Bukit Lawang orangutan trek: choosing a guide, trek length and stay

Choosing your trek: half day, full day or a night in the forest

Every visit to the forest at Bukit Lawang is a guided trek on foot. The Ministry of Tourism describes the terrain as steep, slippery and muddy, and there are no roads or vehicles once you cross the river. What you are deciding is how long you stay inside the park. Wikivoyage advises at least a half-day or full-day trek for a reasonable chance of seeing orangutans and other wildlife. Multi-day treks, sleeping in the forest, are also offered. Wikivoyage notes that the classic way back from an overnight trek is down the river to the village.

A half-day trek suits most travellers who have never walked in a tropical rainforest: you climb into the forest behind the village, look for orangutans with your guide and are back in the village the same day. A full day goes further and quieter. An overnight trek adds a night at a forest camp, but it needs good fitness: the humidity and the gradients make even short distances hard work. Wikivoyage asks multi-day trekkers to be fit and in good condition.

Set your expectations honestly. The orangutans around Bukit Lawang are mostly rehabilitated animals and their descendants, living semi-wild in the forest. Sightings are common, but never guaranteed. You may also meet Thomas's leaf monkeys, long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques and siamang gibbons, which English Wikipedia lists for the area. The park is also home to elephants, tigers, sun bears and clouded leopards, but tigers and rhinos are so rare that you should not expect to see them.

• Half day: the best first trek; back in the village the same day.
• Full day: deeper into the forest, with a better chance of quieter encounters.
• One or two nights: camping in the forest; only if you are fit and comfortable with heat, mud and basic conditions.

How to choose a guide, and the rules around orangutans

Wikivoyage says you are not permitted to go into the jungle unaccompanied, and the park permit should be part of every trek. Guides are easy to find in the village; the hard part is picking a good one. Book through your guesthouse rather than the first person who meets your bus. Guesthouses have a reputation to keep, and you have someone to complain to if things go wrong.

Ask the same questions every time, before you hand over money. Will this guide lead you in person, or pass you on to another group? Wikivoyage reports that some travellers paid for a small trek and ended up in a group of ten. How many people will be in the group? Is the national park permit included? Does the guide follow the park rules on wildlife?

The rules on wildlife matter more here than almost anywhere. Wikivoyage reports that some guides have fed orangutans human food on treks to bring them close for photographs, and that several orangutans have fallen ill or died as a result. Keep at least 10 metres away, move back if an orangutan approaches, and never touch, call or feed any animal, even if a guide says it is fine. Orangutans catch human diseases, and one infection can spread through the population. A guide who lures animals with fruit is not giving you a better trek; walk away from that offer.

Sumatran orangutans are assessed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and the Ministry of Tourism says their numbers keep falling because of deforestation and poaching.

• Book through a guesthouse; ask who will actually guide you and how big the group will be.
• Ask whether the park permit is included in the trek price.
• Stay at least 10 metres from orangutans; no feeding, touching or calling.
• Solo women travellers: Wikivoyage suggests joining a larger group or arranging the trek through a guesthouse with a good reputation.

The village, the river and the 2003 flood

Bukit Lawang means "door to the hills". The village is little more than a riverside path of guesthouses, cafés and small shops along the Bahorok, with the forest on the opposite bank. The Ministry of Tourism describes the river as the place to swim, raft or simply sit and listen to the forest. Tubing, floating down the river on an inner tube, is the classic way to spend a rest day. Wikivoyage warns that the current is strong and that you should not float past the bridge, because the channels narrow and the rocks get sharper closer to the village.

The village you see is a rebuilt one. On 2 November 2003 a flash flood swept down the Bahorok and destroyed around 400 houses, 35 hotels and guesthouses, bridges and stalls. 239 people were killed, five of them tourists, and about 1,400 residents lost their homes. Local authorities and an environmental organisation blamed illegal logging upstream. Indonesian Wikipedia, citing The Jakarta Post, records that the resort reopened in July 2004.

The orangutan rehabilitation centre that made Bukit Lawang famous was set up in 1973, as the Ministry of Tourism describes. It was set up to return orphaned and captive orangutans to the forest. English Wikipedia says the centre closed in 2002, as the village had become too busy for rehabilitation work, and Wikivoyage says the feeding platform where visitors once watched supplementary feeding has also closed. Today you see orangutans only on guided treks in the forest. Some older guides and websites still describe the feeding sessions, so do not plan around them.

Getting there from Medan and Kualanamu

The gateway is Kualanamu International Airport (KNO) in Deli Serdang regency, which English Wikipedia places 23 kilometres east of central Medan. Bukit Lawang is on the far, north-western side of the city, so every route crosses or skirts Medan.

By public transport, the Ministry of Tourism says buses leave frequently from Medan's Pinang Baris bus terminal on Jalan Gatot Subroto and take about three hours. To reach Medan from the airport, the Railink airport train runs to Medan railway station beside Merdeka Square in about 30 minutes, according to English Wikipedia, and DAMRI buses and ride-hailing apps also serve the airport. With luggage, a late landing or a group, a private car is simpler: the ministry notes that cars with drivers can be arranged, and Wikivoyage says many Bukit Lawang guesthouses will organise an airport or Medan hotel pick-up when you book a room.

If you land in the evening, sleep in Medan and travel in daylight. Aim to arrive with time to find your guesthouse and meet your guide before the trek.

Gunung Leuser National Park and side trips

Bukit Lawang is only one entrance to a very large park. English Wikipedia gives Gunung Leuser National Park an area of 7,927 square kilometres, straddling Aceh and North Sumatra and named after Mount Leuser in the Barisan range. Together with Kerinci Seblat and Bukit Barisan Selatan national parks, it forms the UNESCO World Heritage Site Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra, inscribed in 2004. Since 2011 the site has been on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger.

Around Bukit Lawang, Wikivoyage mentions a bat cave a short walk from the village (bring a torch) and walks through the rubber plantations and rice fields. A bigger side trip is Tangkahan, also in Langkat regency and also part of the park, which the Ministry of Tourism describes as an ecotourism area with forest treks, clear rivers and Sumatran elephants. Wikivoyage says the direct route from Bukit Lawang is about two hours by motorbike on dirt roads that the rain can make impassable. Many visitors go back through Medan instead.

Bukit Lawang fits naturally at the start of a North Sumatra loop: back to Medan, then up to the highland town of Berastagi and on to Lake Toba.