Sumatran Orangutans are facing critical displacement and destruction in their natural habitats. Sumatra Cheeky Monkeys 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.
Project Wings is a collaboration of eclectic people from various walks of life. Hippies, visionaries and business people join seamlessly together to make a difference and build the world’s most extensive recycling village. What do they have in common? Environmental problems are increasing at a steady pace, and many ‘traditional’ organisations are no longer able to create excitement and maintain human involvement. Enter Project Wings’ vibrant and young team that solve problems at grass-root levels
Project Wings has introduced a ‘deposit’ system that provides benefits for humans, animals and nature. Local villagers in Bukit Lawang are encouraged to collect plastic waste from the jungle, streets, rivers and streams, clean it and fill plastic bottles to create eco-bricks. For each full bottle, the villager receives 5000 Indonesian rupiahs which is enough money for one hearty meal. The bottles create the building blocks that will build homes, volunteer housing and a permaculture garden. The teams will eventually remove 250 million tonnes of plastic from nature and repurpose it into the largest eco-village on the planet! It takes 10,000 eco-bricks to build a 100sqm unit. Native plants and wood will cover the houses so that they look entirely natural; the bricks offer high insulation properties so that the house remains cool inside.
Not only is this remarkable village being built, but Project Wings also have a commitment to animals and nature with a tree-planting programme and a permaculture garden that supports and preserves the natural ecosystem and encourages wildlife to return. The team are very keen to massively reduce the number of palm oil plantations in their locale and further afield; not only because they are devastating one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, but because they need so much water to maintain. Destruction is apparent across vast swathes of vital rainforest.
Project Wings and Sumatra Cheeky Monkeys partner with schools in Bukit Lawang and Germany and teach children cross-culturally about the importance of nature. They offer classes that cover English lessons, traditional dancing, sustainable farming, natural foresting, permaculture gardening, and cooking together in cultural kitchens. It is from these classes that they want to inspire local people to grow and harvest produce sustainably in permaculture gardens and move away from destructive palm oil plantations.
Cheeky Monkeys, together with knowledgeable villagers that have spent their lives in the jungle and, Project Wing’s flora specialists are currently creating a thought-provoking trek that takes guests foraging and discovering plants that offer tremendous healing properties, such as the Tiger Leaf. Together, they want to ensure that not only are orangutans still going to be present in the wild for future generations, but the fascinating knowledge reaped from village elders still exists.
Sumatra Cheeky Monkeys’ avid junglers can take part in bite-sized volunteer programmes with Project Wings if they only have a few hours or a couple of days to spare on their trip to Bukit Lawang. There are several programmes for volunteers to contribute to the protection of this incredible region. The Cheeky’s team also collect clothes, educational books, writing tools and monetary donations that go directly to Project Wings
