Sumatran Orangutans are facing critical displacement and destruction in their natural habitats.
Sumatra Cheeky Monkeys is a family-owned business that provides a wide range of ethical tours in Bukit Lawang, located on the edge of the magnificent Gunung Leuser National Park in North Sumatra.
We collaborate with local partners, villagers and ethical guides to offer ecological tours enabling visitors to observe orangutan families in their jungle home and explore other extraordinary wildlife, flora and fauna.
Sumatra is the largest island in Indonesia and the sixth-largest in the world. The Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca envelop this elongated island. Sumatra is diverse and boasts the Bukit Barisan mountains, wild and open plains, lowlands peppered with swamps, lush mangrove forests and multifaceted river systems. Dense tropical rain forests once dominated the landscape, but deforestation has resulted in orangutan inhabited rain forests being only in Sumatra and Borneo.
Sumatra Cheeky Monkeys tours traverse the biodiverse landscape of Gunung Leuser National Park. The park houses over 750 species of mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds, not to mention exciting, otherworldly collections of flora: which includes the worlds largest and tallest flowers ‘Rafflesia Arnoldi and Amorphophallus Titanum’. There is documentation of scientific identification of over ten thousand varieties of plants in this area.
Many animal species in this outstanding region are critically endangered and include Sumatran rhinoceros, Sumatran elephant, Sumatran tiger and the Sumatran orangutan. Diversity remains within the rainforest, but it needs care and respect to flourish. Guests may also encounter cartloads or tribes of primates including Thomas Leaf monkeys, macaques and gibbons.
The residents of Bukit Lawang offer generous hospitality. Sumatra Cheeky Monkey’s guides have tailor-made tours introducing guests to the vibrant Indonesian culture of local villagers. Guests can watch and take part in every-day life such as schooling, markets and local handicrafts, weddings, and even football!