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As your Jungle Guide in Bukit Lawang, we specialise in arranging unique trekking tours that take you deep into the tropical rainforest of Gunung Leuser National Park. Whether you are looking for a short jungle walk or a multi-day adventure – we make sure you can experience the magic of the jungle in an ecological, authentic and sustainable way. We care deeply about protecting this natural paradise and its incredible biodiversity, while also supporting the local community in North Sumatra. That’s why we ensure that everyone involved in our treks and activities receives fair payment – so your jungle adventure is not only unforgettable, but also a meaningful part of responsible tourism in Indonesia.
Come with us to witness one of the world’s last remaining jungle paradises with its incredible ecosystem and biodiversity, and to observe wild orangutans in their natural habitat!
Starting in the small village of Bukit Lawang, our jungle treks unfold in one of the best jungle trekking destinations globally, as it’s situated right at the entrance of the Gunung Leuser National Park. Its unique jungle setting makes it an ideal location for exploring the rainforest of North Sumatra. Fittingly, Bukit Lawang means “gateway to the hills” and the unique forest behind this gate is home to the critically endangered Sumatran Orangutan, as well as Gibbons, Siamangs, Thomas Leaf Monkeys, Hornbills, giant flowers, and various rare and exotic animals and plants. The most special reason: elusive creatures such as Sumatran tigers, rhinos, and forest elephants still coexist solely within the confines of Gunung Leuser National Park!
Say hello to our close relatives and gain a brief impression of Indonesia’s tropical rainforest in just a few hours on our day tours - or discover all its nocturnal inhabitants by night!
Extend your adventure and dive deeper into the rainforest by spending a few nights at our comfortable jungle camp sites. Observe the released Orangutans and a lot more wildlife in the mountainious area behind Bukit Lawang on our overnight treks.
Become a real jungle adventurer during one of our long treks through the deep rainforest of Gunung Leuser National Park and learn how to survive in the raw wilderness in the untouched rainforest of North Sumatra...
For the ultimate adventure, our expeditions that span up to ten days take you off the beaten path and lead you deep into remote rainforest where unforgettable encounters await.
If you’re looking for something truly unique (like an even longer trek or a tour that is specialised for photographers), we’re happy to create individual treks tailored to your personal interests.
For all our activities we strive to create your jungle trek in harmony with nature, offering the best rainforest experience in an ecological and responsible way.
The following treks represent our standard jungle trekking tours from Bukit Lawang through Gunung Leuser National Park. We offer these trekking packages with as much individuality as possible ∼ simply tell us all your needs and wishes and we will do our utmost to organise your most wonderful jungle memory in Indonesia!
Feeling a bit apprehensive? Then take a look the reviews from our previous trekking guests or delve into our jungle trekking values.
From 55 €
From 70 €
From 40 €
From 120 €
From 170 €
From 250 €
Individuell
From 320€
From 580 €
From 580€
Individual
For your safety and in respect to the jungle and it’s wildlife the maximum size of our jungle trekking groups is 6 people.
So please inform us of the number of participants when booking your trek.
In the high season (June to August) it is possible to join other travelers on their jungle trek. It often enriches the experience to meet fellow adventurers in the rainforest. However, especially in the low season, we cannot guarantee the availability of a group for your preferred date. Therefore we ask for your understanding that higher fees apply for private treks.
If you are traveling with more than 6 people, please contact us, and together we will find a solution for every situation.
Included Services:
Certified & English-speaking guide
Assistant guide (if more than 3 people)
National park permit
Indonesian-Tourist-Guide-Association fee (HPI)
Board:
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, fruits, snacks, tea & coffee, freshly boiled water to refill your bottles
(not included: breakfast before starting your trek & dinner after returnin from the jungle)
Camping equipment:
tent, mattresses, blankets, pillows, mosquito nets
Group Size: 3 – 6 People
For your safety and in respect to the jungle and it’s wildlife the maximum size of our jungle trekking groups is 6 people.
In the high season (July & August) it is possible to join other travellers on their jungle trek. It is often a valuable enrichment to get to know other people on a trek through the rainforest.
In the low season (September to June) we ask for your understanding that it will not always be possible to find a group for your requested trek/date and therefore there will be an extra charge for a private trek. An alternative is our co-operation with other trekking operators in Bukit Lawang, so that we can try to put together enough participants for a group trek.
Please let us know how many people you will be participating with when you make your booking. If you are travelling with more than 6 people, please contact us. Together we will find a solution for every situation.
We recommend arriving at least one – ideally two – days before your trek and spending the night after returning from the jungle in Bukit Lawang as well. Bukit Lawang is an idyllic village with lots to discover and it is definitely worth spending a few days there if your itinerary allows.
Arriving earlier gives you a valuable time buffer and a chance to rest after your journey, especially if it was long and exhausting. Taking a day off between your arrival and the jungle trek helps you to recover from the trip, acclimatise to the climate and humidity and adjust to the time change, so that you can start your jungle adventure feeling well prepared.
In Asia, flight delays and cancellations are unfortunately quite common. Please note that we cannot offer refunds if your arrival is delayed and you miss the scheduled transport or trek.
30-35 liters (waterproof bags for rafting down the river will be provided by us on every trek)
It’s essential that you bring 1,5 to 2 liters water per person! On all overnight treks freshly boiled water from the river will be provided at the campsites to refill your bottles.
Besides normal mosquito spray, we recommend using mosquito repellent for your clothes as well.
Important: don’t forget your power bank on treks with overnight stays as there’s no electricity in the jungle.
Such as plasters, anti-diarrhea tablets, disinfection spray, painkillers, antibiotics & personal needed medicine like asthma spray or insulin – but don’t worry: your jungle guide will always bring a first aid kid!
Light T-shirt & strechable trousers, long socks (for the trek)
Don’t forget your towel if you plan a trek with an overnight stay
For night walks and treks with overnight stays.
Besides toothbrush and soap, contact lense fluid and glasses cleaner might be usufull. Toilet paper you can get in your accommodation – or use the Indonesian way : Water and your left hand!
It’s recommandable to bring a hoodie & long relaxing trousers for the evening and night time in the jungle as it can get cold and windy at our river camping spots
+ change of clothes for the next days (for treks with overnight stays only)
Or a rain cape that you can hang over your backpack if you get caught in a downpour.
Only necessary for our long jungle expeditions (5 days or more)!
Of course you can also use your backpack or clothes to build a comfortable pillow 😉
For crossing the river (only needed for treks with an overnight stay)
We highly recommend shoes with a deep profile for slippery parts of the jungle – or get the shoes that our guide will use on the trek!
These are the shoes that all our guides wear in the jungle. As they are made of rubber, you can easily cross rivers without worrying about your footwear. Additionally, they have stoppers under the soles, preventing slips while enabling you to climb over roots and rocks effortlessly, much like a gecko!
If you’re interested, please inform your guide before your jungle trek, so you can find the appropriate size. Be aware: the maximum size is 42.
We highly recommend wearing at least one pair of socks in your shoes to avoid blisters! Knee-high socks, which are excellent for tucking open trouser legs and being “insect-proof,” are available on-site for for 30.000 IDR.
Price: 50.000 IDR (approx. 3 Euros)
These comfortable trekking backpacks can be rented from us for a small fee to be used on your jungle trek:
Features:
Rental fee: 200.000 IDR (approx. 10 Euro)
We ask for your understanding to pay the costs of repairing in case of damage.
Verified
Jules H17 July 2024Une expérience inoubliable avec Olkie dans la jungle ! Je viens de terminer un trek de trois jours dans la jungle avec Olkie comme guide, et je suis encore émerveillé par cette aventure. Dès le début, Olkie a su mettre tout le monde à l'aise avec son sourire chaleureux et son enthousiasme contagieux. Sa connaissance approfondie de la flore et de la faune locales est impressionnante. Il a su nous montrer des plantes médicinales, des insectes fascinants et même des animaux sauvages que je n'aurais jamais remarqués sans lui. Le trek lui-même était bien organisé et parfaitement adapté à notre groupe. Olkie a toujours veillé à notre sécurité tout en nous poussant à dépasser nos limites de manière sécuritaire et motivante. Les nuits sous les étoiles, bercés par les sons de la jungle, resteront gravées dans ma mémoire. Si vous cherchez une aventure authentique et enrichissante dans la jungle, je ne peux que vous recommander vivement de partir avec Olkie. C'est plus qu'un guide, c'est un véritable ambassadeur de la nature. Merci Olkie pour cette expérience extraordinaire ! J'espère que ce commentaire correspond à ce que vous aviez en tête !Verified
Antoine B17 July 2024Awesome trek the trek was incredible, we had a great guide (Olky!) with whom we were able to talk a lot and laugh a lot. we also had the chance to see lots of monkeys and we ate some great local food. To do again!Verified
Titouan C17 July 2024Experience in the jungle Super expérience, le guide était très sympa et très fun, et les paysages et la nourriture était aussi incroyable. Si vous venez faire le trek, demandez à le faire avec illy !!Verified
Jessica K16 July 2024Best Trek Guide!! Don’t miss this two day trek! Our guide Aseng was really great. He took extra care to make sure we had the best experience! It was truly an unforgettable time and my daughter and I will cherish these memories! We saw so much wildlife Including 10+ orangutans, delicious lunch, snacks and dinners and even got to ride down the river on tubes. The tour company values eco tourism and has a “pack in pack out” motto so no trash or even fruit peels were left behind. Was really impressive. Our guide even helped us find a new guesthouse when we needed a little more than the one we were staying in. He was really great and the tour company was also fab!Verified
Laura S10 July 2024jungle trekking the tour is highly recommended! it was such an adventure to hike trough the jungle. especially with our guide imam, who knows everything about the jungle and has a lot of experience! thank you very much!Verified
Dörthe L25 June 2024Eine unvergessliches Erlebnis! Von der ersten Kontaktaufnahme mit Senta, über die gesamte Organisation bis hin zur Dschungeltour selbst - einfach perfekt! Senta unterstützte uns von Beginn an sehr kompetent und stets herzlich bei der Planung dieser Tour und gab uns auch darüber hinaus wertvolle Tipps für die Anreise nach Sumatra. Zu unserer Tour haben wir den Transfer vom Flughafen Medan nach Bukit Lawang gleich dazu gebucht, was die gesamte Anreise sehr entspannte. Unser Guide Wajou hatte auf der zweitägigen Tour ein wirklich gutes Auge nicht nur für die großen Tiere, sondern auch für die vielen kleineren Bewohner des Urwaldes, wie z.B. Chamäleons. Neben Orang Utans konnten wir noch zwei Gibbonarten und Thomas Limuren beobachten - unvergesslich! Die Übernachtung ist sehr einfach, die Versorgung aber top! Insgesamt absolut empfehlenswert!!Verified
Chris16 May 2024Great jungle experience! We booked a 5D/4N trip with Senta and her team in may 2024. The guides and kitchen crew are out of this world! Absolutely dedicated and caring about their jungle as well as us. They went above and beyond to get us safely and well feed through the jungle. The energy within in the team was Lovely. We had a great time with Olky and his team throughout the whole time! They try to minimize the impact on the jungle and are in my Opinion a great pick for a eco tourist approach as they don’t oversell what you might see and they do refrain from feeding wildlife to please tourists. Can recommend!Verified
Matt G15 May 202410/10 you NEED to do this - best thing I’ve done in Indonesia I’ve been in Indonesia for 3 months and this is easily the coolest thing I’ve done. I recommend anyone who enjoys nature and adventure. Our tour guide dimas was awesome, funny and intelligent. All the Indonesians made us feel welcomed! The food was also amazing shoutout Edwin!! I will be back one day to spend more days in the jungle. Bukit lawang is a hidden gemVerified
Marko P9 May 2024I was pleasantly surprised! Fantastic! My guide Demit was very nice and knowledgeable. Since my leg is injured, he was helping me while trekking and assisting. I saw Orangutans closely,loved the fruit snacks he brought and rafting journey from improvized boat but very safe and functional, was exceptional experience!Verified
Magi M8 May 2024Unique Jungle Adventure & Awesome Experience From the initial contact with Senta to the heartfelt farewell from my guide Wahyu, my experience with The Jungle Guide was simply incredible. Upon arrival at Medan Airport, I got picked up and taken directly to the accommodation in Bukit Lawang. My guide Wahyu was very kind and friendly and told me a lot of interesting things about the jungle. The tour offered a perfect blend of excitement, nature exploration, and adventure. We encountered numerous animals, including orangutans, gibbons, and much more. The overnight stay by the river was pleasant and in the evening we played a lot of fun games. The food was also very very good!! I highly recommend everyone to take this tour and choose The Jungle Guide. Thank you for this experience, especially to my fantastic guide Wahyu!
We arrange individual treks to satisfy your personal needs and wishes. Our guides know every part of the jungle and will make your personal jungle experience unforgettable.
Love of nature, respect & sustainability are our core values. We strive to keep the jungle clean and the wildlife safe, preserving the natural ecosystem of our rainforest.
In addition to protecting endangered wildlife, we prioritize your safety as our guests. All our guides are highly experienced in the jungle and avoid risks or rash decisions.
With love for nature, respect, sustainability and mutual aid, we aim to support the local people and jungle of North Sumatra. Because preserving the rainforest and its wildlife begins with supporting the local communities:
The people in and around Bukit Lawang depend on tourism, preventing them from resorting to less environmentally friendly sources of income, such as palm oil. This is a critical factor in villages without tourism. Additionally, there is the threat of illegal poaching and deforestation. Tourism in Bukit Lawang provides people with a livelihood without destroying their natural environment but by protecting it.
All our jungle guides grew up around Bukit Lawang and uphold a deep respect and protection of their home and rainforest. Therefore one of our most important values is to keep the wildlife wild and the jungle clean. During all our treks, we maintain a respectful distance from jungle animals, and none of our guides feed them. All members of our team look behind thoroughly for any garbage that we might have left behind on the trek. We request you to do the same. For your safety, our trekking team always consists of one certified jungle guide and one assistant guide.
Would you like to meet our guides and crew in advance? Check out our team!
During our long treks, we work with a highly specialised team who knows the jungle inside out, capable of reading tracks, and thus locating animals that would otherwise remain hidden. These members of our team used to earn a living through hunting – not out of passion but out of necessity to support their families. Through our jungle expeditions, we provide these former hunters with an opportunity to work as scouts, leveraging their unique skills. The more long treks you, our guests, book with us, the more secure this scouting job becomes as a livelihood for the former hunters, and through that ultimately protecting the national park and its inhabitants.
Choosing a jungle trekking tour with The Jungle Guide is your way of contributing to the preservation of our wonderful yet endangered rainforest and its exceptional biodiversity.
With each of our jungle treks, we try to make a small contribution to preserving the rainforest and its incredible biodiversity. This goes beyond our guides sharing their knowledge about the jungle; we also commit to planting a tree for every trek!
In the areas next to the national park, conflicts between humans and orangutans are becoming more frequent. The shrinking habitat of these magnificent apes leads them to decimate the tempting-looking harvest of local farmers. By planting trees in the buffer zone of the national park, we aim to lure them back into their natural habitat, reducing conflicts that often end tragically for the orangutans.
This is how we seek to make our jungle treks not only a special experience for you but also a lasting and sustainable contribution to our close relatives and their rainforest. After selecting a suitable location with your guide, you can plant the tree and even visit it again one day when it has grown into a rainforest giant!
Interested in more sustainable jungle trekking tips? Take a look here.
… is backpack friendly, plastic-free and mostly doesn’t contain palm oil and chemicals. Therefore it helps to keep the natural balance of our jungle. As it is still hard to find in Asia you probably should buy it in advance in your home country. Or have a look on the self-made soaps from our dear friend Aini who offers soap classes in her beautiful garden between the rice fields around Bukit Lawang.
Are you a smoker? We please you to bring a pocket ashtray and collect all cigarette butts whilst you are on your jungle trek, as we try to keep the jungle as clean as possible.
In Gunung Leuser National Park we want to keep the animals of the rainforest as wild as possible to enshure their natural habitat. Especially don’t feed or touch orangutans as they share 97% of our DNA, which means we may infect each other.
We kindly ask you to keep a safety distance of 10 meters with the orangutans. Please don’t open your backpack as some of them might expect food in there. Have an eye on your guide and do never stand between a female orangutan and her baby.
Please enter the jungle with a certified guide only.
Before jungle trekking, please inform your jungle guide about your health and fitness condition , so we might arrange another trekking date in case you are sick. We want to make shure that you can enjoy your jungle trekking tour as much as possible.
You would like to get to know the culture of North Sumatra? Check out our other activities around Bukit Lawang.
