Bukit Lawang is located in the Bohorok administrative area, and often only referred to as Bohorok by the Indonesians. The area is typically farmland with rice production and cocoa, palm oil and rubber plantations. Bukit Lawang started as an orangutan rehabilitation station, but visitors who come here to see the orangutans or trekking in the rainforest keeps the place running today. It now has a large selection of losmen, budget hotels and restaurants on both sides of the river, and a number of organized activities for the visitors. This is not the place to go if you want to avoid tourists and experience the authentically North Sumatra, but easily the most accessible entrance to Gunung Leuser national park.

Upon arrival the bus stops in a small square where the road ends, where you also will find a small tourist office and a ticket office, not to forget the many guides who wait here to offer their service to newcomers. There are some accommodation and a few restaurants here, but the most popular establishments are 15-20 minutes walk upstream. If you allow one of the guides to bring you to a guest house he will in a way be "tied" to you, if you go on a trek with another guide he will have to pay some money to the first guy.

The Orangutan Rehabilitation Center is found to the north of the town just within the borders of the Gunung Leuser national park. The feeding takes place at a platform in the forest, about a two kilometer pleasant walk from Bukit Lawang, you will first have to cross the river in a small canoe. This is also where most of the treks into the rainforest starts, most people start the day with the 8 o'clock feeding in the morning and then start walking into the forest. Before entering the national park you will need to obtain an access permit which can be obtained from the rangers office in Bukit Lawang, your guide will often arrange this for you. If you plan to go trekking you need to employ a guide to enter the park.

Bohorok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center
The Bohorok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center was started in 1973 by two Swiss zoologists, Regina Frey and Monica Boerner, and funded by Frankfurt Zoological Society and WWF. The intention was to help orangutans that had been displaced due to land clearing or recovered from captivity. In the first years they had great success in the four steps of rehabilitation; removal from captivity, a quarantine of at least three months, release into the forest around the center and finally taken deep into the rainforest to be released into the wild permanently

A young orangutan at the feeding station.
More than 200 have been released since 1973, still the centre has to care for about 35 orangutans that live in the forest nearby, and about 8 that are quarantined. Upon arrival at the centre each ape is checked for any disease that can be passed on to other orangutans, like common flu that they can pick up from people. the quarantine time is also used to observe what kind of skills they have, if they know how to climb and find food. Some of them have to be thought almost everything that is necessary to survive in the wild, the minimum time in quarantine is 2-3 months, but often much longer, some may even never be ready for release.

If and when an ape is ready for a life as a semi-wild, it is released to the forest surrounding the feeding platform. Now they must have a minimum of contact with people, except for the feeding times which are twice a day, the diet is milk and bananas, and kept as monotonous as possible to encourage them to look for their own food in the forest. The visit at the feeding platform also allows the rangers to check the condition on each individual orangutan. Apes that no longer need these free meals to survive are supposed to be relocated to more remote areas, sadly this almost never happens anymore, as the expenses are large and also because there are not many areas left where this is suitable.

In 1980 the center was taken over by the Indonesian government, and have since then received no outside funding. The main income today is a percentage of the access permit money paid by visitors to the center and the national park. The rest of the permit money goes to the government, which have cut down on maintenance and improvements. No new orangutans has officially been admitted to the centre since 1996, and it's obvious purpose today is to serve the tourist industry, not necessarily the orangutans. Still it continues to care for apes living in and around the quarantine station, and will need to continue to do so.

The center today no longer meets the standards of re-introduction, as the area is already over-populated with orangutans, and the number of tourists have exploded, increasing the exposure to human beings. The focus has therefore been turned towards tourism, and there are plans to develop Bohorok into an Eco-Tourist Viewing Area. In this way the centre will still be a lasting source of income for the locals, and hopefully educate the population about the benefits of preservation, and reduce the illegal logging in Gunung Leuser.

Therefore the centre will continue to stay open for tourists, and for viewing semi-wild and the occasional wild orangutans this is one of the most accessible places in Indonesia. To see the orangutans during feeding time you need to buy a permit from the rangers office, it is valid for one day and for two visits during feeding times, which are 8 to 9 am and 3 to 4 pm. These are the only times you can visit the park without a guide. You have to walk uphill, led by park rangers, for about 10-15 minutes from the quarantine area to the feeding platform, which is just some wooden planks suspended in the trees. These days there are normally only 5-6 orangutans who show up, depending of the abundance of food in the forest. It is impressive to see how quiet and easily the big animals maneuver from tree to tree, and also to watch the more clumsy infants who can be very entertaining. You are not allowed to touch or feed the orangutans, as they can easily catch many of the human diseases.

Trekking in Gunung Leuser
Rainforest in the Gunung Leuser national park.
The Gunung Leuser national park is covering an area of about 9.000 sq km, and Bukit Lawang is today the main point of access to this impressive habitat, which wildlife includes tigers, rhinos, tapirs, elephants, gibbons, reptiles and of course the orangutan. There are more than 380 species of birds and a huge number of flowers, trees and other plants. Trekking here is very popular, but also somewhat tough physically, as the climate is very humid and hot, and the terrain often very steep uphill or downhill. You will need a permit and a guide to trek here, and there are many alternative routes. You can do a one-day trek (which by some is called the "chicken-trek") or trek for several days deep into the forest, crossing over to the Aceh side where the Gunung Leuser mountain is located, normally ending in Ketambe. If you have never done this before you should consider to do a one-day trek first, to get a feeling for the conditions. You can also combine a trek with rafting back to Bukit Lawang, a very pleasant end of the day. Remember you should not feed the orangutans you encounter on the way, and not to leave any trash behind.

For one day the price will normally be US$15, this includes lunch, bring plenty of water. The guides need to be licensed, but there are a few that are not. Do not accept in the last minute to be left with another guide than the one you have made an agreement with. Most of them are however good people who also speak acceptable English. For a 4-5 day trek you will need good boots, long trousers and some T-shirts. Food, mat and tent are provided by your guide.

If you don't feel for a jungle experience there are some alternative walks from Bukit Lawang. 30 minutes or about 2 km south of BL there is a bat cave, it is outside the national park so you don't need a permit.

Rafting
Tube rafting down the Bohorok river is a popular activity, you can end your trek in the forest in a very refreshing way on top of a tube down the rapids of the river. Or you can rent a tube in Bukit Lawang and float down the river for about 15 km and take the bus back, this will normally take about three hours. This should be done in company with somebody who know the area, especially during the rain season when the river can be quite swollen and dangerous, life jackets are not included in the price. Never tube alone or when the river is flooded, there has been a few accidents!

Accommodation and food
There is an abundance of cheap losmen dotted along the river, there are mainly two areas to choose from; along the river opposite the town and up the river towards the Bohorok Orangutan Rehabilitation Station, where you also will find the most quiet area. Most of the guesthouses have a restaurant, and most of these are pretty standard.

Transport
Buses between Medan's Pinang Baris bus station and Bukit Lawang depart every half hour between 5.30 am and 6 pm, the current price is 5.000Rp, and the bus will use about three hours. You can also go with a public minibus which is about an hour quicker, and a little bit more expensive. A third alternative is to use a tourist minibus, which can pick you up at your hotel in Medan. They will leave Bukit Lawang for Medan early in the morning, if there is enough demand there will also be tourist buses that will leave for Berastagi and Danau Toba (60.000 Rp to Parapat).

Money, communications
There are no banks or ATM's in Bukit Lawang, so make sure you bring enough cash money, there are some moneychangers here, but don't expect to get a very good rate, you better change before you come here. There is no post office either, but a few post boxes and you can buy stamps from the shops. There is one place with Internet near the bus station, the connection is very slow and the price relatively high, 20.000Rp for one hour. The reason for this is that the nearest internet provider is in Medan. You can find one Telkom Wartel across the river.

Other travel facts
There is a tourist information office close to the bus stop, don't expect a lot of information though, but it may be worth a visit. On Friday it's market day in Bukit Lawang and on Sunday in Bohorok. If you want to party wait for the weekend, when you can join the locals at the disco. July and August is the season for durian here, beware of these heavy fruits crashing down from the trees, there are even signs that warn you against this. The climate here is hot and humid, and it can rain a lot.