Sumatran Orangutans

Diego and I spent about 7 weeks in Indonesia. It seems impossible to share every experience with you, but let’s begin at the end on the rugged island of Sumatra in the jungle of Gunung Leuser National Park with our quest to find the “orang hutan” or “people of the forest.”

The Republic of Indonesia is made up of about 17,500 islands (not a typo), of which more than 900 are inhabited. Getting around can be complicated and always takes time. Our journey to the jungle, for example, involved a 2-hour cab ride, 2 flights across 9 hours and another country, a short-ish cab ride to overnight accommodations, and (finally) a 6-hour cab ride to the darling village of Bukit Lawang the following morning. Tourism infrastructure is in its infancy as you will surely note when it takes 25 minutes to find an airport cabbie who knows where your airport hotel is – “Google maps,” you say?! Ha! Indonesian cabbies don’t use GPS, you rookie. This country may have successfully beaten at least some western thinking out of me…

Bukit Lawang
We found a guide in the riverside community of Bukit Lawang who uses proceeds from his jungle treks to fund a free school where little locals can learn English. His name is Adi and he, like so many other humans I have encountered on this trip, truly inspires me by what he does for the world with what he has to give. Adi speaks English very well despite being self-taught via movies and music. Adi and his sister teach and serve between 30 and 50 students twice a week from the front room of his sister’s house. Learning English is like a golden ticket for these children. His desire to raise up his own competition in the tourism industry is humbling.    

Diego and I spent our first day lazily taking in village life along the Bahorok River. It’s a charming sort of self-made place that’s been cobbled together in whatever fashion the cobbler could manage. There are loads of small pumps and pipes that draw water from the river, and a series of bridges that are not for the faint of heart. Also, washing machines aren’t a thing here so you see lots of ladies feverishly scrubbing clothes on the banks each day, and wet clothes are draped on everything the sun touches. I finished that first day feeling deeply grateful, once again, for my easy-peasy western life.

And now for a video of us crossing a lot of bridges…

Why Sumatra?

Our adventure began with a 6:30am wakeup call and a banana pancake breakfast. Honestly, after all that transit time, I found myself re-thinking my life choices. Did I really want to slog my way through the jungle for the next eleven hours? Then I remembered that we wanted to learn about the plantations that are killing off the world’s population of orangutans. These remarkable creatures share 97% of our DNA; sadly, they are critically endangered. Their only remaining natural habitats are northern Sumatra and Borneo because they are already extinct everywhere else where they once lived — southern China, Indochina, Java and southern Sumatra. So I slung my backpack over my shoulder and off we went with our guide, Jon, and his assistant, Har.

This is Har.

Meet our guide, John.

Welcome to the Jungle

The Gunung Leuser Jungle is lush and dense, sticky humid, muddy, and extremely rich in the flora/fauna department. It also contains some things that want to eat you. Some of them are teeny-tiny and seemingly harmless like the many leaches I pulled from my shoes and ankles. Others are supersized versions of vicious enemies back home like fire ants. Thankfully, the jungle’s “giant ants” do little more than tickle you.

We also saw armies of termites, primates and peacocks, a wide variety of mushrooms, camouflage spiders nearly the size of my palm (they definitely wanted to eat us), some of the most beautiful butterflies I’ve ever seen (sadly, too busy for a photo op). I was surprised by how rugged and, at times, untraveled the “trail” was, and I didn’t expect that there would be so much climbing involved. Add to that the slick ground from all the rain and it was a workout even for Diego.

There were mushrooms everywhere, but I especially thought these were cool looking.

The flora and fauna was gorgeous…this is the only photo I have with which to convince you. Hmmmm.

I certainly did not expect to encounter peacocks in the jungle, and yet, there you have it.

The People of the Forrest

Once we finally reached the jungle, it only took about an hour before we encountered the first of the ELEVEN Pongo Abelii orangutans we spotted across the two-day trek. I wish I could convey to you just how thrilling this experience was. My words fail me. These creatures are absolutely magnificent. We’ve seen orangutans in a zoo where they aren’t at home, but this is entirely different because it’s real. There are no cages. Seeing them slowly sway from tree to tree, free to do what they do…they are truly majestic.

The ladies and their babies were simultaneously curious and completely aloof.

We later encountered an Alpha Male who made a very rare trip to the ground to chill out with us. MIND BLOWN. He really wanted to get closer to us, but our guides weren’t having that. Orangutans aren’t aggressive unless provoked, but they are like 6 times stronger than humans so it was probably for the best even if every fiber of my being wanted to hug him. Meeting him was the highlight of Sumatra for me, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say that he was posing for us. Check out his GQ self…

Take a look at them in action here:

Other Primates

As if the orangutans weren’t enough, we also came across several Thomas Leaf Monkeys. The locals call these adorable little showmen “funky monkeys” because of their wild looking faces. They reminded me of gremlins – can you see it?

A few comparatively reserved baboons rounded out our primate discoveries. The locals refer to these guys as “pink tales,” presumably because of their pink butts.

Jungle Glamping

The path to our jungle hut took us across the river to an area of private land. Foolishly, I assumed that experience would include a bridge. It did not. Instead, John and Har took my arms and held on tight as the water tried to sweep me away. You probably could have physically seen my heart beating, but arriving at the perfect little jungle hut that Adi and his friends built in the middle of nowhere was totally worth it.

Once we arrived, the only thing I wanted more than dinner was a shower. Being in the middle of the jungle meant that a stream, bucket, and Diego beating away the mosquitos would have to suffice. Afterwards we found tea and cookies were waiting for us back in the hut. We spent the evening sharing an incredible meal with our guides and talking about family and faith before falling asleep to a rainy lullaby and the muffled sounds of the jungle.

Indonesia’s Huck Finn

After our second full day of trekking, we let the river take us back to Bukit Lawang using the villager’s “traditional rafting method.” That’s code for inner-tubes tied together, a large stick to prevent immediate death-by-rock, and a plastic bag to protect our valuables. Our bonus ingredient was John, otherwise known as Indonesia’s Huckleberry Finn. The river was much higher and ragier than usual due to non-stop rain for a day and a half. John’s enthusiasm for this part of his job was an excellent way to end our time in the jungle. Stick with it to the end… 

And that folks, was not in the brochure! 

Orangutan Learnin’

Below is a little more information about sumatran orangutans, what’s happening to their habitat, and what you can do to help. 

• Orangutans are the largest arboreal (tree-dwelling) animals on earth spending at least 90% of their of their lives in the treetops.
• They are wicked smart, live more than 60 years, and they’re loners – especially the males.
• Orangutans are ridiculously strong. They can apply ~6 times the pounds per square inch using just their arms as compared to the strength of a human (legs and arms).
• The male and female exhibit very different characteristics beyond just the differences in their private bits. A male can be three times heavier (as much as 300 lbs.) than a female and they develop cheekpads as they mature, starting as early as 13 years old or as late as 30 years old. Once he grows his cheekpads, he won’t tolerate any competition in his territory. He’s basically chock full of testosterone and he even has a throat pouch that acts as a resonating chamber for his loud mating call.
• The females carry and still breastfeed their young until they are 5-7 years old, and they sleep with their young in a newly built treetop nest every night.
• Mommy orangutans have the longest birth interval of any mammal. The Pongo Abelii only give birth once every 10 years and they don’t start breeding until the age of 17. 

Deforestation

Sumatra is one of the world’s leading producers of rubber and palm oil, both of which require companies to clear the natural rain forest to make way for their plantations. This deforestation is directly responsible for the vast reduction in the orangutan population – they are displaced, their natural food supply is destroyed, and many have died as a result. Apparently these companies are responding with methods they call sustainable plantations, but the locals we met did not have a positive view of any plantation. It’s not hard to see why, even apart from the orangutans. The plantations are massive and they look like a boring sort of patchwork quilt made of perfectly ordered palm trees where beautiful evergreen rain forest once stood. 

Rubber Trees

We trekked for about an hour through private land on our way to the jungle, and our first stop was to learn more about rubber trees. Bridgestone has had a major presence in Sumatra dating back to the 30’s. Here’s a video from our guide talking about the process of harvesting the rubber. 

Palm Oil Trees

This is the “fruit” of a palm oil tree. They can be harvested twice per month. This roadside yield belongs to a private farmer and is awaiting pickup for processing.

You might be surprised by how many things contain palm oil. We’re lucky in the States because the FDA requires palm oil to be clearly noted on product packaging while many other places in the world simply bill it as vegetable oil. Palm oil is present in everything from packaged foods to cleaning supplies and cosmetics. Below are some commonly used products that contain palm oil. (Disclaimer: Some of these companies are bound to be using sustainable sources, but I’m not quite sure what that means yet. If you know more, please share your knowledge in the comments.) 

Check your labels and see if you can make one or two adjustments. Your shopping choices matter to this guy: