Gunung Leuser National forest, Bukit Lawang


At the top our "to do" list was to visit the equatorial rainforest village of Bukit Lawang. The neighboring national park, Gunung Leuser, is home to many primates including Orangutans, Black Gibbon, Longtail Macaque, Thomas leaf Langur, and a few others...From Medan, the 4 hour car ride took us through agricultural villages based on the farming of rice, corn, sugarcane, palm for copra and others for palm oil. Lots of smiling faces and happy folks waving to us. We checked into this riverside hotel that our tour guide arranged. Very nice accomodations and delicious food in the restaurant. Indonesian food is really good.


The view from my hotel room overlooks the Bahorok River and the national park beyond.















The next morning after breakfast began the 6 hour hike (yes, you read that right...6) up and down, but mostly up into the rainforest. (Promotional pitch for Motrin here.) Here, our guide, Rinto, is making my life interesting. This is the kind of jungle that Tarzan would be saving Jane from every danger except the one where Billy Barty played chief of the Pygmies. Anyway, the animal life was amazing.



About an hour into the hike we began to see Orangutans. More than 10, but fewer than 20, they were amazing to watch gracefully swing from tree limb to vine through the forest. We saw at least 5 mothers and babies. The interaction was spellbinding. It was not easy to move on for fear of missed events.



Shaky start, but pretty cool?

So then we come to the campsite...Tarzan never had it so good? The ground was...hard, so very hard...But the camp cook was amazing. we had a 4 course meal. The other picture is of Rinti the guide and me.

Cooling off at the waterfall just outside the campsite. 


So...I get up in the morning to stretch and see this guy a few meters from our tent. If you watch to the end, you can see why I stopped the video and quietly stepped away. 


A choice had to be made how to get back to the hotel. We could reverse the 6 hour hike through the rainforest, or float down the river rapids...tough choice...NOT. Anyway, this is the
method of river rafting, inner-tubes lashed together. Here is Don Handley. Friend and adventurer! He even downloaded the entire script of The Big Lebowski, so he is to be revered!

The river rapids run took about 19 minutes and I have the entire thing on video. Here is a clip. What a fun way to end the hike. 

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