Orangutangs, Thomas Leaf & Long Tail Tekaks

The below blog is a little out of order as we have done Cambodia and the Thai Islands prior to Bukit, Indonesia, but we thought we'd share before we lose all our recollection of the experience.  Enjoy!  Pictures are now posted at: https://picasaweb.google.com/rayann.torres/BukitLuwang#

All monkeys, and all living in Bukit Lawang National Park in Northern Sumantra!  Took a flight from Krabi International Airport thru Kuala Lumpur to Medan, Sumantra which is located in the northern part of Sumantra to meet up with Rayann's sister Michelle and her boyfriend Breck for some serious trekking and wildlife watching.  The jungle in northern Sumantra is unbelievable with lush mountainsides filled with huge ferns, green mosses, and spiral trees.  We stayed at a small guesthouse in the northern part of the river valley called Green Hill Bungalows, which did not disappoint.  Each couple had our own bungalow built right into the cliffs of the valley with decorative stone work and landscaping everywhere.  Breck and Michelle lucked out on the first night and got a bungalow with an outdoor shower lit by the moon!  The bungalows are fairly new due to the fact that a flash flood in 2004 completely demolished the entire village killing 300 people (a village of 3000 people).  But they are rebuilding feverishly and it seems like they are getting back to somewhat normal. 

Day one included tubing down the river on tubes (aka huge tractor tires).  A great way to see the river valley and pass by all the people in the village doing their daily chores while the kids play around in the river.  Some of the rapids were pretty big due to the almost nightly rains in this time of the year.  Rayann had a little scare when her tube flipped over and got sucked back under the rip current for a few seconds........did not look like Michael Phelps, but did a good job of pulling herself out of the rapids and to the safety of her tube!!  We did this all afternoon until we were water logged, reaching the end and scrambling back up to the starting point to go down again.  After we cleaned ourselves up we had dinner at the guesthouse.  The power would go out intermittently, so we ate most of our meal by candle light and the occasional lightning that would light up the whole valley.  It rained (to put it lightly) the entire night which added to the "jungle atmosphere" and only enhanced our experience.

Day two we set out for our 2 day jungle trek into the National Park.  First stop was the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, where  two workers sat on a platform and fed the semi-wild orangutans.  They  would swing down from the trees above to pick up their snack which included  bananas, of course, and coconut milk.  The Orangutans would take the cup from the workers, drink the milk and hand the cup right back to the workers.  Pretty amazing and smart animals!  Our two guides were Peeah (pronounced pee-i) and Indra, the assistant guide.  They were ok; they knew the area and did a decent job of showing us some different types of trees and flowers etc, but could have done a better job of looking excited about what they were doing.  The hiking was extremely difficult.....probably the toughest we have done yet. Climbing up and down steep, wet tracks grabbing on to roots, rocks, trees or whatever we could to keep from sliding down the entire mountain.  To add to the difficulty, we had to be on the lookout for leeches which were everywhere, and not easy to spot.  Unless you are Michelle, aka Curt Shilling (see picture below once we insert) where not one but two leeches attached themselves to the same spot on her sock making it a big bloody spot.  Sorry Michelle. 

Is that Curt!?

The wildlife was really good as well.  We saw Orangutans, Thomas Leaf monkeys (also known as Funky Monkeys because of the stripes on their heads giving the appearance of a mo-hawk), and  Long and Short Tailed Mekaks.  The campsite was straight out of Jurassic Park. 



Hanging at the campsite

We were waiting for a dinosaur to come tearing out of the jungle.  It was located right on a bend in the river surrounded by 100 foot jungle walls.  Our shower consisted of soaping up in the river, followed by dinner sitting indian style with our guides under the tent.  And when I say tent I mean bamboo poles tied together with a tarp slung over the top.......pretty minimal.  We slept on mats directly on the jungle floor.  At any second a monitor lizard, snake or any other creepy, crawly thing could crawl right into bed with us.  Thankfully none did!  Before we went to bed though, PI entertained us with some mind games and card tricks that for the most part Breck was the only one to figure out.  Luckily it only rained for half of the night so we were able to get a decent nights sleep, but again added to the experience and made it that much more fun. 

We woke up early the next day and headed upstream to a waterfall that you could sit under and get a massage on your neck and back.

Group Picture!

After this we had lunch at the campsite and then set off in our makeshift raft which was just four tubes tied together with one guide in the front and one in back steering us around the rocks.  To make it more interesting, the rapids were almost at their peak because of all the nightly rainfall!!  It was very safe and all of us made it down without any problems. We finished up in Bukit Lawang that night with another riverside dinner and some competitive games of Uno with Breck and Michelle.  The next morning we were woken up by the troop of Mekak monkeys making a racket, swinging from tree to tree chasing each other stopping occasionally to peer over our balcony's to see if there was any loose food they could steal.

Here they are outside our balcony

All in all it was a great stop in Bukit Lawang, and made even better by the fact that we got to experience it with Michelle and Breck!!