Sometimes in life it is easy to forget how privileged we are. Our week in Sumatra was a stark reminder of this – I don’t think I’ve ever felt as lucky as I did whilst lying in a hammock watching the tropical rainforest come to live. It has been eye-opening.
When I knew I’d be leaving LFP I remembered the kind offer of Andrea, a previous MSc student at Oxford Brookes, for any of us to come visit her site in Sumatra. The decision was easily made – I had to go. Within a week, we’d arranged for me, Katie, and Julia to fly out and visit for a few days.
So one early Sunday morning, after teaching my last class and saying heart-wrenching goodbyes, the three of us set off to Jakarta. We spent the night catching up with old and new friends before setting off very early the next morning to catch our flight to Medan. Once landed, it was another bus, tuktuk, ELF, and motorbike before we finally reached the village of Bukit Lawang. But Sumatra and Java are on opposite sides of the spectrum – where Java is densely populated and rice paddies the dominating sight, Sumatra is still “wild” in the way we often expect Indonesia to be. The journey itself was already an adventure with seemingly untouched forests covering the hills.
But it was also a harsh wake-up call. Dense, tropical forest was interspersed with much larger patches of continuous rows of palm trees. As far as the eye could see the wind moved palm leaves in the same direction, creating a uniform sea of green that has been responsible for the destruction of thousands of acres of prime habitat. When the car slowed and we finally neared Bukit Lawang, I was glad to see some of the forest returning and the palms receding in the background.
We were welcomed by Andrea and her friendly team at Green Hill, where we sat down to discuss our plans for the week. We had the afternoon to settle in, and the next morning we’d be straight off to Bukit Kencur; a smaller village where we might find some lorises and could do some outreach work. That evening we explored the beauty that is Bukit Lawang – the village is small, but located stunningly on a riverbed overlooking the rainforest. As we sat down for dinner, Thomas leaf monkeys were playing near the water and I was enthralled that we could see wildlife like this whilst having a burger. It was somewhat surreal.
Just as surreal was climbing on top of a truck the next morning to make our way to Bukit Kencur. The trip was short but thrilling (best wake-up method ever), and we set about exploring the almost untouched forest surrounding Andrea’s new project. I soon realised the trek would be challenging enough – it was hot, steep, and I was definitely out of shape. After three hours hunger started creeping in and my body started to cave. Leeches had been crawling up my shoes, my body ached, and I had a case of hanger going on. We were following a small stream when I was about to ask when we could stop – but as we turned a corner, I saw the most amazing thing. We had stopped outside a cave. Inside, a waterfall made its way down through a natural hole, and a pool of perfectly clear water just asked for us to come swim. Without hesitation we jumped in, and enjoyed lunch as we let ourselves dry off after.
Later that night, Katie set off for her loris adventure (which you can read about here), whereas I prepared myself for class. Andrea had told me some local children might come, but as we are in Indonesia, these things are hard to predict. So when over twenty children and even a handful of parents came to listen to me talk, I was already touched. They continued to be an amazing group, listening and taking part in everything I had prepared. But best of all, when Katie returned from her loris survey, she told me some children in the village that had attended the talk had come up to her: “Saya suka kukang!” I like lorises! It was more gratifying than anything.
The next morning we returned to Bukit Lawang and went straight on to the main reason we wanted to come: to see orang-utans. A lifelong dream, I found myself tense as we hiked up to the National Park and started our search. An array of birds kept me busy on the walk, but we still wanted to see one animal. And suddenly he was there. Ando, our guide, suddenly became excited and waved us over. Right there, maybe five meters above us, sat an imposing male orang-utan, eating leaves and giving us a glance every here and there. For half an hour, we sat and observed this relative of ours, watched him eat and stretch, and eventually go to sleep. It was a pure privilege.
On the way back down, we ran into a group of long-tailed macaques and silver leaf monkeys, another reminder of how biodiverse this site really is. As we descended back to the river, we rafted our way back to the lodge on big inflatable tubes. As far as I’m concerned, it was the best day possible. But it must’ve been an even better day for Katie, as it was her birthday. The last surprise for her came in the evening, when we were having dinner. Somewhat secretly we’d arranged for a good friend to visit, and we were joined mid-pizza by Chris and Emma. After a brilliant night spent in good company, I rolled into bed.
The next day the rain (and possible hangover) confined us to the lodge, but this was no punishment. We spent the day shopping, eating, playing games, and doing work. Our last night we spent having a lovely dinner and buying local art. And alas, the next morning the adventure came to an end. As we arrived back in Medan, our planes went different ways. It was a phenomenal week with two of my favourite people – it wouldn’t have been the same without them. And thanks to Andrea’s and Green Hill’s kind welcome, we were able to make the most of our trip. So here’s to another one ticked off the bucket list: watching orang-utans – check.
Faye Vogely 