Seeing the Orangutan in the Rainforest, Bukit Lawang – Indonesia

Orangutan in Bukit Lawang? Yes, you go to Bukit Lawang to go and admire the amazing orangutan. So that’s exactly what I did when I travelled around Sumatra. After arriving in Bukit Lawang, I immediately booked a 2-day Bukit Lawang Jungle Trekking with that adventurous overnight stay in the jungle! The chance of seeing the orangutan in the jungle near Bukit Lawang is 90%. I was in high spirits as I headed into the jungle that next day!

If you go to Sumatra, you ‘must’ do the Bukit Lawang Jungle Trekking. You also want to admire that orangutan in Bukit Lawang, don’t you? And ‘get out of your comfort zone’ and also do a night in a simple location in the middle of the jungle!

What better way of Ecotravel than sleeping in the jungle in a simple tent? I loved it!

Where can I see the Orangutan?

There are 2 places in Indonesia to spot the orang-utan. These are Bukit Lawang and Sepilok on the island of Borneo. I have been to both places and I can recommend Bukit Lawang more because you will have a more authentic experience here. Sepilok has the rehabilitation centre and you can easily admire them when they are being fed.

Read all about my visit to Sepilok

What wildlife can you spot in Bukit Lawang?

Besides the orang-utan, there is of course plenty of other wildlife to spot such as leopards, Sumatran tigers, rhinos, elephants and sun bears. But also smaller wildlife like pig-tailed macaques, baboons, Thomas monkeys and the necessary reptiles like e.g. vipers, cobras but also monitor lizards etc.

Gunung Leuser National Park

Bukit Lawang is located in the Gunung Leuser Park. At 950,000 hectares, the Gunung Leuser National Park is one of the largest national parks in Indonesia. It is also a very important place in the world in terms of biodiversity. In this Gunung Leuser NP we still find some very seriously endangered species such as the rhinos, elephants and of course the orang-utans.

The Bukit Lawang Jungle Trekking

The day my trip started it rained, well we went into the rainforest 🙂  We were sitting in Ida guesthouse where I stayed with a young German couple, Benjamin and Julia and a older Dutch couple, Joost and Sofie. When the rain almost stopped we started to walk but when we were about to enter the rainforest it started again.

There was a coffeeplace so we got in there and sat there for a while. We were allready pretty comfortable in the group with eachother, I could allready tell that it would be a nice two days!! After a while we saw other groups entering the forest so we started also, I had bought a poncho at Ida Guesthouse and the rest also had raincoats.

The Orangutan in Bukit Lawang – Trip into the rainforest

We had 3 guides, Mudhi was there, I booked the trip with him. Also Putra was there, I did the trip to the batcave with him the day before and the brother of Mudhi came with. So we were in a group of 8, very nice! It does give you a safe feeling going into the jungle with some more guides and companions.

After we started to walk we passed the other groups within a half an hour and were on top 🙂 It didn’t took long and we saw the first Orang Utan.

How impressive! These kind of things make me so happy!

Because these orang-utans were reintroduced to the jungle at Bukit Lawang, they are not human-shy and so get quite close. Of course, they also hope to get some treats…. That’s the other side of the story then…. I did manage to take some nice pictures despite it still raining.

Spotting the Orangutan in Bukit Lawang

Just to see another one, it was just sitting a couple of metres down the road. A again we did a photosession 🙂 You never know how much you got to see.

So we went walking again. The path was good but at some points a bit steep and slipperey because of the rain. I loved the challenge! We heard the screams of monkeys and birds but didn’t saw anything yet. At some point a guide had spotted a gibbon. We saw them too but they are very high in the trees, they don’t like humans that much. They don’t show themself. I couldn’t get a picture with one on it unfortunately.

In search of the Orangutan in Bukit Lawang

We walked on and did some real climbing and descending to get at the river. There we found this great spot to have lunch. The had nasi goreng with them and a fried egg and tomato and cucumber. They served it on a bananaleaf, how great!! After we got some pineapple and watermelon. It was just a feast to eat like that sitting on a rock besides a river. I loved it!

Isn’t this just the best spot for your lunch?

2 day Trip – Jungle Trekking in Bukit Lawang – Indonesia

As we continued walking, the challenge continued to challenge us too. There were some stretches where it was really climbing only to be followed by another nice descent. I love it! The older couple, Joost and Sofie who are both 70, were able to keep up well. They walked in front and we behind them, that way we kept their pace and not the other way around 🙂 I really respect how they kept up, I hope to be able to do the same when I reach that age.

Soon we saw another Orang Utan. This was a mother with a little one and she also got really close! Mother orang-utan entertained the little one a bit by breaking off some branches and we could hear by the sounds that baby orang-utan loved it!

The mother was entertaining her baby, so great!

• Facts about the Orangutan

The Orangutan lives alone, it has no lifepartner but when its ready looks for a male and mates. After she mates she is alone again and will care for her baby. Every night they make a bed, they make it from leafs and high in the trees. At several places I saw old nests from the Orangutan in the forest like a little plateau high in the tree.

Leaches in the Jungle

At some point Sofie had a leach in her armpit, Joost pulled it out immediatly and threw it away. I hadn’t even thought of the possibility. After a while also Joost had one in his groin.  Because of the rain there are more leaches, when it is dry they aren’t there that much. These were the only leaches of the trip by the way 🙂

After the steepest descend we got at a river and we would got at our nightcamp after walking along the river. It was a real climb again. We had to walk near the egde of the river on the rocks and the roots of the trees. We were all a bit tired of walking the whole day which makes it even harder. But we made it!

In search for the Orangutan in the rainforest

Nightcamp in the jungle of Bukit Lawang

At the jungle camp, two men were already there to get everything ready for us. They had already prepared a nice basket for us with tea and biscuits. I also really liked the way they had made the basket, namely with some greenery from the jungle. So nice right!

Ecotravel in the jungle of Bukit Lawang

After drinking the tea we could go swimming in the river. I didn’t, it started to rain again and I just wanted to sit or lay down and rest for a while. I did refresh myself in the river, felt my armpits for leaches 🙂

After we saw a varana swimming that river, it was at least a metre long. So impressive to see walking pass the camp. I snapped pretty good picture of it! Loving this day to the max!

When it got dark we all sat in the tent where we would sleep also, we got dinner. It was rice with chicken curry, vegetables with curry and some soya in sambal. It was really good! After dinner we sat there for the evening while the brother of Mudhi showed us tricks and gave us puzzles to solve, it was a really nice evening. We really had a fun evening together!

We slept on thin matrasses and underneath a mosquitonet, the Dutch couple and me had one net and the German couple also one. Great! I did sleep well but everytime I changed how I lay down I woke up because it was really hard 🙂

The Jungle Toilet in Bukit Lawang

As you can imagine, there are no toilet facilities at such a camp in the jungle, often they are said to use a certain section as a jungle toilet. This is something you should think about before heading out for the night. Diving into the jungle in the dark doesn’t always feel nice of course. If you briefly communicate that to your campmates then there is a bit of supervision and you do dare to go. At least in the morning it’s light again and you dare to walk a bit further away from camp to grab your privacy.

I woke up at 6 oclock and used the rainforest toilet 🙂 I was glad that I was the only one to be awake 🙂

Around 8 oclock we all were awake and got a great breakfast. They had cut all kinds of fruit and maked the basket again with flowers and green leafs. We all got sandwiches with scrambled eggs, tomato and cucumber. It was a four story high sandwich, how great!

After we got our stuff together and started walking again. Back into the rainforest in search for the orangutan. The older Dutch couple choosed to do the short cut today. After a night on the floor and a day of hard working it was time for a nice and slower walk, very understandable.

Need to shorten your jungle trip?

On day 2, there is the option to choose the shorter way back where you can also skip the rafting. Of course, not everyone finds this fun and challenging. Know that there is always an option to make it easier for yourself. The other way around, of course, there is too.

So the German couple and I went up with the brother of Mudhi and Putra. It was the same hill we yesterday came down. So really steep but after a night sleep it went really well!

Putra and I even had some time making some funny pictures 🙂

When we were up there again it didn’t took long before we saw the first Orangutan again. This time it was mother with her one year old kid. How great! I couldn’t get enough of this sight! What a huge animals and what a wise way of looking at us. So impressive!

We hiked further for a while and got to the river. This day it didn’t rain so it was really hot. Putra already told me that we were going to swim and jump off a rock so we immediatly went into the water. It was really refreshing.

On the other side, Putra helped me onto the rock, which was just a bit higher than I had expected. Putra would jump first and on the spot where he jumped I had to jump too, as it was deep enough there 🙂

I hesitated for a while but it went totally fine of course! Super fun to face these challenges during a holiday! Real moments of growth.

We had some delicious noodles for lunch here by the river and then we headed back to Bukit Lawang via the river. We were going rafting! There were still some nice gears in it and we turned around a few more so that whoever was behind was suddenly in front 🙂 I have no photos of this stretch of course but believe me, it was great!

Isn’t that a great way to end a wonderful trip?

As a group we had the best two days we could spend in the forest together!

Seeing the orangutan in Bukit Lawang

Where to stay in Bukit Lawang?

Book your night at Ida Guesthouse

As I mentioned earlier, I was at the cute and cosy Ida Guesthouse. I really liked it super much and they were then (2014) still a fledgling homestay. That is different now of course, they have grown and still in the same spot in the middle of the village. I loved that then, the shops within walking distance and seeing all the hustle and bustle walk by nicely.

Book your night at Thomas Retreat Bukit Lawang

Would you rather be a little outside the village? Then check out this Thomas Retreat Bukit Lawang. With a fine garden surrounding the hotel, you’ll have a little more space to sit outside and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Are you looking for a similar trip and want to book it already? Depending on where you stay, you can book different jungle treks.

For this Jungle Trekking trip, I came from the impressive Toba Lake and stayed on the island of Samosir for a few days.

Save or share this great trip

Do you want to read some more trips in Indonesia?

Touring the Harau Valley on the back of a motor – Bukittinggi, Sumatra

Cookingclass at Juwita’s Cafe – Samosir Island, Sumatra

A visit to the Batcave – Bukit Lawang, Indonesia

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Or check out this jungle trip in Malaysia!

3 days in the Kota Kinabatangan Jungle, Borneo