June 17th, 2016

Day 79: Jungle Trek – Day 1

After a hearty breakfast, we dropped off our bags at the Oraguntan Hotel and headed across the river to meet up with our guides – Chandra & Leli – as well as our two new German travel companions – Patrick & Jan – before heading into the JUNGLE.

Igor trying out the machete

Before we reached the park entrance, we had a short hike through a rubber tree plantation – it’s kinda sad as rubber tree and palm tree plantations are the #1 cause of deforestation and habitat loss for the orangutans. Plus, the trees absolutely reek – they smell like dirty port-a-potties.

 

To harvest the rubber, the farmers cut open a slice of bark on the tree and set a coconut shell underneath where the latex sap drips out. They collect the shells once a week (Fridays on this plantation) to carry down to the market to sell to the processing factories for a mere 6,000 IDR per kilo (about USD $0.25 per lb.)

Luckily for us, tourism to the national park is proving to be a very lucrative industry to the Bukit Lawang area, and the wildlife in Gunung Leuser is thriving right up to the borders. We were barely at the entrance when we met our first monkey – a Thomas Leaf Monkey.

 

In addition to bilingual wildlife guidelines for tourists, signs at the park entrance implore locals to stop illegal logging to protect the rainforest for future generations.

Greeted by a Thomas’s langur (AKA Thomas Leaf Monkey) at the park entrance

 

Well, Hello Thomas!

During our trek, Chandra and Leli (AKA – “Jungle Boy” and “Mowgli” – their nicknames, not ours!) showed off their extensive knowledge of the jungle, pointing out Giant Forest Ants (only the males would bite Leli when provoked) and termite nests in trees (through they eat wood, they wisely don’t eat the tree that supports their home). Yeah, yeah, very nice…WHERE ARE THE ORANGUTANS?!?!?

 

Bugs.

Gunung Leuser National Park is home to both wild and semi-wild orangutans (beneficiaries of the former rehabilitation and release program, now closed). While we read online that there is a feeding platform where tourists can see orangutans being fed by park rangers (only meant to be a supplement to their forest diet), we were informed that the platform was shut down over a year ago, as the semi-wild population is self-sufficient and no longer needs the extra food. While we didn’t visit the platform, we didn’t need to as we saw a total of 7 orangutans! Some were wild, which meant we only saw them high in the trees (including a 30+ yo male), and some were semi-wild, like “Juney”, pictured below, who got her name because she was supposedly born in the month of June.

 

A curious orangutan named Juney and her baby came over to our group as we were finishing our lunch

We waited around for a while to see if Leuser’s most notorious orangutan, Mina, would show up, but gave up after seeing Juney. Mina is known for being particularly aggressive (she was captive when she was a baby, and was rescued from an abusive owner), and has apparently bitten over half of the guides currently working in the park. After such a pleasant interaction with Juney, the four tourists were happy to call it a day.

 

Juney showing off for the camera – someone wants to be on the cover of National Geographic!

After a very rigorous hike, we reached our campsite for the night – a nice secluded area next to a jungle stream where all the tourists took a much needed dip to cool off (and clean up! We were all smelling pretty ripe). After that, we relaxed until sunset when our fabulous jungle chef, Alan, served us a multi-course Indonesian feast! Including our new favorite: Chicken Rendang!

 

Loving our riverside campsite

 

A cool swimming spot in the jungle

 

Leli getting some tea started in the bush kitchen, next door to our platform tents

 

Eating well in the jungle! Lunch on the hilltop (a fried egg & rice wrapped in banana leaves – eaten too quickly for a picture), followed by a huge dinner spread! Selamat makan!