I drew a circle around Kuala Lumpur, looking for inspiration for a one week stopover from Thailand. December/January 2024 marked the longest period I’d been away from Alex. I was happy to go back to the UK, but just before my flight home to the darkest depths of a January winter, I narrowed down to either Singapore, Taiwan or Indonesia. Malaysia Airlines are one of the rare airlines in the world that offer unlimited stopovers included in one flight ticket cost. I leveraged this for my journey home from Phuket (via Kuala Lumpur).

Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, and one of Indonesia’s largest cities, cropped up as a nearby city. It was only a one hour flight from Kuala Lumpur! With lush rainforests and wild coastlines, I saw that Sumatra was home to smoldering volcanoes, serene crater lakes, and vibrant ecosystems teeming with rare wildlife. Gunung Leuser National Park is one of only two destinations in the world that offers the chance to trek in search of Orang Utans. With hiking, natural beauty, volcanoes and only a one hour flight, I went ahead to book my ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Medan for only £34 each way with Air Asia from KL.

During the trip, I was lugging a 20kg hold luggage bag with me, my dad had given me as many Thai ingredients to bring home as possible. With a work laptop and a heavy bag in toll, I booked my trip arrangement via Destination Asia in partnership with ANda Sumatra Tour and Travel.

It was a 140km journey between Medan – Bukit Lawang (gateway to Gunung Leuser NP), en-route I trekked up Mt Sibayak with my guide, Geleng. As we walked, we were followed by a pack of dogs who grew accustom to seeing Geleng. It warmed my heart watching him bring food up to the volcanic mountain to feed the stray dogs roaming in the area. Mt Sibayak is close to the small town of Berastagi. Standing at around 2,212m, it’s one of the most accessible volcanoes in the region, the walk to the summit is only 2 – 3 hours.

From Berastagi, we transferred a couple of hours westwards to Bukit Lawang. Bukit Lawang is one of the most accessible places in Asia to spot orangutans, it is a little river-side village with quaint guest-houses and coffee shops.

Gunung Leuser National Park is one of the final orangutan strongholds, with more than 5,000 thought to be living in the wild. The park itself has approximately 700 different animal species with more than 175 mammals (including Thomas’ leaf monkeys), macaques and gibbons; 320 birds; 190 reptiles; and amphibians. Other mammals include Sumatran elephants and the elusive Sumatran tiger and rhinoceros, two species on the verge of extinction due to the continued threat of deforestation in Indonesia.

I checked into Jungle Inn with a delicious, herby and floral welcome drink complete with lemon-grass, ginger and zesty lime, it tasted comforting and vibrant at the same time. The lovely rooms at Jungle Inn are complete with a river-view, balcony, outdoor showers and buzzing communal area great for meeting other backpackers.

The next day, we began the trek at 08:00am in the morning. We crossed the main bridge over Bohorok River and started to ascend steeply uphill into the National Park.

Within 1.5 hours of starting the trek, we were extremely lucky to encounter our first sighting of Orang Utans! Orangutans are one of our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom, sharing approximately 97% of their DNA with humans, it was very moving seeing the gentle, nimble apes climb amongst branches and leaves.

We continued our trek deeper into Gunung Leuser where we stopped for a lunch break. The guide unwrapped a portion of Nasi Goreng, Indonesian fried rice topped with an egg, chilli oil, garlic, shallots, and sweet soy sauce. We shared some bananas, pineapple and water melon in the middle of jungle, under the watchful eye of monkeys rustling amongst the leaves in hope of a stray piece of fruit.

After lunch, we were extremely lucky to see male Orang Utans, there was a small cluster of tourists beneath the tree with a hushed shock and silence and how large he was.

Orangutans are the largest tree-dwelling mammals on Earth. They spend most of their lives high in the forest canopy, building nests each night out of branches and leaves. The apes are slow-moving and deliberate, they are careful climbers, using their long arms (which can stretch over 2M) to swing gracefully from tree to tree.

I felt extremely lucky to see Orangutans in their natural habitat as the species are critically endangered due to habitat loss from palm oil plantations. Indonesia and Malaysia are the two biggest producers of palm oil and each country has lost millions of hectares of forest (some of it among the most biodiverse on Earth). Palm Oil is used in nearly 50% of supermarkets products without us even knowing (commonly in chocolate, shampoo and cleaning products).

I returned back to Jungle Inn after the Half Day trek (but not without a leech souvenir bite or 2!). Leeches live on the forest floor and vegetation and latch onto humans or animals as they brush past, they are not harmful in anyway, just mildly annoying when you encounter them.

Trip Tips

• I booked via Destination Asia in partnership with ANda Sumatra Tour and Travel. The driver was called Welly and he was fantastic.
• The approximate cost of a Half Day Orang Utan Trek was IDR 1.160.000 for 2 pax (£55pp) or IDR 2.320.000 for a solo traveller (£110pp)
• I really enjoyed my stay at Jungle Inn and I’d highly recommend the accommodation. Most guest houses in Bukit Lawang are river-side without road access, you have to walk approximately 10 to 15 minutes to reach most guest houses from the main road.
• Other activities that can be arranged in Bukit Lawang include Tubing on the Bohorok River, cycling and cookery classes.
• There are no ATMs are in the village, but Jungle Inn took Monzo for card payments. I’d recommend carrying cash (Indonesian Rupiah, IDR) with you
• Statistically, the best time to go to Sumatra is during the dry season, from May to September. I went in January 2024 and I was lucky to have blue skies. My guide said he did not know when his next job would be and he would often have weeks without work during low season. Please travel responsibility and tip well where you can. The recommended amount is 100,000 IDR a day (i.e. £5.00).
• If you have any questions you are welcome to leave me a comment and I’ll be happy to help with the trip planning