Indonesia – Pulau Weh and Bukit Lawang

When we first started planning this trip, it started as an opportunity to see Orangutans in the wild, which can only be done in two places in the entire world….Borneo and Sumatra.  After researching both locations, we decided on Sumatra in Indonesia.  Our first week, after a very long trip from Detroit ( Detroit to Tokyo to Kuala Lumpur to Medan to Sebang).  Sebang is located on the island of Pulau Weh, which is an island off the northern coast of Sumatra in the Aceh Province.  You may remember ( if your old enough) that Bande Aceh and this area was destroyed in the Boxing day tsunami approximately 15 years ago.

Pulau Weh – Is a fairly large island with gorgeous beaches and amazing snorkelling and diving.  We stayed at a resort called Freddies.  It was a beautiful place right on the beach with individual huts perched upon a cliff overlook the amazing blue waters.  Freddie’s is run by Freddie, a South African, who is an amazing cook and has family style dinners served buffet style every night.  He makes an effort to check in with you everyday and ask what you did that day.  While we were on Pulau Weh, we went on an amazing snorkelling trip, visiting 4 different sites, Secret Beach ( which has amazing colourful corals, the pier to see the sardines in masses of thousands, an underwater volcano and one other site.  We also went scuba diving with Rubiah Divers and dove two beautiful walls.  We also rented a becak ( like a tuk tuk) to take us on an island tour.  We spent the day seeing the entire island, including a private waterfall ( about a 20 minute hike), stopping to feed the long tailed Macaques roadside ( don’t stare them in the eye – they don’t like that) lol, we saw beautiful beaches, stood on a volcanoe and also stopped at the hot springs.

Tips about Pulua Weh

You can reach the island by plane via Lion Air or Garunda Airlines but there are only a limited amount of flights each week.  You can also come by ferry from Bande Aceh on the fast boat or slow boat, but it can sometimes be delayed by weather.

There a a ton of guesthouses on the island, but we highly recommend Freddies.  It is very affordable and comfortable.  there is no air conditioning but the rooms have fans.  The food is great and cheap.

Pulau Weh and the Aceh Province is populated mostly by muslims and is actually under Sharia Law.  Calm down…its not that big of a deal if you are respectable.  Sharia Law only applies to muslims, not tourists.  On your resort you can wear what you want, however if going outside of your resort just wear respectable clothing ( meaning don’t walk around town in a bikini).  You as a tourist are not expected to cover your hair, unless you are going into a mosque.  This also means there is very little alcohol on the island.  Freddies does have beer and some select liquors.

Make sure to get in the water and see the marine life, the fish population is unreal!

 

 

Bukit Lawang

After our week in Pulau Weh, we flew back to Medan and was picked up by EcoTravel, whom took us on the 4 hour drive down to Bukit Lawang.  Bukit Lawang is located on the Bohorok River and is mostly an area for tourist whom are going into the jungle on treks and hikes to see the Orangutans.  It consists of many guest houses, restaurants, shops and bridges to get from one side of the river to the other.  There are many small villages surrounding Bukit Lawang where most of the locals reside.  We stayed the first part of our stay at the EcoTravel Cottages, which are absolutely amazing.  They are located pretty far up the river so you get a gorgeous view of the start of the Gunung Leuser National Park.  There are 6 cottages and are fully equipped with a fride, fan, canopy bed and gorgeous bathrooms.  There are hammocks and chairs to sit out and watch the monkeys come to the riverside.  You can also access the river for a swim to cool off.  There is a bit of a current but nothing that stopped all the kids from jumping in all day and night!.

Through EcoTravel we had lots of adventures

White Water Rafting: we spent 6 hours rafting on the river.  The rapids weren’t too wild so it is great for kids and family, although I imagine it depends on the time of year and amount of rainfall.  We had lunch on the riverbank right next to a beautiful waterfall.  It does take about 2 hours to drive to the start of where you rafting day starts.  Our guide was Hendra from EcoTravel and he was awesome.  We actually spent all week with him and we had a great time getting to know him and had lots and lots of laughs.

the Bat Cave

We did a short hike to a bat cave.  It consisted on hiking into a dark dark cave, with headlamps.  There are three “rooms” where you will see lots and lots of bats and the nesting swallow that build their nests into the walls

Village Tour

Once again we rented tuk tuks for the day and spent the day seeing the surrounding villages.  We stopped at rice fields, homes of local residents that made brown sugar, tofu and roofs and were even welcomed into one of the homes for a traditional indonesian meal…which consists of Tempeh, Rice, Chicken Rendang, Curry and vegetables.

The Jungle Trek

The highlight of our vacation.  We did a 16 mile, 7 1/2 hour hike into the jungle.  It is not an easy hike as you are either going up or down hills, over and over.  It is hot, humid, dirty and tough but worth every second when you get that first look at an orangutan in the wild.  We were lucky to see 8 Orangutans.  AFter our strenuous hike, the last descent down to camp is pretty intense.  The camp is on the river and there was nothing more glorious than jumping into the river.  We had a beautiful dinner made for us by the EcoTravel team.  We spent the night in tents and woke in the morning to spend the day by the river.  We had lots of monkeys come down to the river and hiked to another waterfall and were lucky to see two more oranagutans.  Luckily you don’t have to hike back, you raft back to Bukit Lawang on tubes.

Tips for the Jungle Trek

Honestly, train a little for the hike.  It is hard.  You get lots of breaks and the guides go at a pace that is comfortable for the group but next time I would train for it!  You have to carry your own pack , water and sleeping bag.

Bring a good camera!  The Orangutans get pretty close and you can get some great pics.  There are wild ones and semi wild ones.  The semi wild ones are ones that have been released in the past from rehabilitation centers.  They are more used to people.  If you are lucky you will see Jackie, who may come and hold your hand and follow you to camp.  You may also run into Mina, the legendary female, that is aggressive.  Most guides will not feed the orangutans as they don’t want them to become dependant on being fed, but if Mina comes along they will distract her with food as she has been know to bite.

There are several species of monkies, you will see the long tailed Macaque, the pig tailed Macaque, the Thomas Leaf Monkey and Gibbons…we were lucky enought to see them all!

Bring your own toilet paper…your bathroom is the jungle.  Nuff said!

EcoTravel is the only company that provides tents and sleeping bags, however I found the tent very hot and would have preffered to sleep with just a mosquito net.

You can go on another hike in the morning, and although it is only around 3 hours, it is hiking almost straight uphill for one hour…….

The mosquitoes were not bad if you are diligent with spray

Our last adventure was to Tangkahan to see the Asian Elephants.  It is a long drive about 3 hours on the bumpiest road you can imagine, but you will be treated to amazing views and ending up at a beautiful river to meet the elephants.  Im always torn about things like this.  not knowing if the animals are being exploited, saved, rescued or what.  This group of 9 elephants were moved to this sanctuary because they were moving too close to the villages ( the jungle suffering from deforestation due to the palm oil production).  The choice was them being killed by villagers or moving them and starting a sanctuary.  So thats what they did.  You can go on a walk with the elephants for around 3 hours and end up back at the river where the elephants swim and play and then lay down for a bath, where you can help scrub them down.  They seem to love it.  Afterwards they get lots of fresh fruit to eat.  Overall it was a good experience and they seem to be well taken care of loved by their handlers and are in fact breeding as there were 3 babies.  After you hop back in the car and start the road back to Bukit Lawang

 

 

Our stay in Indonesia was memorable and beautiful.  The Indonesian people are kind, welcoming and as they would say ” small but spicy”.  I highly recommend visiting this country to experience the joy of seeing the Orangutans in the wild as well as the amazing culture and scenery.