Bukit Lawang, Sumatra

The Stanleys and I were in a hurry to leave Medan so I spent a lot of money and got a private car to pick us up and take us to Bukit Lawang.

Click for the full map

On the way, we drove past a lot of Palm Trees. Companies are cutting down the jungle to grow palm trees so they can make palm oil. Maybe you can do some research and find out what happens to the animals when their homes are cut down or burnt so palm trees can be grown. You could also do some research to find out what palm oil is used for. I think you will be surprised how many different foods and products it is used in.

Palm trees

Bukit Lawang is a small village on the edge of the Gunung Lesuser National Park.

Click to see Bukit Lawang

The view from our room

Breakfast time visitors.
One cheeky monkey even ran across the table in front of me.

Here are some of the sights I saw when I was trekking:

A Viper that had been relocated from the village

When I went on a jungle trek, I saw 8 Orangutans; 3 rehabilitated females, each with a baby and 2 wild males.

Orangutans get rehabilitated and released into back into the jungle if they have been kept as pets (which is now illegal) or injured. Bukit Lawang used to have a feeding station where the rehabilitated Orangutans could come twice a day for food if they were unable to forage for enough in the jungle. The people running the feeding station kept the food boring to encourage to Orangutans to fend for themselves.

Long Tail Monkeys (Macaque)

You can see the cuts villages have made to collect rubber.

Fruit snack in the jungle

Picnic lunch
Rice, vegetables, fish, noodles and rice crackers

This guy was attached to the back of my shoulder. It had a good feed of my blood but it still looks hungry.

Termites

Bukit Lawang Village.

The locals swim, wash themselves and their clothes in the river.

Tourists from other places in Indonesia come to go rafting on the river in rubber tubes.

My 'Jungle Taxi' that carried me through the rapids back to the village.
It was made of a large tube tied together with two smaller tubes.

Gili Air

Goodbye Gili Trawangan

The boat trip from Gili Trawangan to Gili Air took about 30  to 40  minutes, as we stopped at Gili Meno to drop people off. The Stanleys and I traveled on a boat the same as the one above.

Hello Gili Air

When we got to Gili Air, all of the passengers had to step off the back of the boat. If you did not time it correctly with the waves, you got very wet. The Stanleys were safe in a plastic bag in my bag. I only got wet up to my knees.

Gili Air doesn't have any motorised vehicles, just like Gili T. These horses are waiting for some passengers. It costs 100,000IRD for a ride. 

Some local children playing on a paddle board.

The Gili Air harbour is full of fishing, diving and passenger boats.

I hired a see-through plastic canoe. I left the Stanleys at home so they didn't get wet.

I could see fish swimming under the canoe. Most of the coral is dead so there isn't really any colour except for the fish. I have been told that fishermen used dynamite to catch fish and this is one of the reasons the coral has been destroyed. Maybe you can find out some more information about it. I wonder where the best place to look would be?

Locals unloading a boat of supplies.

The largest supermarket on Gili Air

There were piles of dried fish outside the door and they smelt like stinky old socks.

A local man heading out at sunrise to go fishing.

All sorts of things are carted in the horse carts. I saw rubbish, dirt and gravel, furniture and lots of people.

Children biking to school.

 School in the Gili Islands starts at 8am and finishes at 12pm. All of the children wear uniforms.

A local lady washing dishes

Another Stanley is Coming Home

On the 6th of April I posted another Flat Stanley home to Lake Tekapo School.

This Stanley is coming home from Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Nusa Tenggara

I wonder how long this Flat Stanley will take to get back to Godley Class in Lake Tekapo , New Zealand.

Gili Trawangan, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Map from Amed to Gili Trawangan

Leaving Amed

From Amed the Stanleys and I took a fast boat to Gili Trawangan. There are three islands off the coast of Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara. Gili translates to small island in Sasak. Gili Trawangan is the largest and busiest of the three islands. It only takes 2 hours to walk around the island.

It is a lot quieter than Bali though because there are no cars or motorbikes. They do have lots of horses and carts and bicycles instead. A few of the locals have electric scooters which are very quiet.

Godley Class from Lake Tekapo School, had a vote and decided on some good places for me to take the Stanleys.

Lighthouse

Shark Point

Surf Point

Harbour

Bikes lined up at the harbour

Locals fishing at sunrise

The Stanleys in my bag at the harbour ready to leave for Gili Air.

There are lots of barbecues along the beach for cooking fish and sate. 

A local riding home with the fish he caught.

There are lots of chickens and cats walking around the streets.