed practically unphased by all the commotion and were just getting on with their days which highlighted to me the importance of trying to preserve that wildness in primate species to prevent the loss of natural behaviours. Later on, we got closer to an orangutan than I ever expected to as we stopped for lunch (rice and egg wrapped in a banana leaf) and before we knew it Sima the orangutan was coming down the trail toward us. We walked further up the path to get away, but she was adamant and came within a metre of us before gently grabbing Lucy to turn her around and steal her lunch from her hand.
After the first day of trekking concluded we slept at a campsite by the river and were treated to a stunning mountain of fruit and the company of a large water monitor lizard. Then the following morning we rafted down the river back to the town which was amazing fun.
During both treks in Bukit Lawang it was a blessing to have Wanda as our guide as he was quite clearly extremely passionate about the forests and the conservation of it. His knowledge of a variety of species both plant and animal was extensive, especially the termites, as he explained the state of the termite population can be a very useful indicator of the direction that the forest is heading.
After Bukit Lawang we drove a full day to Subulussalam and stayed the night there, meeting up with lovely Ziva, who helped us out with police paperwork and getting to know the field site. The next morning we were off to Soraya.
To get to the Soraya research station we boarded a river boat at Gelombang which took us along the river for 2 hours and provided us with some stunning scenery, once we disembarked there was a short but steep hike up to the research station with all of our luggage. We were made to feel very welcome at the station and every evening we all ate dinner together.
The main purpose of our stay at Soraya was to aid MRes student, Lucy Twitcher with vegetation plots and dung transects for her research into human/elephant conflict in the area. The vegetation plots offered the opportunity to use the Haglof vertex IV instrument and compare its effectiveness against the type of clinometers often used currently for such research methods. We also got to learn how to set-up and place camera traps in different locations in the forest in the hopes of catching some exciting footage of typically elusive species. I found that having the opportunity to practice these research methods out in the field was invaluable as it has given me some foundation knowledge for if I ever conduct my own research or act as a research assistant.
During my time at the station I was also lucky enough to go on both a morning walk and night walks through the forest, both being amazing experiences of forest life. The forests of Soraya are home to many species of frogs, geckos (and other reptiles), centipedes and millipedes, at least two species of leech and plenty of birds.
Unfortunately, during our stay at Soraya we did not get to see any primate species but that is to be expected. However, we did get to hear the calls of gibbons, siamangs and langurs every day whilst walking through the forest which really added to the experience.
On top of my time at Soraya being one of the most memorable experiences of my life, it was amazing to meet the people who are really protecting these crucial areas of our planet from disaster. It is obvious that everyone at the station is deeply passionate about their roles in the forests protection and it was a pleasure to meet them all.
