This post reflects on one of the main highlights of Bridget and my Sumatra Adventure trip – our 2 day trek through the Gunung Leuser National Park. The national park covers up to 7927 square km. It is a protected tropical rainforest and one of the most biodiverse environments on earth.
After breakfast we left our main luggage in the store of the Ecolodge and our Intrepid group met in the reception at 8.30 am. Here we were introduced to Sunny our lead ranger. With his 40 years of national park guiding experience we felt we were in safe hands.
Carrying our overnight gear, we set off on a footpath directly from the back of the Ecolodge towards the National Park entrance.
Sumatran tigers are present deep within the rainforest and they are very rarely seen. However, Sunny did see one in January as it had ventured close to the national park entrance.
We passed through a rubber plantation and Sunny explained that sap is collected in small cups from these rubber trees .
After only about 30 minutes we encountered our first orangutan!
This national park is one of only 2 places in the world where orangutans can be observed in their natural habitat in the wild.
This endangered species is only found in Borneo and Sumatra.
We were then fortunate to see a Sumatra gibbon, which is also known as the Sumatra white-handed gibbon. These are native to the island of Sumatra and this was the only one we saw.
Making our way through vines and dense jungle…
Thomas Leaf monkeys are also known as the North Sumatra leaf monkey. These ones were eating the pineapple they had managed to steal from our group lunch pack!
After several orangutan sightings we stopped for lunch with a view. This was along the top of a ridge and overlooked the rainforest canopy.
The lunch was amazing! We had a selection of tasty curry’s, noodles, deep fried tempeh, prawn crackers and rice served in banana leaves.
This was followed by a beautifully presented tropical fruit platter.
This little fella was perched nearby eyeing up lunch!
The sky turned dark as we were finishing lunch and we anticipated a downpour. Thankfully this didn’t happen and we were grateful to have had no rain throughout our two days of rainforest trekking.
Much of the terrain was hilly and at times ropes were available to help us up or down.
During the afternoon we reached our campsite. This consisted of a row of bamboo shacks each with two x two person tents inside. The tents were fairly old however they had mosquito meshes and seemed to be creepy crawly proof. They each contained two camping mattresses and two sleeping bags. We had brought our own sleeping bag liners and travel pillows with us.
The toilet wasn’t exactly the most private as the plastic ‘door’ didn’t quite reach the frame! Next to the toilet there was a large plastic container full of water with which to flush it.
Once settled into our tents, it didn’t take long before everyone had immersed themselves in the river to cool down, following the hot and sweaty jungle trekking.
Dried off and celebrating with a pre-dinner Bintang!
The dinner of vegetable curry, spiced tempah and various other dishes was amazing again. This was freshly cooked for us.
Day 2
After getting some sleep our spirits were lifted as we woke up the following morning to a beautiful sunny day.
We were all given a sandwich stack for breakfast. This consisted of 4 layers of toast with an omelette layer, a cucumber and tomato layer and a cheese layer. Together with an attractive array of freshly cut tropical fruit 🍍
We began the second day by walking along the stream next to the campsite.
Once the stream walking had finished, we were back on dry land and changed from sandals and back into our walking boots.
We stopped in a clearing on a small hill.
Walking through the jungle…
We had one final orangutan sighting just before lunch.
A rather confident baboon strutted towards us as we were sitting in a small shelter eating lunch. He came within about 15 meters then thankfully he turned and sauntered back into the rainforest.
Summary
Feeling exhilarated, we arrived back at the Ecolodge shortly after lunch. Our lovely Intrepid group had bonded well and we were very much supported by our Intrepid guide Abdul and two assistant rangers. As well as his in-depth knowledge and consideration for everyone in the group, our lead ranger “aw wright mate innit” Sunny added constant humour and banter throughout the 2 days with his range of facial expressions, animal impressions and faux Cockney accents!
What a fantastic time!
frombluetogreen.com 