Bukit Lawang- Jungle Trek
Trip Start
Feb 08, 2011
1
13
141
Trip End
Dec 21, 2011
Bukit Lawang, Sumatra, Indonesia
Thursday, February 17, 2011
At the beginning of the trek we are joined by 2 girls and an extra assistant guide- Marwan. Within 15 minutes into the trek I'm the only one bitten by insects and the guys are grateful that I'm tere are the mosquitoes and insects only like me an they figured that when I'm around nothing will bite them!
The trek was exceptionally tough for me since I'm the most unfit and clumsy person out of all us! Initially, I hated the idea that 2 others were travelling with us since it would mean that we were going to be quite noisy and scare the orangatans away but I quickly changed my mind as having the 2 girls meant that I didn't feel like I was the only one holding the boys up. What I learnt in the Jungle was that if I'm walking down the jungle then everyone should be in front of me so that if I fall they can all be my cushion and when I'm trekking up, I should be in the middle so that people can catch me. I feel so fortunate that the boys were there as this ensured that I didn't complain too much about the dirt and bugs (it's a jungle afterall) and also they encouraged me and told me that I was doing well when I was on the verge of tears when things got tough in the jungle, not to mention the fact that the boys later decided that I was too delicate to carry their packs so I ended up only carrying a pack for a maximum of 5 minutes for the whole trek.
I felt exceptionally lucky as we saw an orangatang real close i.e. within 3 metres, it happened when we were snacking on watermelon in the jungle and Emiel was sewing his trousers as he had torn them an a another guide shouted orangatang and immediately Rosy packed he watermelon away at the speed of lightening. We all thought that he was taking us towards the orangatang but within seconds we realised that the orangatan was running after us and we were all terrified, it turnt out that the orangatan had smelt the watermelon and was after that! I regretted not taking a photo of the orangatan when it was charging towards us! Guides are not allowed to feed the orangatans but if the orangatan smells food and its not given to them they apparently bite tourists. Watching the orangatan in its natural form dangling on a tree with a watermelon and its baby was amazing, its almost as if the orangatan knew that we wanted to take photos with it as it just posed for us for about half an hour by dangling on a tree right behing us with its child. We later stopped at a river and when I posed on a rock the orangatan peed and it missed me by inches, how lucky am I? Later we saw gibbons (black monkeys) which according to several guides are exceptionally rare and one can go into the rainforest and not see one for several weeks. the trek continued or several hours like the way it started, luckily Marwan (the assistant guide) helped me with the whole jungle descent otherwise I'd be dead by now- no joke!
Unfortunately (or fortunately as I later found out) I twisted my ankle within the last 2 minutes of the trek and I could hardly walk. This gave me the reason that I needed to not trek a further 3 hours the next day and to not rush off to Lake Toba or Berstagi!
At the end of the jungle there was a huge river where we camped for the night and it was absolutely stunning and the food excellent and Rosy showed us his tricks. Upon crossing the river I suddenly feel that somethings hurting my arm and I look a
