Untitled from Caroline Hendel on Vimeo.
o·rang·u·tan. n.
- An arboreal anthropoid ape (Pongo pygmaeus) of Borneo and Sumatra, having a shaggy reddish-brown coat, very long arms, and no tail.
In Bahasa:
On Saturday October 23rd, Laurent and I started our Toussaint vacation by setting off to the island of Sumatra.We stayed at the Garden Inn, a beautiful guest house owned by a colleague of ours and her husband in Bukit Lawang,a village only 96km northwest of Medan. Our number one motivation for this particular destination was the proximity (right in front of the hostel) of the biggest orang-utan conservation programme in the world, operated in the Gunung Leuser National Park.
With more than 5000 animals thought to be living in the wild, we were certain to come across many during our 2 day trek in the jungle. At 8.00 a.m we started our ascent and soon spotted a female Orangutan and her baby hanging in the trees.
A couple of hours later of profuse jungle sweating we had our first encounter with Mina the Orangutan you don't want to see. Although Mina is a semi-wild Orangutan (which means that she is used to being fed and taken care of by humans), she will not let you pass her without giving her food. Our guide, who's been bit by her before wasn't ready to give in again. The inevitable happened: Mina slowly started to come down the trees, and we were told to walk (as fast as we could) in the other direction. End of the story.
- Orang, man + hutan, jungle
On Saturday October 23rd, Laurent and I started our Toussaint vacation by setting off to the island of Sumatra.We stayed at the Garden Inn, a beautiful guest house owned by a colleague of ours and her husband in Bukit Lawang,a village only 96km northwest of Medan. Our number one motivation for this particular destination was the proximity (right in front of the hostel) of the biggest orang-utan conservation programme in the world, operated in the Gunung Leuser National Park.
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| Oman fighting the Orangoutan |
Female orangutan,give birth to one child every 6 years. The offspring is known to stay near his mom until the age of 10. In other words: a strong bonding you don't want to mess with.
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| No more fruit for us! |
A couple of hours later of profuse jungle sweating we had our first encounter with Mina the Orangutan you don't want to see. Although Mina is a semi-wild Orangutan (which means that she is used to being fed and taken care of by humans), she will not let you pass her without giving her food. Our guide, who's been bit by her before wasn't ready to give in again. The inevitable happened: Mina slowly started to come down the trees, and we were told to walk (as fast as we could) in the other direction. End of the story.
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| Waterrrrrfall |
"Mina, who arrived at the rehabilitation center in 1979, is an ex-captive, rehabilitated and released orangutan who now freely roams the forests of the GLNP."Lonely Planet
Another memorable moment during our trek happened as we were snacking on fruits along a small river in the middle of the jungle. The guide had just opened a pack of delicious Indonesian named lychees, when suddenly a mom utan and her baby came out from nowhere right in front of us, stole all of our fruits and sat down literally 5 foot away from us. She obviously was used to human presence and was soon recognized by the guide as one of the semi-wild orangutans. Pictures and videos to come!!
FABULOUS EXPERIENCE!
As we were in the jungle, a tsunami hit the western coast of the island of Sumatra, on the opposite coast of where we were...
Love C-!
Caroline,
ReplyDeleteYou should notice us when you publish a new video or pics in an old article. I just saw the video of the Orang-utan... (facebook is your friend ;-))
By the way, ten days without any article...
You have fans... (I'm waiting for the new article like the new single of a rockstar !)