Bukit Lawang, Sumatra, Indonesia Part 3⠀ ⠀ Before leaving the rubber plantation the guide talked to us about safety and a few individual orangutans that we would need to look out for. I listened to this thinking it was just a "worse case scenario" talk and was very unlikely to happen . . . more on this later. Then we started hiking and we were immediately immersed in the jungle. It reminded me a lot of the jungle in Hawaii (where I'm from) but with lots of different plants, although some looked really similar. It was also so humid! By the afternoon I was completely drenched with sweat, I could literally wring out my tank top. I don't think I have ever had to do that before. The hiking wasn't particularly challenging and we took our time. I did see leeches, so gross! I didn't realize they can crawl around like an inchworm. Thankfully I did not get any but one of my hiking companions had one bite him in his sleep later that night! It must have been on his pack that he brought into the tent. ⠀ ⠀ The park is about 8,000 square kilometers and home to a big variety of animals like the Sumatran elephant, Sumatran tiger, Sumatran rhinoceros, siamang, Sumatran serow, sambar deer and leopard cat. Which I didn't see, they do up to 10 night treks deep into the park to look for those critters. ⠀ ⠀ We had about 3 guides with us at one point and they all fanned out to look for orangutans. All the guides from different companies (apparently there are 21!) seem to get along and share information with each other. There is also cell phone service in the jungle 😝so they just call each other when they find one. ⠀ ⠀ It wasn't long before they spotted one up high with a little newborn who was just starting to learn to climb around. They were eating a local fruit and just hanging out really relaxing. In one of the photos you can see the mom resting on a bed below the baby. It was surreal just watching them do their thing! ⠀ ⠀ #adventure #backpacking #camping #hiking #jungle #jungletrek #orangutan #indonesia #bukit #lawang #bukitlawang #leeches #rubber #chickswhotravel #solotravel #solofemaletraveler ⠀ ⠀#sonyar7iii (at Bukit Lawang) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6PIflIl2Om/?igshid=hfk5detymx2t
