Bukit LawangLost in the depths of Sumatra, Bukit Lawang is a small riverside town built beside the rain forest of the vast Gunung Leuser National Park.
Home to the orangutan, one of the most endangered species in the world, found only in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Bukit Lawang (‘gateway to the mountain’) is situated 90 kilometers northwest of Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra, Indonesia.
Bukit Lawang is most famous for being a site to easily spot semi-wild orangutans near convenient tourism facilities. Bukit Lawang is situated at the eastern side of Gunung Leuser National Park.
In 1973 a Swiss organisation set up an orangutan rehabilitation center in Bukit Lawang. The purpose of the center was to rehabilitate orangutans released from captivity. The rangers at the center teach the orangutan all the necessary skills to survive in the wild. After an intense period of quarantine, readjustment to the natural habitat and reintegration in the (semi-)wild population, the orangutans were released back into the jungle. All orangutans that were released are still being monitored by the rangers and they still provide them with supplementary food at the feeding platform until they become fully self reliant. Out of this project the Sumatra Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP) was founded.
In the years after the arrival of the rehabilitation center more and more tourists found their way to Bukit Lawang and it became one of the most popular destinations in Sumatra.