3 Day Orangutan Jungle Trek - Day 1
- V.Gray
- Feb 8, 2024
- 8 min read
This has never been a bucket list item or a "must do '' for me. However when we were in South East Asia in 2020 this hit Ryan's list as it came across his social media feed. I am not a good hiker, I am not crazy about bugs, snakes or spiders, which is part of why it never appealed to me. When we returned to Vietnam in winter 2023, we had seen what could happen to the world in lock down again and opportunities we did miss. This time we had the opportunity to go see the wild orangutans in the Sumatran jungle. Knowing how much Ryan wanted to do this, we booked this as our finale to our winter trip.
We decided a month into our winter stay, that we were going to do this trek. So I started mentally conditioning myself for the hiking, sweating and creepy crawlies we could possibly come across. We started hitting the gym in our apartment building daily for an hour each on the stairmaster and treadmill. We would leave the windows wide open and embrace the heat, preparing for the physical activity in the jungle.
We did some research online and emailed a few different guide companies. There were all kinds of different treks. From 1 day, 2 days/1 night, 3 days/2 nights up to a full 7 days/6 nights in the jungle. You could go for orangutans, tigers or elephants. When we got responses from a few companies. Some companies were booking a year out, others a few months or weeks. We considered their online reviews, along with how quickly they answered our emails and questions. We also had an extra request, to pick us up from the airport and a return to the airport as well.
That's when we found Kellan Hays and his team, they answered our emails quickly and they were only booking a few weeks out ( http://www.sumatraorangutantreks.com ).
He was extremely helpful, gave us a full itinerary, cost break down, airport transport, accommodations and sent lots of pictures showing what other treks had seen. We decided on doing a 3 day/2 night trek through Bukit Lawang. Their only request was a $75/each CAD deposit from both us to hold our spot in March.
After our quick stay in Singapore to visit some family, we were off to Indonesia. Our flight from Singapore to Sumatra had a quick hour layover in Kuala Lumpur. However our flight was delayed 20 minutes which made our layover less than 40 minutes when we arrived. Unloading the plane took longer than usual, so we were running to catch our next flight which was luckily only a few gates away. We found out later this caused a problem for luggage, as none of the luggage from the first flight made the transfer. This took several hours at the airport trying to figure out how to get our luggage to our next stop and delaying our 3 hour car ride by a few hours. Not the best start to this journey.
Photo Credit: V. Gray
We started our first day after landing in Sumatra, trying to find our luggage and when we would see it. Between the two of us we had 1 checked bag with all our gear in it, the guide company was extremely helpful and understanding. They let us delay the trek by a day and did all the communicating with the airline and airport to find our luggage and get it delivered to us. Giving us an extra unplanned day in the area we decided to walk around the village and head into the market for some lunch.
Photo Credit: V. Gray
When we returned back to the lodge, our guide (Dani) informed us our bag should arrive in the next few hours and that we would be all set to depart the next morning. We then sat down with Dani for an hour and discussed what to expect during our time in the jungle.
A big thing to remember is that seeing these animals is a possibility. They are not guaranteed, the guide is going to try and find these animals for you. Remember the guide has no control over where these animals are and when you could see them. We discussed everything from clothing to bring, first aid, bug spray and not to have food in our backpacks. He would have all of that for us. Do not over pack your bags you do have to carry them through the jungle yourself, Dani could not stress that enough to us.
We were ready and pumped for our 9 am departure for the jungle!
We were off, but before we even left the lodge Dani warned us to put our socks over our pants because of leeches. The leeches live in the tall grass and plants in the jungle, not by the river beds like we are accustomed to back home. After the quick fix we were off to the entrance of Bukit Lawang Park. Walking through trials and climbing rocks to make it to our starting point.
Photo Credits: R. Cowie & V. Gray
We were about 30 minutes into our hike, when Dani stopped, hushed us and pointed straight ahead. We were not in the park yet! Just outside of it walking through the jungle outskirts and there sat what we were hoping to find, an orangutan. A mom and a baby clung to her back as she walked across the jungle floor. I was stunned by the size of this creature but also by how quietly she moved through the brush.
At this point we noticed Ryan was bleeding all around his ankles (he had not tucked his pants into socks like the rest of us). Dani took a look and pulled several leeches off of Ryan’s ankles and top of his feet. Ryans socks were bright red, as I laughed at this I looked down and saw I have a similar situation. The leeches did not hurt. We actually did not notice them biting. It was just itchy after they bite you and had been removed. As the day continued we pulled more leeches off of each other and just laughed about it as it was part of the experience.
Video Credit: V. Gray
We then went back to watching the mom and baby. We stood quietly in awe as the pair moved across the ground and back into the trees for probably 5 minutes before carrying on into the depths of the jungle. Once we were in the park we ran into a few other tour groups, it was really only once we had to share space with them and we got to see how fortunate we were. As we stood and watched another mom and baby in the trees, we saw the size of other groups.
Photo Credit: V. Gray
Some groups had 4 people in a group, some 6 plus their guides (the picture above only shows a small number of other tourists). We were us and our guide, which we found a lot easier to move through the jungle and find the orangutans. After we watched for a few moments, people slowly started to move away and we did get to move closer. Still one main rule, do not touch the animals. If they touch you that's one thing but do not reach out for them or touch them.
Photo Credit: V. Gray
We saw more than just orangutans on our first day of trekking, we saw all types of different monkeys, a large pheasant and lots of other birds. Dani and Bambam carried all the snacks and lunch that they kindly prepared for us when we took breaks.
Photo Credit: V. Gray
The further we trekked into the jungle the more orangutans we saw in total we found 7 females with babies attached to them in some way. After lunch we climbed to the highest point, this was a straight up the side of the mountain grabbing onto branches, rocks or whatever else we could find. When we got to the top the view was absolutely breathtaking and worth every second of the climb (see video below).
Video Credit: Dani
Once we made it to the top and were taking in the view, we stayed for a moment to catch our breath, have a small snack and some water, we were a bit out of breath after the climb up. Then we saw the turtle who was hanging out on top of the mountain.
Photo Credit: V. Gray
When Dani first told us about this turtle on a log on top of this mountain, that we were currently recovering from hiking up. Neither of us actually believed him. Until he insisted we go look for ourselves. Neither of us could believe our eyes, we just shook our heads, how did this little guy get all the way up there? Better yet how would he get down? We asked, Dani told us he would just pull his legs and head into his shell and tumble down. Again I honestly didn't think he would do that, until we watched him get off the log doing just that. Pulling all his limbs and head inside his shell and bouncing around like a ball until he stopped.
What goes up must come down and down we went, what a crazy idea that was. We had to watch every second for our foot placement, one wrong step and do you go. We were watching what we were holding on to while all still trying to take in every second of this insane adventure.
Photo Credit: V. Gray
Going down quickly became worth it, when we finally got to encounter a larger male orangutan. Watching Dani take off into the jungle was a bit nerve wrecking,he ran off so easily it was crazy to watch. While we stood there and waited for him to confirm what he thought he saw. Watching the excitement come across our group when we heard it was a large male we all dropped our bags and went to see him up close. He was so large but elegant, the way he moved through the trees as much as the trees swayed or bent was memorizing.
Photo Credit: Dani
After running around the jungle floor for a little while and seeing this guy move around, we started back to our goal of reaching camp for the night. All the treks meet at the same area, on a beautiful river bed. The tents are made of bamboo with plastic sides, the bed is a thin mat with a pillow, sleeping bag and a bug net to tuck you in at night. All treks share the same bathroom a bit further back, which is a hole with water beside it to flush and a screen to pull around you or you can just go in the bushes.
Photo Credit: V. Gray
The river was so clear and cool, after dropping our bags we quickly changed into our bathing suits for a swim. I am not normally one for swimming, but after a day of trekking and finding out how much I could actually sweat it was a welcome cool down. The water wasn't very deep walking through it around on knees and the deeper parts we could plunge under once we were in the pool.
Photo Credit: R. Cowie
It gets dark fast in the jungle, once we were done swimming Dani and Bambam were putting dinner out by the river for us. We were warned to bring bug spray and we used it a lot, the bugs got bad once we were just by candle light.
Photo Credit: V. Gray
Once it's dark in the jungle it's dark, we did not have phones to waste time on social media or anything like that. We had cards and Dani and Bambam had a game with 3 toothpicks. We sat up for a few hours, laughing, talking and showing Dani and Bambam pictures of back home and our hobbies.
As we sat in the tent with them, Dani had to take time to point out a very large spider hanging out in the corner across from our beds. He also reminded us to tuck the bug netting under our sleeping bags when we go to bed. On that note we went to bed. Great, I kept one eye on that spider for a little bit before drifting off to sleep.
During the night, we got a small thunderstorm which was pretty neat to listen to the thunder rolling through the jungle. The rain didn't seem heavy but the thunder and lighting that happened that night were like something I have never experienced before. Even with the thunder storm we woke up refreshed and ready to start day 2 of our 3 day trek!
Cheers!
*** To read more about Day 2 & 3 of our Jungle trek read post 3 Day Orangutan Jungle Trek - Day 2 & 3 **
**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram @vikki.gray **
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