Day 1: Stay at Sumatra Orangutan Discovery Villa in Bukit Lawang. Your accommodation will be a garden villa.
Day 2: Embark on your ethical jungle trek with your knowledgeable local guide. Hopefully, you’ll spot lots of interesting wild animals, although as with any kind of sustainable wildlife spotting, sightings are never guaranteed. After you have completed your trek in the late afternoon, you’ll get your adrenaline pumping with a fun-filled raft ride back to Bukit Lawang where you’ll stay another night in Sumatra Orangutan Discovery Villa.
Day 3: Start the day with a hearty breakfast and then pull on your boots and prepare to embark on your hike to the remote meditation retreat. Located on the edge of Gunung Leuser National Park, this hike provides another opportunity to spot wildlife. You have the afternoon free to relax, swim or use the meditation hall for self-guided yoga or meditation practice. You will stay overnight in the meditation retreat. There is a choice of three accommodation options for the retreat: shared dorm, private hut or private cottage room.
Day 4: Get ready for a full day of meditation activities, led by a local English-speaking instructor. Activities include the following:
Body scan: Typically involves laying flat or seated. Under instruction from your guide, you focus on different parts of the body and hone in on various bodily sensations.
Walking meditation: A mindfulness activity where you bring your focus to the ground beneath your feet. In this meditation, you will use walking as a way to focus your mind and relax.
Eating meditation: A sensory meditation that allows you to focus on the differing textures, feelings and tastes while you eat. This aims to encourage a greater connection to food.
Day 5: You will have the morning to relax at the meditation retreat. After lunch, you’ll set off on the guided hike back to the garden bungalow at Sumatra Orangutan Discovery Villa in Bukit Lawang. En route, you’ll stop at a bat cave.
Day 6: Depart Bukit Lawang.
4-Day Orangutan and Meditation Retreat Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive in Bukit Lawang and stay overnight at Sumatra Orangutan Discovery Villa.
Day 2: You’ll head into the jungle with your local guide for your ethical trek to the meditation retreat. Keep your eyes peeled for a range of wildlife including Thomas leaf monkeys, water monitor lizards, short-tailed macaques and orangutans! When you arrive at the meditation retreat, you will stay in whichever room you have booked. There are three accommodation options: shared dorm, private hut or private cottage room.
Day 3: You’ll enjoy half a day of meditation activities led by a local English-speaking instructor. After lunch, you’ll head into the jungle once more to trek back to Bukit Lawang. Upon arrival, you’ll sleep at Sumatra Orangutan Discovery Villa in the garden bungalow.
Day 4: Depart Bukit Lawang.
Additional return transport to Medan is $104USD extra per group (the car can hold 4 people). Please inform us if this is something you’re interested in when you book.
Operator
Sumatra Orangutan Discovery – Responsible wildlife jungle treks
The South East Asia Backpacker Community have tried and tested adventures across the region and handpicked a selection of only the BEST companies to work with.
Why we chose Sumatra Orangutan Discovery
Sumatra Orangutan Discovery is built on a Welsh-Indonesian partnership. The team are passionate about giving travellers an unforgettable experience exploring Northern Sumatra and the Gunung Leuser National Park.
Through their responsible and sustainable ethos, they provide jobs for local people through partnerships with local guides, artists and farmers. All of the guides adhere to the jungle guidelines set by the Indonesia Tourist Guides Association and practice only ethical trekking which does not harm the environment or the wildlife that live there.
As well as offering bucket list experiences, all of their profits are spent in Bukit Lawang and are also used to help the local community. This is a company with a conscience (not to mention a huge passion)!
Refund Policy
In order to book this experience, you will need to pay a deposit online via South East Asia Backpacker.
This deposit is fully refundable if you wish to cancel up until 48 hours before the start of the activity. PLEASE NOTE: This policy refers to the payment made to South East Asia Backpacker at the time of booking. All subsequent payments to the operator of your chosen activity fall under their own refund policy
For cancellations made fewer than 48 hours before the start of the activity there is no refund available.
You can request a change of date at any time.
Date changes are entirely down to the availability of the operator and nothing to do with South East Asia Backpacker.
If your date change is not agreed upon, as long as it is more than 48 hours before the start date you originally made your booking for, your deposit can be refunded in full if you wish to cancel.
The remaining payment for the experience is payable directly to the operator.
The operator can request the remaining payment via an online payment link or upon arrival at the destination.
The refund of the second payment, which goes directly to the operator, is based on the terms and conditions of the operator, over which South East Asia Backpacker have no control.
Guided meditation practices with qualified instructors
National Park permit
Lunch during jungle trek
Raft ride (6-day itinerary ONLY)
Garden Bungalow in Bukit Lawang (either 2 nights or 3 nights, depending on selected itinerary)
Accommodation at meditation retreat (either 1 night or 2 nights, depending on selected itinerary)
Excluded:
Transport to and from Medan (can be arranged €100 per group)
Food and drink not listed above
Why Book With Us?
Hi, I’m Nikki and I started South East Asia Backpacker in 2008 after my own first solo backpacking trip! My vision was to create a travel diary for everyone, a place for travellers to share their experiences from the road. After backpacking and writing about Southeast Asia for over 10 years, I saw the opportunity to provide backpackers with the kind of experiences that I’d treasured myself in the region!
Today, there is so much choice, but there are a lot of poor-quality tours and companies that offer mediocre experiences with little care for the environment. I wanted to create a selection of the best tours and activities to help backpackers avoid scams and dodgy tour companies.
Today, I run this website with my partner, Dave, from Spain, where we live with our energetic two-year-old daughter, Evie. All of the bookable activities that you will find on this website have been vetted by a member of our team and we have a friendly relationship with the operator. There are real humans behind South East Asia Backpacker and we are passionate about sustainable travel and development in Southeast Asia.
We are committed to helping travellers at every stage of the journey and understand that plans can change which is why we offer a full discount on the deposit up to 48 hours before the start of your trip, no questions asked. We offer advice on flights, visas, itineraries, hostels, backpacks, packing and more!
If you have any questions about our business or any of the tours that we provide, feel free to contact me on Whatsapp.
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