Over we went to Indonesia, the largest Islamic country on earth with a great geographical, cultural and religious diversity. About 17,000 islands, about 400 volcanoes, of which about 30 are regularly active and several earthquakes per day, which you either do not notice because they are so weak or which can take on devastating proportions, like the one that triggered a tsunami in 2004 (see below).
Of the 17,000 islands, we focused on two: Sumatra, the largest and Pulau Tambarat, a very small, but not the smallest 😉
Why Sumatra?
Simple... or not. Our goal was to see wild orangutans. These can be found either on Borneo or Sumatra. Our research revealed that Borneo is very touristy. We wanted a more pristine experience, so we chose Sumatra. There are 2 places here: Ketambe and Bukit Lawang. Bukit Lawang is again very touristy and the orangutans are semi-wild. They walk across the ground, which they almost never do in the wild. This is because there are important programs to protect the orangutans, to raise babies when they have lost their mothers, for example. Orangutan mothers raise their children for about 7 years, during which time they teach them everything they need to survive in the jungle. Without these skills, orangutans cannot survive in the wild. This important task is taken over in the Conservation Centers by humans, who unfortunately cannot climb so well 😊
Thus our choice fell on Ketambe. A small village in the northern center of the island of Sumatra in the province of Aceh. So... off to Ketambe! Ketambe is located right next to the UNESCO listed Gunung Leuser National Park, one of the most important and biologically diverse protected areas on earth, home to some of the most endangered species in the world. Our guide in Gunung Leuser National Park, who offers jungle tours, has completed a special training and has several years of experience.
Start Ketambe - Jungle Tour
Arrived in Ketambe, after a day of acclimatization, we went into the jungle. 3 nights, 4 days. No idea what to expect, we went with our jungle guide Sa'id into the jungle. Up... Down... Through streams and rivers... Over fallen trees... Past steep slopes where we had to hold on to vines and with the one or other slip, because the eyes were at one of the many hundreds of butterflies, birds, plants, etc., instead of paying attention to the path 😊 We had such big eyes like children in a candy store. Such a variety of species! Then between the basic sounds of birds and crickets, we heard them calling...the orangutans. Sa'id quickly found them and we stood there with open mouths and wide eyes. In total, we saw 13 orangutans. From mothers with small babies to single animals to confessed alpha males. According to Sa'id, we were very lucky because orangutans are solitary animals and live spread out over the size of the jungle. It was truly breathtaking to experience these animals in the wild. Organ Utans are one of the four great apes (hominidae family). Others are chimpanzees, gorillas and humans. The translation for orang hutan from Bahasa Indonesia means forest person.
The attentive readers:inside think now surely... "4 days.... 3 nights"? Is that what.... means? Yes, that's what it means! We slept in the jungle and that was sooooo exciting! Knowing that in the Gunung Leuser Park also tigers, elephants, rhinos, orangutans, spiders, snakes, frogs and sometimes poisonous creatures are on the move, has already kept us awake for a while, but the 10 - 15 km per day over hill and dale and all the impressions, have ensured that in our tent at the campsite on the yet quite hard ground our eyes eventually fell shut. 😊 The tents are made of foil, which is recycled as long as possible. Nevertheless, plastic pollution is a big issue here in Indonesia (more on that later).
Playlist
On our last day in Ketambe we went with Sa`id again to the "Tourist Information Center of Gunung Leuser National Park" in Ketambe. This place has its best times already behind itself and is by COVID 19 currently rather a "Lost Place" is. There we had also once again the luck to see orangutans and were also involved between Sa`id and the chief of the rangers about the plastic problem there on site. Unfortunately, there is a lot of plastic lying around in many places (not in the jungle!), there is a lack of trash cans, recycling/disposal infrastructure and awareness among some person about the impact of plastic pollution on the environment. Sa'id himself is strongly committed to addressing the issue.
Recommendation Sa'id
As already written, we can recommend Sa'id to anyone who wants to make a jungle tour through the Gunung Leuser National Park. He offers everything from day tours (without overnight stay) up to 20 day tours after individual arrangement, over the areas of the tigers and rhinos or up to Bukit Lawang or Banda Aceh. In the jungle itself there are different levels of difficulty in the trails, which can be defined with him in advance. From easy to medium to difficult, he can serve everything. Only barrier-free is the jungle not! If you want to make a jungle tour, you can organize everything through Sa'id. Both transfer, accommodation to the jungle tour and transfer elsewhere 😊
Night cab to Singkil - to the offshoot to the Banyak Islands
How do you get around in Sumatra? Bus and train? No way! There are a few small minibuses or converted trucks that drive more or less regularly and sometimes overcrowded over the roads, but 1. you can plan with it only badly and 2. we would have to change at least 3x. As an alternative, there are then the "shared cabs", which is nothing more than carpools that are registered in advance, or "private cabs", where you sit alone in it and is driven. Our choice fell on the "shared cab". We + a driver + 3 locals who wanted to go in the same direction. The beginning was already exciting. When we got in and loaded our luggage, the driver couldn't speak English and we couldn't speak Indonesian. But in the guesthouse we were assured that the cab goes to Singkil. So we drove off... According to Google Maps first correct direction Singkil, but after 20 minutes then turn right... Towards the mountains... the road became more unpopulated, the houses smaller... Without Indonesian and English, communication was only possible with a translator on our phone. The driver said we were picking up a boxspringett, a package and 4 other people. To secure the load, we just leave here the following picture 😊
And amazingly, everything held, right to the end, but as nimbly as the driver attached the bed, a rug and the package to the roof with strings, he had his practice at it.
After we had made 5 more stops, loaded a small power generator, rice stove, 2 gas bottles and 3 more people, we were back on the road towards Singkill. The Indonesian hit music got louder. The driver's cigarette count increased to 4 per hour. The fellow passengers:inside were cagey and not very talkative. We looked at each other... 8 hours of driving lay ahead of us... 1 hour later... All passengers are asleep, the same song, apparently the favorite song of the driver is playing for the 20th time. Meanwhile Artur has found his taste dran and the song even schazaamt.
Sabah Fvnky – DJ Suasana Di Hari Raya (BreakLatin Remix)
So on we went with loud music and cigarette smoke... Hour 2... Hour 3, our eyes also became heavier, the serpentines became narrower, the night darker and lonelier. Regular sharp braking because there were potholes in the road or unlit people/vehicles on the road. We kind of dozed off... Hour 6, the first person gets off. We arrived 40km before Singkil. Still 1.5 hours to go according to Google Maps. The music has changed in the meantime from Indonesian pop to Indonesian techno mix. A dream! The remaining 2 hours drive, because of dropping off and unloading the other Mitfahrer:innen and objects, we looked at each other and wondered whether we really experience this or dream... 5:08 o'clock... After about 10 hours driving time we arrived in pouring rain at the hotel.
Playlist
After this wonderful night we continued to the port of Singkil. Here we took the public boat to the Banyak Islands.
5 days Banyak Islands
The Banyak archipelago consists of 99 mostly uninhabited islands with powder white sandy beaches/ palm trees and turquoise blue water. Our small island was called Pulau Tambarat, a small paradise in the Indian Ocean with a simple accommodation consisting of 4 bungalows. Here we spent 5 days reading, walking (the island can be circumnavigated in 45 minutes) and swimming in the warm water. It helped us a lot that there is internet reception only at one corner of the island.
Indonesia lies on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a very seismically active region where several earthquakes occur every day. This is due to the fact that different continental plates meet here. In 2004 at Christmas, there was a devastating tsunami that killed about 170,000 people (especially the pictures of the completely devastated coastal city of Banda Aceh were shown in the German media). Also in Singkil the traces are still visible (see picture below). For the people in this region, the tsunami is a sensitive issue. Many have great respect and also fear of the forces of nature, because they have lost dear relatives in this disaster. We, too, have been intensively concerned with the question of how to protect ourselves in the event of a tsunami. On a small island like Pulau Tambarat with no relevant elevation profile, the optimal solution would be to climb a palm tree and cling to it. Fortunately, no such action occurred; nor were any Mac Gyver actions required; the rescue kit we took with us did not need to be used. 😊 Honestly speaking, a latent worry has regularly resonated with Tatjana during this time in paradise.
Ich bin in der Zwischenzeit süchtig geworden: ihre Berichte sind so interessant, man möge mehr haben! Dann los in die nächste Abenteuer. Ich bin bei euch im Geist.
Wow, das klingt alles mega aufregend und ich bin auch echt beeindruckt.
Und vielen Dank, wir hören grad indonesische Schlager in unserer Küche🤣
Ich wünsche euch viele weitere unvergessliche Erlebnisse 😘
Danke für die Teilhabe – das Nachttaxi fand ich nach den Ursprüngen mit Orange Utans und Zelten im Dschungel besonders schön 😎
Was für ein Abenteuer! Cool, dass ihr auch solche Eindrücke wie die Geräusche des Dschungels und der Nachtfahrt mit uns teilt 🙂 Gute Reise weiter!
Wow, dass sind tolle Eindrücke von euren ersten Stopps. Es macht wirklich viel Spaß, die Artikel zu lesen und eure Reise mitfühlen zu können. Das mit der langen Fahrt war bestimmt krass😜
Die kleine Insel sieht wunderbar aus…Liebe Grüße wo auch immer ihr gerade seid 😘💋