Jungle Trekking in Bukit Lawang, Sumatra

Whether arriving in Sumatra by boat or air, it is Medan you head to; the bustling capital of North Sumatra.

We arrived in Medan after a short flight from Singapore, and on the advice of the guide book didn't loiter in the city. Most people rush through Medan and choose not to stay, as it is not the most attractive city you are likely to find. I have since found out that it is worthwhile to visit, but we preferred to maximize our Orang-u-time and headed straight for the jungle.

Let it be said, that we were ill equipped to deal with the rigors of the jungle. I had barely coped with the rigors of Singapore, and that is a modern city with running water, air conditioning and public transport that works to some kind of schedule. Sumatra was an eye opener that's for sure, and was a place unlike anywhere I had ever visited before.

The first problem we had was finding the bus. The bus station looked like a scrap yard where old buses are put out of their misery, but it turned out that that was not the case. Getting to the jungle was not going to be a comfortable experience it would seem, and even making it there was far from guaranteed.

One mistake people make in Sumatra is to measure distance in miles. This may make sense, but not in Sumatra. Distance here is best measured in time. The 55 miles (90Km) journey takes between 2 and 4 hours, depending on the state of the roads and if they are still there. To say the journey is bumpy is something of an understatement, and you need to hold on for dear life for much of the time.

The suspension on the buses has long since retired, due to the battering from some quite severe potholes. Hitting one of these holes - and there are many - will see the bus instantly decent 2 feet while in true cartoon style, you remain where you are. Only momentarily though, as the roof of the bus will knock you back down again. This was no doubt the reason for the massive holes in the ceiling, from unwary travellers who had brained themselves on previous trips.

We found our jungle guide on the bus which I thought was a remarkable coincidence. The guide didn't as he had followed us on. 6-foot high foreigners tend to stand out, and anyone heading into Bukit Lawang will be needing a guide. As it turned out it was not a bad choice, and saved considerable effort finding one when we were there.

It's tempting to stay in the village, especially if it has taken you 4 hours by bus and 5 minutes by motorbike to get to the place, but its best to keep on going right up to the Orang-utan sanctuary, and a wonderful place to stay called the Jungle Inn. We stopped in the village to recover from our journey, and to complete the forms and disclaimers required before we could head into the jungle.

Signing up for a jungle trip involves a bit of paperwork, including a legal disclaimer should the guide get lost, or the party be eaten by tigers, and various other fates which can affect jungle trekkers. We accepted all liability for our own well being, and got a good night sleep ready for the rigors ahead. There are various trips you can do depending on your experience, but the overnight trip is one of the best. Any longer is too much and takes you too far into Aceh, a place which at the time was not recommended by the British Foreign office. Forget about a day trip with no overnight stay, as that is part of the fun of heading into the jungle.

I remember asking if we were likely to see tigers as part of our trip. After some thought our guide said, hopefully not. Jungle treks involving tigers do not tend to end particularly well.

We were assured that we would certainly get to see Orang-utans as part of the trip, and not 15 minutes in we can across the first. Mothers with babies, big burly males, and some real close encounters which were quite unbelievable. You have to remember that in the Gunung Leuser National park these are wild orang-utans, and to get within a few feet of them was a real treat. We spent a good couple of hours watching them forage, and decent from the trees with remarkable skill.

The day of trekking was hard work, and involved listening closely to the sounds of the jungles and following the animals. Be prepared to scramble up hillocks and break into a run, as the animals don't wait for you to arrive. This is not a zoo, and the park is hug,e so seeing the animals is a bit hit and miss, and will ultimately depend on the skill of your guide. We saw plenty of wildlife on our trip, although nothing that could compare to seeing the wild orang-utans at the start.

We got to see Thomas Leaf Monkeys leaping through the trees, saw thieving long tailed macaques stealing what they could, before heading back into the thick of the jungle never to be seen again. We heard the incredible cacophony of the howler monkeys, saw monitor lizards aplenty, and some amazing trees and flowers throughout the trip, as we slowly made our way to the river and the camp for the night.

Night sets in the jungle with amazing speed in the jungle and you need to be at camp long before dusk. When we arrived at the camp it was ready prepared, and the smell of the BBQ make us realize just how much energy we had spent. The cooking also attracts a host of wildlife, including 6 foot monitor lizards eager for a snack.

These muscular powerful beasts may be just 6 inches off the ground, but I wouldn't fancy my chances without a very big stick, and they were none to scared about coming close. They were thrown the bones after we had finished, we had a few whiskeys, and played cards until it was time to sleep.

The morning brought monkeys into our camp, with the agile little blighters incredibly skilful at stealing stuff from the tents. You have to be rally careful with all of your stuff, as they are not fussy what they take, and you'll never see it again. If it can fit in a monkeys hand it can be taken, so make sure you don't leave anything out.

As we packed up our kit and readied to head off home, we said good bye to the monkeys and our intrepid adventure. The trip ended with white water rafting back to the village, descending through the forest on an old truck inner tubes. It was an incredible journey and one Ill never forget.

What better way to relax after an intensive 2 day jungle trek, than with a nice relaxing massage. I was asked by a pretty girl if I would like a "very good jungle massage", and she assured me quite persuasively that it was "relax good for you". At the bargain price of less than a beer - beer was extortionately expensive - I accepted her kind offer and was ready to be massaged into a wonderful sleep. I sat down for what seemed like ages with her giggling occasionally, while she spoke to her friend and apparently forgot why I was waiting. I asked how long and got a "soon, soon", but decided it would be rude to just walk away. Finally after about an hour she got up and took me to a small hut back from the village, told me to undress and wait for her brother.

Visions of Deliverance flashed through my mind, not helped by the fact that I was in a hut in the jungle 4 hours from the nearest city, and that no one knew exactly where I was. She attempted to put my mind at rest by assuring me that there would be no squealing like a pig today, and that her brother was a trained masseuse of the highest order. Of course I barely understood a word, as most of what she said was in Indonesian, with just the occasional confusing English word thrown in for good measure. Fortunately when her brother turned up, I realised that should a squeal like a pig situation arise, that I would have at least a fair chance of overpowering him before legging it naked into the jungle. Not that it would improve my situation very much. I decided to go through with it as I had already paid and it would have been rude to just run away.

When his sister said trained masseuse I did not expect the training to have taken place in Afghanistan. The massage technique appeared to have been designed to pull every tendon, muscle and ligament to near breaking point, whilst dislocating as many joints as was physically possible. At one point he had both feet on my shoulders and was pulling on my arms with his full body weight, and when nothing snapped he decided to try harder, before nearly pulled both my arms out of the sockets as his big finale. As if this was not pleasant enough, I had first been liberally rubbed all over with Tiger Balm, to ensure that even in brief seconds of calm, I would still be in pain. This was a Thai massage apparently, which is not the same as aromatherapy, something I wish i had known before I'd paid.

I must say I was fairly "relaxed afterwards", although perhaps relieved would be a better word. Relived that I had all my limbs, and that I was alive, and I didn't have to traverse virgin rainforest naked to find my way home. It felt like I was pleasantly stoned, and deeply relaxed, so despite his rather unorthodox technique it appeared to have worked. Unfortunately since I was covered head to toe in Tiger Balm, and had it on my face, up my nose, and quite pressingly on my testicles, the relaxing effect was somewhat lost.

If you can count on one thing it's the determination of the mosquitoes, and they will bite any part of you that has not been liberally doused in DEET. Tiger mosquitoes are incredibly aggressive and come out in the day and are best avoided. Every Tiger mosquito in the province of Aceh had got wind of my arrival, and was making my life a living hell. Forget the 50% DEET spray at your peril when you head into the jungle. Standard mossie spray just doesn't cut it.

If you smoke and you are in the jungle, remember that whilst nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, moths and mosquitoes can travel faster than the speed of a cigarette lighter. No sooner have you lit up, than the light is obscuredm, by a million fluttering things trying to eat your face.

Any rustling you hear in the night is actually something that wants to eat you, but you should try to get so sleep as you will need the rest. It's better to be swallowed while sleeping than to be awake and see it happen.

You need hiking boots to stop things getting in to your socks and making your life a living hell. Water is a nightmare and leeches best avoided. A pair of sturdy boots will do the trick, and will stop you from spraining an ankle in the slippery mud. You really don't want to twist an ankle in the middle of the jungle. Its a long hop pack to civilization.

It is pitch black in the jungle, and I mean pitch black. Now I live in the city but have lived in the suburbs, so I thought I knew what dark really was. But darkness in the jungle is so absolute on a moonless night, that you can see absolutely nothing without a torch. Should you need to leave the tent in the night, there is a chance that you won't find it again. A small clockwork LED torch would have been a godsend.