Orangutans And (Super Quiet) Fans: Trekking in Sumatra!

I’m back from Indonesia, Jarrod, reporting in to tell you there is sooooo much more to see and do than just sucking back Bintangs in Bali. ‘Like what?’ you ask, with your signature, ‘here we go again’ eye roll. How about trekking in a National Park to see orangutans in the wild! Not a zoo, separated by windows and fences, but in the wilderness.  On their home turf.

It’s one of the first stops on our G Adventures Best of Sumatra and Java tour. We start the day with a Medan City Tour, and tbh, calling it a city tour is really overstating it. We walk down to a mosque with a local guide and as luck would have it, get there bang on time for the morning call to prayer, so literally everything the guide says is completely drowned out by the chanting of the Imam over the speaker. It’s almost comical actually, the split second our guide opens his mouth to say anything, the Imam kicks off so our ‘guided tour’ (heavy on the sarcastic air quotes) is more an exercise in standing in the blazing sun, nodding and maintaining polite eye contact, giving the appearance of being engaged by content we cannot hear.

Beautiful, but I can’t tell you a thing about it

From there we head to the Royal Palace which, again, lucky us, is closed for repairs after a freak downpour the night before so all we can do is snap a few pics of the exterior. Underwhelming.

Meh

Then it’s time to board the bus and start the drive to Bukit Lawang where we’ll stay at an Eco Lodge to trek in Gunung Leuser National Park. The rooms themselves are basic but comfortable, but the meals and bar area are just gorgeous and the food there is first rate.

My digs for the night!

The bar and meals space

Who really cares anyway, we haven’t come there to critique interior design and Nasi Goreng, we’re here to see ORANGUTANS, damnit. So we eat, pull on our boots, make sure the camera batteries are fully charged, the memory cards have ample room, and we’re ready and waiting at 2pm sharp for the local guide to take us into the forest.

Let’s get this show on the road 🙂

All the while ignoring the warning that our tour leader has given us. We need to “manage our expectations” because it’s not a zoo, it’s a National Park and there are no guarantees we will have a sighting and we need to be prepared that we may not see any orangutans at all. They’ll do their best but we need to understand it’s outside of their control. Just a few weeks ago they had a group who trekked for over three and a half hours and they saw nothing. Niente. Nada. Zip. Oh, the disappointment.

A sinister inner monologue starts up almost immediately “you know what they say about bad things happening in threes…. Mosque, Palace……?” I shake off the doubts, tell myself to think optimistic thoughts and we all head off.

You’re in Orangutan Country now. Well, hopefully…

I’m not going to lie, for a trek that’s described as a ‘moderate trek, not too difficult’ there are some bits…. well, most bits really, that I find quite hard going. It’s so damn hot, I’m clammy all over within minutes and a lot of sections that are quite steep and slippery uphill. And I’m very unfit. My heart is thundering like someone who’s come from Melbourne Winter where her biggest walks lately have more or less been from the couch to the front door to collect Uber Eats. And those pessimistic thoughts just keep on creeping in: “if I’m doing three hours of this shite, and I don’t see anything except f$%&ing trees…..”

Imagine trekking 3 hours just to rave about some boulders

But guess what? Our group is one of the lucky ones. We come across some orangutans within about 45 mins. Praise be!!!

STAY CALM EVERYONE

We’re told we need to be super quiet and only communicate in whispers, irrespective of how excited we are. Which is VERY, VERY, VERY difficult. Because you’re essentially watching either the most adorable things you’ve ever seen in the babies, and if that doesn’t elicit involuntary HIGH PITCHED NOISES from you–well, you don’t have a pulse.

*Suppresses excited scream

It’s little face!!!

OMG, DYING.

Or you’re watching impossible feats of strength and agility as they swing from branch to branch, covering inconceivable distances, essentially defying the laws of physics. ‘She’ll never make it that far, and that branch will never hold her weight… OH MY GOD SHE’S MADE IT!!!!’

Show your appreciation with quiet murmurs only

It’s like watching an extreme version of Ninja Warrior.  Imagine watching Ninja Warrior, but instead of the commentators shouting like wild eyed maniacs who’ve done a few lines before the show, they’re whispering respectfully like people between library stacks.

Silent golf clap

And just for a bit of added spice, imagine watching female Ninja Warriors doing a course with a baby strapped on their back…..and still merely whispering approval about what you’re witnessing.

This one gives great face. Droll…

Wistful

Smirky

Sassy

Second thoughts

De-Niro-esque

HE DIDN’T!!!!

But we do it. We cluster about in the undergrowth, training our cameras and binoculars on them, very quietly awestruck. There’s just our group of 12, plus another small group of 4 and it’s almost silent save for the occasional whispered conversation or rustling in the trees.

We’re also lucky enough to see this big guy. I can’t even do justice attempting to describe his arm span or shoulder size. He’s huge. Just colossal. But unlike big shouldered gym guys who walk like wind up toys, he moves with a deceptively languid agility.

I’m built, but I’m sensitive too.

Coy boy

Never skip shoulder day…

Pensive

At one point he tips his head back and makes a call and moments later, comes swinging down the tree towards the ground, about 10m from us. At which point our guide whispers quite urgently that we all need to move over here out of his way because that call was a mating call and we don’t want to be in the path between him and his prospective mate. Cue silent panicked scuttling from all of us. (Nobody wants to see what the fate of a cockblocker is in Orangutan society).

Outta my way!!

An unforgettable day, and only just the beginning of the tour.

Sweaty and deliriously happy

More in store to follow but in the meantime, what do you reckon? Trekking to find orangutans in the wild of Sumatra, Jarrod, would you go there?

You also saw us, but apparently we don’t rate a mention