Jungle, Lizards, Orang-utans -- Bukit Lawang

We've just spent the last 5 days in Bukit Lawang, a small town about 100km (3 and 1/2 hours by bus) west of Medan, along the Bohorok River next to the Taman Leuser National Park. The National Park is home to a Orang-Utan rehabilitation centre - it helps previously captive Orang-utans return to the wild. With the rehabilitation centre and the national park right next to Bukit Lawang the main tourist attraction is trekking through the jungle in search of Orang-utans and visiting the rehabilitation centre.

Bukit Lawang is a very nice little town and has been rebuilt over the last few years with government help after an enormous flood wiped out the village and killed 25o people back in 2003. The town is now fully functioning again and waiting for the tourists to return. It is also clear that the flood still lingers at the back of the locals minds especially during the thunderstorms.

On our second day we went on a "3-hour" trek in the jungle with our guide Sinar and his brother Calvin (who we met on the bus - convenient - he even recommended a guest house, which is run by his sister). The trek was amazing we saw several types of monkeys and 6 Orang-utans (4 adults, 1 baby & 1 teenager). Most of the Orang-utans we saw had been re-released into the wild but it was still surprising how close you could get to them. Kristal even managed to get a hug from one - actually he liked her so much he didn't want to let go.

Our guest house was quite close to the jungle, which meant we were quite close to all sorts of animals including a 2 metre long lizard, many smaller lizards and various types of monkeys (stealing fruit from the locals trees). Luckily we were on the opposite side of the river to the national park as the friendly retired Danish man who now lives in Bukit Lawang told us he is often visited by Scorpions and Snakes.

We are back in Medan for tonight and are going by Ferry to Penang, Malaysia tomorrow.