Endangered

We arrived on the island of Sumatra a few days ago. Here, we intend to take in as much of Indonesia as our eyes can handle in a week and a half. When we landed in Medan, we were met at the airport by someone from the bungalow we had arranged to stay at. He was to drive us the 3-ish hours to Bukit Lawang where we would find our accommodation, nestled in one of the most remote and picturesque jungle-side towns in the world.

Our driver dropped us off as close as you can get by car, and the brother of the bungalow owner met us on his motorbike to escort us (and, more importantly, to transport our luggage) up the long, narrow road to the inn. We were outwardly impressed by his navigation of the incredibly steep paths, which he managed gracefully even while toting both of our large packs on his bike.

When we arrived, we were completely overwhelmed by the beauty and serenity of the place, and thrilled that we were fortunate enough to be spending the next few days there. Even just the walk to the bungalow left us feeling as though we had entered some sort of dream world—the type of place you only see in movies. We were shown to our room—a humble 10x10 thatch-roofed abode which sits at the very top of the facility and looks down on the rooftops of most of the town. We relaxed there for a few minutes before climbing the steep stairs back down to the restaurant to get something to eat.

We chose this destination for one reason: the orangutans. As soon as we learned that these incredible animals—with whom we share 96.4% of our genes—live in Sumatra, we knew we had to try and visit them. Sumatra is one of two places left on earth where orangutans still live (the other is Borneo), and sadly their habitat in both places is getting smaller by the day. Though both the Bornean and Sumatran orangutans (considered to be two separate species) are endangered, and the Sumatran orangutans are even “critically endangered”, an estimated 9520 acres of the jungle in which they live is cut down each day to be replaced by a palm oil plantation or a rubber tree farm. That comes out to about 6 football fields worth of their lush, green habitat every minute. The increasingly high demand on these two products, or on products which contain palm oil or rubber, has created an all too familiar situation: certain people placing a higher value on the development and commodification of the forest here, than they do on the unique plant and animal species which inhabit it. In short, there's a lot more money to be made on palm oil and rubber, than there is on saving the orangutans, or the countless other things that live in, and can only be found in, the Sumatran jungle. Sadly, the majority of us are blind to what's going on, or regularly choose convenience over compassion and activism.

Palm oil is used for all sorts of things. We cook with it, wash ourselves with it, paint our faces with it, even fuel our cars with it (that's right, the supposedly “greener” biodiesel is often made with palm oil). Anything that comes in a wrapper almost certainly contains it. We didn't use it hardly at all 60 years ago, but now we can't seem to manage without it. “Why?” you might ask. Because it's cheaper for companies to use palm oil than any of the other ingredients which can easily be used in it's place. Although they are the ones deciding to take the more cost-efficient, less sustainable route, it's us, the consumers who are enabling them by purchasing their products. The harsh truth is that with every purchase you make of an item containing palm oil, you are feeding the demand for more plantations, and by association, contributing to the destruction of more rainforest, and the killing of the creatures which inhabit it.

The tragic fact of what's happening in places like Sumatra and Borneo was proven entirely too true to us as we made the drive to Bukit Lawang from Medan. We passed virtually nothing but palm oil plantations. Rows and rows of palm trees—as far as the eye could see— and every last one of them planted in a spot where there used to be precious rainforest. We were both overwhelmed with sadness for the continuing loss of such a beautiful environment—an ecosystem which is so rare, and from which such beauty grows. 

Please, consider becoming more informed on this important subject by clicking HERE before reading on.

We were fortunate enough to see a female orangutan our first afternoon from the deck of the bungalow restaurant. She was hanging out in a tree just above the bank of the river on the opposite side from us, and she was stunning. One of the employees pointed her out to us and we watched in awe as she swung about, feeding on different branches. She moved confidently from tree to tree, captivating us with her strength and gracefulness. We continued observing her while enjoying our own lunches, and then headed down to the riverbank to get a closer look. 

We sat watching her for nearly an hour, unable to tear our eyes off this incredible creature, who looked and moved so much like us, yet in a way unlike any creature we'd seen before. Orangutans have adapted to have especially long fingers and limbs, which significantly help them to achieve such impressive arboreal locomotion. They spend most of their lives up in trees, making them extremely skilled at climbing and navigating between branches. They are also highly intelligent—the average adult orangutan's intelligence is comparable to that of a six year old human child. Eventually we decided to head up to our room—we had scheduled a trek for the following day and had many more animals to see in the morning!

We set off with our guide bright and early after a hearty breakfast. He knew tons about the flora and fauna of the jungle and stopped often to point out an animal or bring our attention to the call of a particular bird. He told us all about the medicinal uses of plants that we passed, and often offered us a taste of ones that were edible. It's hard to so much as pass through such an environment and not be impressed by it's diversity and natural bounty. We were continually astonished by the wealth of plants and their broad spectrum of uses. As we stared into the deep, tangled green on either side of the trail, it wasn't difficult to imagine the possibility of things growing here that no one has ever discovered.

An hour or so into our eight hour trek we spotted our first primates of the day—a couple of white-handed gibbons (a small species of ape) bouncing around the tops of the trees. We scurried down a hillside, pulled out our binoculars and tried to get a good view of them as they darted quickly from branch to branch. As we sat straining to catch a glimpse through the leaves, our guide pointed out some other animals—macaque monkeys—a few of which were swinging in some trees nearby. We stood gazing up at them, high above us in the branches. At one point we found ourselves looking directly up and were caught off guard when our guide hurriedly warned us of the “hot shower” we were about to receive. Sure enough, we ducked out of the way just in time to avoid getting peed on by a full-bladdered gibbon that was passing overhead. All three of us stood in the middle of the trail laughing hysterically at our extremely close call, which of course scared the monkeys away, so we continued on.

Mid-way through the morning, our guide led us to one of several orangutan feeding platforms that are scattered throughout the park. The rangers occasionally offer the orangutans supplementary food at these specific locations, and so, he told us, it would be more likely for us to find one there (hoping for an easy snack, no doubt). Sure enough, as we approached, we came across a small group of people gathered watching, and just beyond them, a very special sight indeed: a beautiful mother orangutan with her new baby in tow.

Our guide told us they were very familiar with this particular orangutan, and that her baby had been born only ten days ago under the watchful eyes of some of the park rangers. He explained that they don't use tracking devices, but rather that the guides and rangers often recognize many of the different orangutans in the park by their facial features.

We continued watching the pair for quite a while, in awe of her strength and dexterity as she flowed from tree to tree, and amazed at the tiny baby's ability to hold on to his mother's side through every stretch and swing. We learned that one of the things that makes population recovery difficult for these wonderful, endangered creatures is the especially long length of their birthing cycles. Though their gestation is the same as ours—9 months—a young orangutan will stay with his mother for six to eight years learning everything he needs to know to survive on his own. Mother orangutans can only manage to feed and teach one baby at a time, and thus only have another once the previous has “left the nest”.

To our surprise, this 'new mom' seemed to feel quite safe and unfazed by the presence of the growing group of people gathering to watch her and her little one, and we were able to get incredibly close. At several points, she even moved towards us in her attempt to reach a different tree. When this would happen, the guides would ask us to calmly back away, and do our best to maintain at least a couple of meters of space between her and us.

Once we'd had our fill (and felt like she deserved some space) we left her to munch on her leaves, and continued on our trek. After a while longer, we stopped along the trail and enjoyed a traditional Indonesian packed lunch—fried rice with veggies and an egg wrapped in banana leaves. To top it off, our guide had brought along a variety of jungle fruits for dessert, some of which we had never seen or even heard of before.

Later in the afternoon, we ran into another group of macaques. There were quite a few of them scampering all through the trees and on the ground around us. We hung out for a while, enjoying their antics.

As our trek was nearing it's end, we came upon one final species of primate—the Thomas Leaf monkey. There was a large group of them playing in the trees and making quite a ruckus just near the edge of the park. We loved their “David Beckham” mohawks and the little white rings around their eyes.

Despite our exhaustion from the long day in the park, we were reluctant to leave when the time came. We felt as though we could spend months exploring and still not feel ready to go. We knew there were still more animals to spot, more plants to taste, more sights to behold—but sadly, the day was coming to an end, and our time was up.

We left feeling a renewed and even stronger desire to fight for and protect this extraordinary place, with its diverse inhabitants and unparalleled beauty. That being the case, we want to strongly urge you, our readers, to take action—however small—against the atrocities being committed by short sighted corporations that are motivated by greed. Avoid buying products containing palm oil whenever possible, and research carefully before purchasing rubber products as well. Do your due diligence and READ the LABEL before you buy! The orangutans, and other jungle residents don't stand a chance if we don't take action now. If nothing else, I want this beautiful place to still be there for future generations to experience like we did.

~Jenna