{"id":115,"date":"2011-12-06T19:01:58","date_gmt":"2011-12-06T18:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/?p=115"},"modified":"2022-08-23T12:50:44","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T11:50:44","slug":"orangutan-information-centre-oic-visiting-sumatras-orangutans-responsibly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2011\/12\/orangutan-information-centre-oic-visiting-sumatras-orangutans-responsibly\/","title":{"rendered":"Orangutan Information Centre (OIC): Visiting Sumatra\u2019s Orangutans Responsibly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/yourtravelchoice.png\"><\/span>By Melanie Jae Martin<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If you want to see great apes in the wild, Sumatra\u2019s rainforest is one of the most accessible places to do just that. Seeing orangutans in the wild, along with silver Thomas leaf monkeys, pig-tailed macaques, and a diverse range of birds like hornbills, will leave you with a renewed appreciation for the beauty and ingenuity of other species. However, you need to know how to visit them responsibly or you could introduce illnesses, since they share over 97 percent of our DNA. Less than 7,000 Sumatran orangutans live in the wild, and they\u2019re an essential part of the rainforest ecosystem, helping seeds to germinate and even pruning the canopy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Gunung Leuser National Park is part of the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra UNESCO World Heritage Site, and an excellent spot for ape-watching and rainforest trekking. The Orangutan Information Centre (OIC), a local, grassroots NGO, is working with a local guides association to certify guides in the popular destination Bukit Lawang.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The OIC is an excellent source of information, and many of the guides are extremely knowledgeable and conscientious. However, because of the competition for visitors and tips, some guides do engage in unscrupulous practices like luring orangutans over with fruit, leaving fruit peels on the ground, or even letting visitors hug orangutans. Before you go into the forest, you\u2019ll watch a short film on rainforest etiquette at the visitors\u2019 center. Pay attention, and take responsibility for your own behavior. Better yet, download a copy of the park guidebook from the OIC website to prepare for your trip.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In Bukit Lawang, you\u2019ll have the chance to see orangutans close up, either at the feeding platform or slightly further into the rainforest. These orangutans have returned to the wild after a life in captivity. Captured from the wild by poachers at a young age, they are learning to live in the forest again after a rigorous rehabilitation process. They grow adept at building nests to sleep and lounge in, climbing nimbly through the canopy, and raising the next generation of wild orangutans. Like humans, they don\u2019t know how to live in the wild by instinct alone. In the wild, they might spend eight years with their mother, learning how to live in the jungle. Learning these skills as adults takes an incredible amount of intelligence, patience, and perseverance, just as it would for a human.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Deeper in the jungle, you\u2019ll likely see wild orangutans from afar. You\u2019ll have the option to take a one-day, overnight, or multiday trek. Local guides are quite flexible in making arrangements. If planning a longer trek, talk with the staff at the visitors\u2019 center to request a knowledgeable, conscientious guide.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For a quieter experience, visit the farther-flung village of Ketambe, about 8 hours by van from the main city of Medan. Staying in this little village bedecked with flowers and fruit trees will let you experience a less-trafficked part of the Gunung Leuser National Park, or \u201cLeuser.\u201d You\u2019ll easily arrange van transportation on arrival; just ask your hotel staff for details. Call ahead to book a room in Ketambe. The Friendship Guesthouse offers rustic one-room bungalows with bathrooms for around U.S. $6 per night, and tasty curries for around $2. The welcoming staff will connect you with a local guide as well.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As in Bukit Lawang, take responsibility for your own behavior. The orangutans around Ketambe are wild, meaning they\u2019ll keep their distance. One was said to have thrown a beehive at visitors, I was told, in what I felt sure was a cautionary tale. Talk about tool use, I thought.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unfortunately, Leuser is threatened by the oil palm industry and other forms of encroachment, like much of Indonesia\u2019s rainforests. In June 2011, it was placed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger for this reason. While there, I volunteered at a restoration site in the district of Langkat, North Sumatra. The OIC had reclaimed this illegally logged and farmed section of national forest in 2007. Since then, the all-local staff had been working to bring the rainforest back to life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The old \u201chantu\u201d \u2013 what we jokingly called the dead oil palms \u2013 still stood menacingly in some parts of the forest, gray-white fronds draping around their rotting trunks like a veil. But the vibrant growth of young rainforest trees was enveloping them, weaving them into the ecosystem as life carried on.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">One of the field assistants, Darjo, had carefully counted the bird species in the area \u2013 he\u2019d spotted 83 so far. While collecting saplings in the deeper forest, the staff showed me huge elephant tracks. Very near the small house where we stayed, we saw the print of the rare golden cat.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Recently, after I\u2019d arrived back in the States, the staff sent me an excited message: Orangutans were living at the site! They\u2019d observed a male and pregnant female in the trees. The forest would take centuries, perhaps longer, to gain back the richness of the diversity it once had, but in the meantime, life will continue to thrive \u2013 as long as we let it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Article taken from Your Travel Choice Blog. Read original version <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.yourtravelchoice.org\/2011\/12\/orangutan-information-centre-oic-visiting-sumatras-orangutans-responsibly\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TravelChoiceBlog+%28Your+Travel+Choice+Blog%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Reader\">here<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Melanie Jae Martin If you want to see great apes in the wild, Sumatra\u2019s rainforest is one of the most accessible places to do just that. Seeing orangutans in the wild, along with silver Thomas leaf monkeys, pig-tailed macaques, and a diverse range of birds like hornbills, will leave you with a renewed appreciation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[25,6],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Orangutan Information Centre (OIC): Visiting Sumatra\u2019s Orangutans Responsibly<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Melanie Jae Martin If you want to see great apes in the wild, Sumatra\u2019s rainforest is one of the most accessible places to do just that. 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