And suddenly he was there! Right in front of our eyes! A large orangutan. He scampered among the branches and trees, staring at us repeatedly. We preferred to stay in the background; we had too much respect for these great apes. After all, we were only guests and therefore didn’t want to attract attention.

At first, no one moved; everyone stood still; you could hardly hear anything except the rustling in the trees. What a moment! The announcement was clear: “If I say run, you have to run as fast as you can, okay?” Great, that’s just what we needed…

• Arrival in Bukit Lawang
• A bumpy road to the accommodation
• The Thomas Retreat in Bukit Lawang
• Arrival in the Sumatran rainforest
• Palm oil, rubber, and delicious fruits
• The Bat Caves
• The tour into the rainforest
• Experience orangutans up close
• Fear and terror in the rainforest
• Mina – terrifying and huge
• The camp in the rainforest jungle
• All-inclusive in the jungle near Bukit Lawang
• Breakfast in the rainforest
• Waterfalls and oases in the Rainforest
• River Rafting in Sumatra
• Conclusion of the Rainforest Tour
• General Information
• Tips for Your Trip to Bukit Lawang

Getting to Bukit Lawang

…let’s start from the beginning. The trip to Bukit Lawang on Sumatra proved to be the absolute highlight of our trip so far. We had never experienced anything like it before. It’s something completely different to see an orangutan in its natural habitat. Unfortunately, the opportunity to do so is becoming increasingly rare. These monkeys only live in the rainforest of Sumatra and Borneo. The rainforest itself also blew us away and fascinated us. Those trees! Man, they were gigantic!

We flew from Yogyakarta to Medan. Two weeks of touring through Java were behind us. Now we wanted to experience something completely different. We wanted to go into the jungle and see the last wild orangutans. The day before, we did some more research online. Up until then, we had only booked a hostel in Medan for one night. We thought we could book a tour to Bukit Lawang or the rainforest there.

Through a cool online review, we came across the so-called Thomas Retreat Bukit Lawang. I found a cell phone number and contacted Thomas directly. We arranged everything within just a few minutes. Thomas was super relaxed and recommended that we come directly to Bukit Lawang instead of spending the night in Medan. No sooner said than done!

We were conveniently picked up at the airport by his driver and driven about 1.5 hours to the next meeting point. Thomas and his son were already waiting for us there. We switched cars and continued on with Thomas. There was a traffic jam in Medan, making it almost impossible to get through. The journey seemed to drag on forever. Bukit Lawang isn’t actually that far from Medan, but we still ended up driving for almost five hours.

A bumpy road to our accommodation

After leaving the traffic behind, we found ourselves on roads that didn’t even deserve that name. We could only navigate our way around the potholes at a snail’s pace. During this time, we watched in amazement as the massive palm oil plantations grew on our right and left. We also drove past small villages, saw people sitting in front of their simple houses, mopeds overloaded with palm oil fruits, and women washing their laundry by the river. We quickly realized – this is a completely different world.

But after almost five hours, we finally arrived (albeit completely shaken up) in Bukit Lawang. We were told to get out and grab our backpacks. A street with a few houses and lots of people – hmm, I thought I saw a river in the pictures? We walked around the corner, past a few houses. Then we turned again and suddenly we saw a huge settlement right on the river. What a sight.

We can’t even put it into words. In front of us was a bridge that somehow didn’t seem the most stable. Stefan and Marco, of course, walked across it again, totally fearless. Great! I, on the other hand, hesitated a bit… Admittedly, I didn’t just hesitate, I stopped. Um… Boys? Could we maybe… take a different route? Boys? Hello!? Yay. The boys, lost in conversation, walked straight across the bridge; not even Marco glanced at me. Scoundrel! Okay, close your eyes and go for it!

I walked slowly across, taking small steps. Isn’t this by any chance the longest and wobbliest suspension bridge in the world? No? I could have sworn! After what felt like 10 minutes (actually not even 2 minutes), I finally had solid ground under my feet again. We made it! Thomas’ son took us to the accommodation on the other side of the river. Besides a few other hotels, we saw a few other backpackers and locals playing volleyball with their feet—absolutely crazy!

The Thomas Retreat in Bukit Lawang

The first impression of our accommodation was absolutely fantastic. From the restaurant, you had a wonderful view of the river and the forest behind it. We were also surprised by the amount of choice on the menu. It’s a good thing I’d gone shopping beforehand… (“We’re in the jungle, there isn’t much to eat there,” well, it could have been…). Thomas simply said, “I’ll show you your room,” and walked with us over to another building. Wow!

Our surprise was probably evident; Thomas just grinned and said, “Honeymoon Suite.” We hadn’t booked anything, and if so, it was only the “basic room”—Thomas obviously wanted to make us happy. We had a small terrace overlooking the river. In the middle of Sumatra. How fantastic is that? The room was super modern for rainforest standards, with a private bathroom and shower. We really hadn’t expected so much luxury, not here, and certainly not for a mere 13 euros.

Arrived in the Sumatra Rainforest

It had been 12 hours since we started our journey to Medan from Yogyakarta. It wasn’t that far, only about a 3-hour flight. But the onward journey to Bukit Lawang wasn’t without its challenges. We ordered something delicious to eat and then jumped into the river.

The water was quite clear and pleasantly cool. Marco and I immediately fell in love with this area. The entire scenery was simply unique. We couldn’t believe where we were. “Hey, we’re in the middle of the rainforest right now, swimming in a river, and soon we’ll be going to see the orangutans! This. is. amazing!“

After such a long journey, we were naturally completely exhausted, so we went to bed relatively early. The next day, we discussed the tour with Thomas. We wanted to sleep at least one night in the rainforest. He told us a few other backpackers would be arriving that day, and we could then join them on the tour the next day. We obviously thought that was much better than walking through the forest all by ourselves. It would probably be much more fun in a small group.

Palm oil, rubber, and delicious fruits

So we had the whole day free. We didn’t want to sit around lazing around, so we went with Rudi to a bat cave. Rudi is 21 years old, was born in the area, and worked for Thomas (now, unfortunately, not anymore). He spent most of his time at the reception desk, was there for guests, helped in the kitchen, or played the guitar. A really great guy.

But the other guys were great too. We learned from Rudi that he had never been in the cave before. Due to time constraints, he had only been able to take visitors to the entrance. At that time, however, we were the only guests – so it was the perfect day for Rudi to finally see the cave from the inside.

On the way there, we passed many plants, and Rudi told us a bit about them. He showed us, among other things, the palm oil plants and explained exactly how they are harvested and sold (we will write a separate article about that). In short: Money literally grows on trees here.

And they are everywhere, whether in Malaysia, Thailand, or Indonesia. We also saw many fruits and trees from which rubber is harvested. It was simply Great, we learned a lot about the flora and fauna. Grandma would be proud of me! I finally got a kind of “green thumb”!

The Bat Cave

Then we arrived at the Bat Cave. A young boy was sitting in front of the entrance. We had to pay an entrance fee of 25k because the cave is on private land. Together with the boy and Rudi, we set off through the cave, armed with flashlights. It was dark and smelled a bit strange – namely, like, um… bat droppings. Here and there we saw a few spiders and other creatures, but I’ve become relatively relaxed about them these days (but only when they’re far enough away from me).

We shone a flashlight up briefly to see the bats. There were lots of them. Lots and lots of them! They were dangling upside down from the ceiling, quite serenely. Every now and then one flew back and forth across the cave. During the day, it’s their sleep time, so we didn’t disturb them and continued climbing through the cave. We took a few pictures and were amazed by this cave. It looked really cool in some places.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the accommodation and by the river. In the evening, we played cards with the guys or chatted with Rudi and Thomas. They’re really cool and relaxed. They were always joking or saying silly things. But we liked that. We tried to go to bed earlier so we’d be fit for the big tour.

We decided on a 2-day tour with an overnight stay in the rainforest. It cost us €70 per person. And believe us, those €70 were one of the best investments ever, ever, ever! Thomas added with a serious expression: If we see the female orangutan Mina, be warned. She’s the most aggressive one here and much feared; everyone here knows her. So be on your guard! After the funny conversations, we could see the seriousness in his face…

The Tour into the Rainforest

Morning broke, and now it was finally time to get going. Marco went downstairs to order some breakfast, while I preferred to stay in bed for a few minutes. At 9 a.m., we set off towards the forest with eight other people. In the forest, it was constantly up and down, up and down, up and down. Extremely exhausting, I tell you. We kept passing other smaller groups. Of course, Thomas isn’t the only guide in Bukit Lawang. He also knew a detour to be more undisturbed.

The humidity felt like 200%; we were sweating constantly, and not a single corner of our clothes remained dry. Luckily, we always took a short break after strenuous climbs. Here, Thomas’s helpers unpacked fruit – bananas, pineapples, melons, passion fruit, and oranges. A welcome boost for the kilometers to come.

We continued through the rainforest. Thomas stopped repeatedly to tell us something about the plants. We stood in front of enormous trees entwined with lianas. Did you know that lianas wind their way up and around a tree to escape the lack of light on the ground?

They are not parasites in the sense that they do not take nutrients from the host plant. However, these climbers can kill trees; the weight of the lianas is considerable, and a (weakened) tree can occasionally lose its balance as a result. Lianas are particularly numerous in rainforests. And believe me, our well-known ivy is a joke compared to that.

Trees in the rainforest can grow up to 70 meters tall; they are also called giant trees. You can often see huge, rib-like buttress roots on them, which can reach up to 10 meters. They give the large trees the necessary stability.

Experience orangutans up close

And suddenly, it happened. We hadn’t expected it so quickly. After just the first 2 kilometers, an orangutan was suddenly hanging in the trees in front of us. We were able to get quite close, but we still had enormous respect for these great apes. It’s like night and day to see them in their natural habitat instead of behind a thick pane of glass. He fidgeted from left to right, watching us. It was a female orangutan with her baby.

Thomas told us there are probably 5,000 orangutans living in the region. It’s also interesting to note that orangutans don’t live in groups. The children stay with their mothers until they are five years old before moving on their own. However, it can also happen that two females team up for a few days to gather food. Speaking of food…unfortunately, many of the animals here are already accustomed to the rangers and the fruit they bring with them. We think that’s a real shame!

You rarely see them on the ground, presumably because of their natural enemy, the Sumatran tiger. Orangutans are diurnal forest dwellers and build a nest of leaves for their nighttime sleep. They usually only use this nest once. During heavy rain, they use the large leaves and hold them above their heads to keep themselves dry. So you can see how similar these apes are to us. They also use tools like sticks to dig or fight.

The sad thing about it all: They live in the rainforest, and it is being increasingly destroyed by humanity. As a result, they are losing their habitat. The trees are being cut down for timber or palm oil. Added to this is hunting and the illegal trade of young animals. The population cannot recover quickly, as a female only gives birth to one young every 4-8 years.

Our journey continued. On our way to the camp, we saw many more monkeys. Directly in front of us on a branch sat a so-called “Thomas Leaf Monkey.” These monkeys are capuchin monkeys, relatively small and slender. They have a very long tail, which is often longer than their body.

The head is particularly striking. Two white stripes extend from the top of the hair to the eyes. The orange-brown eyes are surrounded by silver, white-rimmed circles – really cool. Somehow, these monkeys reminded us of the movie “Madagascar.”

Fear and Loathing in the Rainforest

Then there was another rustling in the trees. We reached a clearing at the top and had a great view over the forest. In the distance, we saw gibbons leaping from branch to branch. And let me tell you, they can jump really far. It was at least 10 meters!

When even the guide opens his eyes like a child and asks, “Did you see that?! Wow, breathtaking!”, you know you’ve seen something pretty special. Thomas told us that gibbons aren’t often seen here, so we were really lucky! But that wasn’t all, because a few meters away, a female gibbon and her young were clambering down the vines.

Suddenly, she ran purposefully toward us. I tell you, it’s a terrible feeling. You stand there, completely exposed, just hoping the monkey will turn around at some point. What is she up to? I got scared and hid far back. One of the guides threw a fruit in the other direction. The female monkey turned around and grabbed the fruit. Then things got strange.

The female monkey followed one of the guides, who was now hiding behind a tree. It was like a cat-and-mouse chase. No matter which direction the guide ran around the tree, the gibbon always blocked his path as if they were playing tag. At some point, the guide escaped the female gibbon and calmed her down with fruit so we could move on.

Mina – Intimidating and Enormous

We passed another group and heard a few German voices. A guy came up to us with a serious expression and said, “There’s Mina! We can’t go any further, she’s been following us for a kilometer! Be careful!” Suddenly, the atmosphere was tense.

We caught a few glimpses. Mina was hanging in the branches; the guides had lured her away from the path. There, Mina kept holding out her hand to one of the guides. As if to say, “Come on! Give me the fruit! Otherwise, something pretty nasty is going to happen here, buddy!”“

I got really nervous and decided to go back into the back row. Who knows what an orangutan thinks and feels? They also said, “If you see Mina and she becomes aggressive, you should just run! As fast as you can!” But Mina remained relaxed, and nothing happened. We were all able to move on quickly after leaving Mina a small ration of fruit. At least that way she didn’t follow us.

The camp in the rainforest jungle

A few orangutans, gibbons, and kilometers later, we almost reached our destination. Now we were at an altitude of almost 420 meters. Thomas said: “You have to go down! After that you will arrive at the camp!” Finally! After almost 6 hours of hiking, we finally reached our destination.

The path down was anything but easy. We kept slipping because the ground was still quite wet from the day before. We had to hold on to branches or grab small tree trunks. I was truly at the end of my strength and just wanted to get into the water somewhere. When we got to the bottom, we saw the large tents and the watering hole by the river.

Ollo and his crew were already waiting for us here. Ollo is 48 years old and has been working with Thomas for over 15 years. He is the heart and soul of the team and looks after the guests at the camp. Ollo prepares the food, organizes fun group games for the evening, and brings everyone back safely to the settlement in the valley. He and three other guys were already preparing the meal.

All-inclusive in the jungle near Bukit Lawang

We were then able to clean ourselves in the river and put on dry, fresh clothes. We felt reborn. Dinner was served around 6-7 p.m. We gathered on a small seating area made of sleeping mats. Ollo and the boys brought one bowl after another. Here rice, there curry, there chicken, here vegetables, there potatoes, and so on. A true feast!

In the evening, we all sat together in a circle and played a few group games like we were at summer camp. At first, we really felt like we were in kindergarten, but by the end, we were all still able to laugh heartily. It was around 9 p.m., and we decided to go to bed. 10 mattresses lay next to each other under one roof.

Little by little, everyone else arrived. I didn’t sleep a wink for the first five hours—it was an unfamiliar environment. My body always needs time to get used to it. Eventually, though, I fell asleep, after conjuring up all sorts of horror scenarios in my head. Spiders, monitor lizards, scorpions, snakes—how can you fall asleep in that?

Breakfast in the Rainforest

The next day dawned, and it was bright and sunny outside again. Ollo and the crew were already preparing breakfast while we slowly woke up or took our first dip in the river. We all gathered again on our sleeping mats and were served a super-delicious jungle burger. Ollo always put a lot of effort into it. Toast, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, egg—mmmm, delicious! And always those decorations! Ollo and his team were truly the best. “Enough” was never good enough for them. enough.

Waterfalls and Oases in the Rainforest

After this cool jungle breakfast, we made our way to a small waterfall. We had to cross the river once, and that wasn’t easy. The current was quite strong, so we all held hands. Once we got there, it was only a few meters to the waterfall and the beautiful small lagoon. The water was cold but crystal clear. We didn’t hesitate and jumped in. There were a few other people with us, but it was still cool, and at no point did we feel like we were in mass tourism or anything like that.

Our amazing jungle adventure was slowly coming to an end. The guys gave us a typical jungle face paint and we headed back to camp. Ollo was in the mood to treat us to his treats again. There were two large fruit platters, again decorated with natural decorations.

River Rafting in Sumatra

Afterwards, we packed everything up, took a group photo, and started our way back. This time, we didn’t have to travel 10 kilometers through the rainforest—it was going to be much cooler. We hopped into giant tires and rode down the wild river back to the valley. This river rafting was another fantastic highlight of this tour. After about 20 minutes, we arrived back at the settlement by the river.

We sincerely thanked the entire crew for this fantastic experience and enjoyed the last few hours at Thomas’s accommodation in Bukit Lawang. After three days, we set off for the airport in the middle of the night, around 3 a.m. Thomas organized a driver for us, so we arrived on time around 6 a.m. and were able to take the plane to Kuala Lumpur at around 9 a.m. (flight time 50 minutes).

Conclusion of the Rainforest Tour

This trip to Bukit Lawang on Sumatra wasn’t planned at first, but in the end, we all agreed: We’ll be back! It was one of the best and most intense experiences of our entire trip. We highly recommend visiting this region. Every cent was worth it, and Thomas was also a perfect guide for this adventure.

The uniqueness of the rainforest was simply magnificent and will remain forever unforgettable. We so hope that humanity will one day understand how important this habitat is for the animals and, above all, for us humans. But nature will reclaim everything in the end anyway – we’re sure of that!

General Information

Bukit Lawang is located in the north of Sumatra, about 3 hours south of Medan. Here you’ll find the Gunung Leuser National Park, one of the largest nature reserves in all of Indonesia and a refuge for many endangered species.

Getting there

Via Medan Airport “Kuala Namu”. From there, take the bus to Bukit Lawang. Alternatively, you can also organize a shuttle. If you’ve booked accommodation or a tour, you’ll usually also be offered a transfer from the airport (for a fee, of course). The journey from the airport to the settlement can take between 3 and 6 hours, depending on traffic.

We spoke with Thomas from Thomas Retreat beforehand, and he pretty much arranged everything. We were picked up from the airport and taken back to the airport. We highly recommend this tour, accommodation, and service.

Costs

We paid 70 euros per person for a 2-day jungle tour with overnight stay. The accommodation in the settlement was great and only cost us 200,000 IDR per night (just under 13 euros) on the other days. Here and there, you’ll find small local shops where you can buy some snacks, cigarettes, or drinks. At Thomas Retreat Bukit Lawang, you’ll get everything you need. The menu is huge and the food is delicious. Prices range from 1 to 3 euros per dish.

Tours

You can stay one night in the jungle, 2, 3, or even 10 nights. It’s ultimately up to you. We, and most of the others, opted for 2 days with one overnight stay. In the end, that was enough for us. We were already exhausted after this one trek.Completely exhausted. We probably couldn’t have made it any longer. We also saw everything on this tour, so additional days wouldn’t have been necessary.

If you want to stay in the jungle longer, you can of course do that. If you don’t want to spend the night in the forest at all, you can also simply take a day trip (35 euros per person including meals). River rafting/tube rafting is usually on the agenda at the end of a tour. If it’s not included in the price, you should book it. It was really cool!

Accommodations

There are many other accommodations in Bukit Lawang. You can also simply book accommodation and organize a tour on site – there are plenty of providers there. Just take a look at Booking.com*.

Tips for your trip to Bukit Lawang

1. Bring mosquito spray with you, as mosquitoes are particularly active in the rainforest. We were even bitten by the creatures during our trek.
2. Clothing: For the trek, we wore shorts and sturdy shoes (sneakers). Everything was soaking wet within 30 minutes anyway. Bring a change of clothes if you’re spending the night in the national park. A long sweatshirt for the evening is also a good idea.
3. Drinks: Bring plenty of water, because you’ll need it. You’ll lose so much water on your trek that you’ll want to refill your water supply quickly (at least 1.5 liters).
4. Technology: We naturally brought a camera (a zoom lens is recommended), but be careful with it. It’s really humid in the rainforest, so it wasn’t surprising that Marco’s cell phone suffered minor damage after the tour. Too much moisture penetrated the cell phone.
5. Money: There is an ATM in Bukit Lawang, but the settlement on the river is about 10 kilometers away. So be sure to bring enough cash with you in advance. Here you can find -> the best travel credit card comparison
6. Tour: Our tour was great, and there were 8 of us in total. We also met larger groups along the way. Of course, it’s best when the groups are smaller.
7. Behave yourself! You are a guest in the rainforest, and you are only visiting the orangutans and all the other animals. So you should behave accordingly. Don’t leave your trash in the forests either.