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This #TravelTuesday we head to Indonesia, land of beautiful beaches, amazing wildlife, and an incredible diverse and artistic culture! We first visited Indonesia in the 1990s, and couldn’t wait to travel with kids to Indonesia. So, what do we love about Indonesia?

Wildlife

The first thing we think about when we think about family travel to Indonesia is the wildlife. We traveled with our kids to Bukit Lawang in Sumatra, Indonesia (a great place to view orangutans in the wild) a few years ago and had the chance to trek with orangutans. The forests in Sumatra teem with wildlife, we saw monkeys, giant ants, iguanas, cool birds, but the highlight was the orangutan. We got to see two versions of tourism there…one where hiked with our kids and a guide deep into the jungle through forest and caves and got to see orangutans from afar who were not as used to tourists…

and one where we hiked the path most tourists go where you have a very high chance of seeing orangutans up close…and that we did! We were alone with our guide for some time watching a mother orangutan with its baby from just dozens of feet away. This wildlife viewing experience will always stay with our family; it was straight out of a National Geographic. But, that path is also well-traveled and at one point we got caught in a bottleneck where several tour groups met up on a small path and, as if on cue, the one orangutan the guides try not to get too close to showed up. It was a scary moment as everyone tried to scramble away. But the rest of the day more than made up for it.

The kids loved watching the orangutans, and seeing them groom each other, care for their babies etc. as well as having a picnic in the jungle and meeting some cool monkeys along the way.

And, after the trek was over, they loved meeting all the locals and floating down the river, which leads me to my next favorite part of about Indonesia…the people.

Culture

We first had the opportunity to get to know the people of Bali, when Jeremy and I were there in 1998. We happened to be there the first time the government allowed the people there to celebrate Hindu New Year after many years of hiatus. They invited us to be a part of the rituals which included Melasti, which runs for a few days before the Day of Silence. During this time, locals make offerings and go to the river for purification.

The next day was Bhuta Yajna. At night, locals from each village around Ubud, carried Ogoh-ogoh, giant statues carried on bamboo platforms so they could make them leap, dance, and swoop with their demonic faces. This parade of monster statues is meant to scare the evil spirits away. The next day, The Day of Silence, a day of reflection where no one is to be out on the street, or cooking, or using electricity, so as not to lure to spirits back. We were invited to be part of each of the ceremonies by the fun loving and spiritual locals.

Our kids found the locals on Sumatra very welcoming and inclusive as well. The mostly Muslim community on the island were all smiles. They invited our family to float in the river with them and loved to take selfies with us (not many families travel this way). They asked us to sit with them in cafes, play music with them, talk with them…Nathan loved meeting a local kid about his age who shared his love of music. He even let him play his guitar while the local sang along and Seamus played a drum box.

The whole family enjoyed traveling to Indonesia and can’t wait to return to the smiling and warm people and the exotic wildlife someday soon.

How to get there:

Sumatra is accessible by air through Medan or by sea on ferries via Singapore or Malaysia. From Medan, it’s a three hour drive to Bukit Lawang. We stayed at Bukit Lawang Hill Resort, which offered amazing views over the forest, lots of wildlife viewing activity, fresh breezes, and pick-up service from Medan. This was a great eco-travel place built with care for the environment and the owner is passionate about the wildlife and conservation.

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