Your questions
The questions travellers ask most, answered straight, without the fluff.
Every week we answer the same thirty-or-so questions on WhatsApp. Here they are, grouped and written down, so you can find what you need before we even talk.
Planning your trip
March to October is the dry season and the easiest time to trek, lower humidity, firmer trails, better visibility in the forest. November to February is the wet season: treks still run, but expect afternoon downpours and slippery descents.
Minimum three nights, one to arrive and rest, one for a trek, one to recover and explore the village. Four to five nights is the sweet spot: it gives you time for a two-day trek, the Tangkahan elephant sanctuary day trip, the bat cave, and an unhurried exit. Travellers who stay less than two nights usually regret it.
Most Western passports (EU, UK, US, Australia, Canada, most of Asia) can enter visa-free for up to 30 days, or get a Visa on Arrival for 60 days for a fee. Rules change, always check the latest on the official Indonesian embassy website for your country at least two weeks before you fly.
Standard travel vaccinations (hepatitis A, typhoid, tetanus) are recommended. Malaria prophylaxis is generally not required for Bukit Lawang specifically, it's a low-risk area, but dengue exists year-round, so mosquito repellent with DEET is essential. Always consult a travel clinic in your own country for current advice.
Reasonable fitness is enough for a half-day or one-day trek: you should be able to walk uphill on uneven ground for two to three hours without serious trouble. Multi-day treks need more: four to six hours of trekking per day in humidity, on steep and sometimes muddy trails. No running required, but you carry your own small daypack.
Getting there
The distance is about 90 km but takes four to five hours by road, depending on traffic through Medan city. Options: private car is the most comfortable (~IDR 800,000 / €40 per car for up to four people), shared minibus, or public bus from Pinang Baris terminal (~IDR 80,000 / €4-5 per person, longest). We arrange private transfers for guests, message us for current rates.
Yes, though we advise against it if possible. The road is safe but the final hour runs through villages without streetlights, and the village access path to most guesthouses is a rough track. If your flight lands late, we suggest spending the first night near Medan airport and driving up the next morning.
Yes, shared minibuses run from Pinang Baris terminal in Medan to Bukit Lawang throughout the day, roughly every two hours until late afternoon. Cheap (around IDR 220,000 / €11 per person) but slow and with several stops. Most guests find a private transfer better value once you factor in the time saved.
The trek itself
On a full-day trek or longer, yes! Sightings are near-guaranteed, because Gunung Leuser has a stable population of both wild and semi-wild orangutans and our guides know the forest's patterns. What's never guaranteed is the type of encounter: sometimes you watch from twenty metres, sometimes one descends near the trail. We don't bait, so the animal decides.
Our minimum distance is five to seven metres, further for mothers with infants. In practice you often see them within ten to twenty metres; occasionally an orangutan descends much closer on its own terms. Our guides will always pull the group back if the orangutan is a mother with an infant or behaves uneasily.
Trekking itself is low-risk with our certified guides: the paths are established, the guides know the terrain, and wildlife encounters follow strict distance rules. The main hazards are slips on wet trails, dehydration, and occasional leeches. Orangutans and other large wildlife keep their distance when approached correctly.
Leeches are common in the wet season, harmless but unpleasant; long socks tucked into trousers solve it. Mosquitos are around but worse at dusk in the village than in the deep forest. Snakes exist but are shy, our guides scan the ground ahead of the group by habit.
Yes, and younger than you might expect. We have easy trail options for the 3-hour and one-day treks with no age limit in practice, babies from around six months old are welcome in a parent's carrier. For overnight and multi-day treks the minimum age is two years. Message us with the child's age and we'll recommend the right trek or tailor the route.
Treks run in the rain, this is rainforest, so rain is normal. Our guides carry tarps and raincoats, and camps have sheltered cooking areas. Heavy afternoon storms do sometimes cut a day short for safety (lightning risk on exposed ridges), but we always finish the core orangutan-sighting sections regardless.
Every guide carries a first-aid kit and has first-aid training completed before certification. For serious cases there is a clinic about five minutes from the village, and the nearest hospital is two hours by car. We strongly recommend all guests have their own travel insurance.
Every guide on our team speaks English very well, and several also speak French. If you would prefer a guide who speaks German, Dutch, or another European language, we will try to find a different speaking guide if necessary.
Money & booking
Plan for roughly IDR 500,000 to 1,000,000 per day (about €30 to €60) for food, drinks, and small expenses outside of the trek, the trek price already includes the Gunung Leuser national park permit, so you don't need to budget separately for that on the day. There are no ATMs in Bukit Lawang village itself; the nearest is about 11 km away in Bohorok, and Indomaret and Alfamart minimarkets in the area have ATMs. If you run short, one of our guides can give you a lift on their motorbike to the nearest ATM. Money changers in the village are open roughly 9am to 6pm. Easiest: withdraw in Medan before you come.
We accept bank transfer in advance (via Wise or PayPal) or cash on arrival in IDR, EUR or USD. Card and QRIS payment aren't supported yet, Bukit Lawang's infrastructure doesn't reliably handle terminals.
There is no hard rule, book as soon as you know your dates and we will make it work if we can. For peak season (June to August, around European summer) and major holidays (Chinese New Year, Lebaran) it is safer to book a few weeks ahead. For the wet season and quieter weeks, a few days' notice is often fine.
Yes. Cancel two or more days before the trek and you get a full refund. Cancel one day before and we keep 40 % to cover guides who have already turned down other bookings. If weather forces us to cancel from our side (which does not happen often) we would simply move your trek to a new day at no cost.