Our two month stint in Indonesia has come to a close, but not without a bang. After leaving Flores we ventured over to the Island of Java to the west. It’s incredible how varied the islands we have visited have been so far, both geographically and culturally. Our travels on Java took us to the beautiful garden city of Malang. Malang is a lovely little city with charming meandering streets. We especially enjoyed a walkabout through the neighborhood of Jodipan, also known as rainbow village – it is a neighborhood that has been painted in all the colours of the rainbow, part of revitalization, part for economic development (tourism). The kids bounded up and down colourful narrow walkways and crossed a pedestrian bridge with views of the entire hood.
As it so happened it was an Indonesian holiday over the days we were in Malang which meant that our planned sunrise trip up Mount Bromo (another active volcano) would have to happen in the wee hours of the day we arrived, which despite the kids’ resistance, was what we did. By 5am we had joined hundreds of others to watch the sunrise, and what a sunrise it was. Having already climbed a volcano (and experienced a ‘volcano sunrise’ )we weren’t sure what to expect, but Mount Bromo was truly incredible. It sits in the middle of a huge crater (it looks like a desert) and is surrounded by other volcanoes, so from the viewpoint you watch the sun come up across this moonscape environment littered with volcanoes. Afterwards, we climbed the Mount Bromo crater and peered down into the smoking caldera!
After our quick stop in Malang, we ventured further west to the city of Yogyakarta: known as the cultural capital of Indonesia (we had to ensure that the kids experienced more than beachlife in Indonesia :)).The highlight of our stay in the area was to visit the iconic UNESCO World Heritage site of Borobudur Temple. This colossal Buddhist temple is the largest of its kind in the world. To enter you pay quite a hefty fee, but are given special shoes to wear (normal shoes have actually worn down the stone over years) and get a guided tour. Our guide was really good and not only joked with the kids, but gave us detailed information about the temple’s past and the extensive restoration efforts, which included a full dismantling of the five square platforms/galleries – our understanding was that there was a need to improve the drainage because the entire structure was sinking! As we ascended the temple, it was hard to wrap our heads around how that type of restoration would be possible, as the temple consists of nine stacked platforms and each level is adorned with intricately carved reliefs representing a journey towards enlightenment. We did notice little tabs, which must have been used as guides for restoration experts. EEK!
Before leaving Yogyakarta, Addy and Jacob had been researching about early humans, and as it so happens the discovery of Java man (and other Homo Erectus and Sapien Sapien species) were found nearby and so a day excursion to the UNESCO archaeological site and museum had to happen. We were all pleasantly surprised by the quality of the site and museum; the kids learned and explored a tonne.
Now, we really enjoyed our time on the Island of Java, but what came next in the northern jungle of Sumatra blew our minds…Orangutans! We arrived around midnight to Bukit Lawang, a hidden gem nestled in the heart of the Sumatran rainforest. We had debated between Borneo and Sumatra as locations to ethically see Orangutans and after talking to other travelers and much research, we decided that Sumatra was our place. We received a guide recommendation from passing travelers in the Philippines, and so Amy reached out to him and the adventures began. We initially thought we would only do 2 days in the jungle, but after arriving we knew we needed at least 3. Our amazing lead guide, Rosyid, met us early in the morning with his crew and we were off.
The trek started easy enough, passing over suspension bridges and winding through jungle trails, and then the humidity of the jungle kicked in and the sweat began to drip. We were not alone on our trek, but it wasn’t overly crowded either. Rosyid explained about different plants and insects as we ventured deeper into the forest and then it happened. Rustling in the trees, whoops and calls echoing around us. We had come across an orangutan mother and her baby. We watch in awe as the baby clings to its mother’s fur, mirroring her every move. We are told this particular mother was born in captivity and so is not afraid of humans. Orangutans are critically endangered and 20 years ago, Bukit Lawang, had a rehabilitation center with the intent of expanding the population of orangutans and releasing them into the wild. The center is now closed, but some 200 animals were successfully reintroduced to the wild. After watching the mother and baby for what seemed like 5 minutes but was actually 1 hour, we kept moving along, seeing Gibbon monkeys, Thomas monkeys, an assortment of birds and even a large monitor lizard (picture a komodo dragon, but slightly smaller) swimming in the creek of our night camp location. After filling up on an incredible spread of food, we all quickly fell asleep to the sound of the river and rain hitting our tarped roof.
Amy and Addy woke to the sounds of Gibbons(it was magical – we listened for half an hour to a group whooping back and forth) and after a hearty breakfast day 2 was destined to be even better than the first. After seeing many Thomas monkeys and more black and white Gibbons playfully swinging through the trees, we spotted a male orangutan high up in the trees. We thought the female was big, he was easily 4 times her size. Displaying his impressive strength and agility as he moved effortlessly from branch to branch. His long, graceful arms swing through the foliage. We spotted a female close by as well (we were told they were negotiating ‘boom boom’). Our understanding is that he was born in the wild, she was semi-wild. What a sight. As if the day couldn’t get any better, we had a close encounter with a troop of Gibbons, saw a Magnificent Horn Bill (this bird was the size of Jacob) and a host of other monkeys. We ended our day by a much bigger river for the night, and were told we would be taking rafts down the river to return to Bukit Lawang.
We rose early, explored a local waterfall and were packed up and ready in the raft by noon. We use the term ‘raft’ loosely here. Imagine four huge innertubes roped together with a driver positioned at the front and another at the rear. We were squeezed in the two centre tubes and our guide was precariously sitting on the side. We immediately hit swift moving water and with shrieks of delight and terror 🙂 we were off. The kids loved the rapids (well Jacob did, Addy warmed to it by the end) and within 50 minutes we were back in civilization. What an adventure!
As if our adventuring for 3 days in the jungle wasn’t enough. We found out that one of the largest flowers in the world (Titan Arum) existed just hours from Bukit Lawang. We had to check it out, so after 1 hour of hiking, we found this remarkable flower that, as we found out, only blooms for 1 week, smells really bad and only blooms every 5-10 years. We saw it in bloom, what an amazing sight. Oh, we also went to an incredible bat cave and saw another wild orangutan, so needless to say we had a life changing time in Bukit Lawang. To those who need an incredible guide, reach out…we know the guy.
Addy on Orangutans
Yo yo! It’s Addy. Just to fill you in, we’re on our last, beautiful piece of paradise island, (Saving that for another post) so I have no intention of looking at a screen right now but you’re welcome. 😉 One of our best experiences on our trip and probably my whole life were the orangutans! We took a plane from Jakarta to Medan in Sumatra and it was late at night but we still had to take a 2 to 3 hour car ride to Bukit Lawang. When we got there we fell fast asleep and in the morning we started our 3 day 2 night jungle trek! Of course to get into the jungle we had to cross a Death Bridge (as I call it). After we crossed the Death Bridge we hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked until we saw her… AN ORANGUTAN!!! She was climbing a tree and I was so in love and then I practically squealed myself to death when I saw she had the cutest baby orangutan on her back!!! Anyway, after ages and ages of watching the mom do poses for the camera and baby climb trees (remind you of someone?;)) we started hiking again and then we stopped for lunch. It was yummy. Then to my GREAT happiness another orangutan and baby came!!! We watched her for a bit then hiked some more. Bye Everyone!
Jake on Orangutans
Hey peeps, it’s Jake! I saw 2 orangutans the first day. They were beautiful. On the second day, we figured out I was actually a Gibbon and should live in the jungle. But, I forgot I had a family and so I left the jungle with them. Also, we saw a magnificent hornbill bird. It was so big and it was magnificent. On the last day, I went rafting down the river. The rafting was fun.
