Introduction
Surrounded by one of the most bio diverse jungles still standing, the small tourist village of Bukit Lawang is famed for its orangutan centre and as the gateway to Gunung Leuser National Park, home to more than 5,000 of these majestic apes.
The world's largest tree-dwelling mammals once swung through the forests of all of South East Asia but are now found only in Sumatra and Borneo, and thanks to its position on the Bahorok River, just 60 miles from Medan, Bukit Lawang is one of the most accessible places on earth to see them in the wild.
The orangutan centre was established in the early 1970s to rehabilitate orangutans rescued from captivity or left homeless from land clearing.
Although the overall aim is for the apes to readjust to the wild, the centre still provides supplementary feedings from a platform twice a day. The feeding sessions are wonderful to watch, often drawing nursing or pregnant females in search of extra nourishment.
