Reviews

Most Inspirational Moment

Seeing the Orangutans. There was a moment when a baby was one tree away from it's mother and the mother reached her hand out for the baby to take before helping her swing into the other tree. It was such a human-like moment between a mother and child, wonderful to spend time with such a beautiful species.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Elly was brilliant, every things she did was to ensure we enjoyed the trip and made fantastic memories. She kept an eye on us all when snorkelling, ensured we had the best photo opportunities and gave us ointments to put on sunburn when needed!

Advice for Potential Travellers

Bring a t-shirt / rash vest for snorkelling, the sun is incredibly strong and it's very easy to get burnt.

Most Inspirational Moment

Swimming with the manta rays was extraordinary.

Most Inspirational Moment

Difficult to select one....there were so many! Being so close to a huge but very placid male orangutan and his family. Especially when he stood up and wanderered about on two legs so close to us.

Thoughts on Group Leader

She was lovely. Very caring to the whole group

Advice for Potential Travellers

Volunteer to sleep on the deck of the boat. Cabins are a bit stuffy in the heat. Take your own towels on board. Jungle treck needs a reasonable level of fitness but you can go as slow as you want. Plenty of guides around to help.

Suggestions

On Summatra we had a lovely village walk including time spent talking to the schoolchildren. It would have been nice if we could have helped the local environment as we walked round e.g a voluntary litter collection .

Most Inspirational Moment

Swimming with manta rays

Thoughts on Group Leader

excellent

Advice for Potential Travellers

Make sure you have suitable sun protection for snorkelling .Buy an underwater camera

Suggestions

I would recommend extending your trip to include Mt Bromo and Borobudur in Java and booking the rafting trips in Bali.

Most Inspirational Moment

The jungle walks in North Sumatra were the true highlight of the trip for me, meeting the Orangutans and Thomas Leaf Monkeys. The people of N Sumatra are also extremely friendly, and clearly enjoyed meeting us as much as we did they; that was really inspirational.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Elly was superb, nothing was too much trouble for her, and she always went the extra mile to make our holiday special and share her knowledge and information. In each area we used local specialist guides, who were without exception ultra friendly and helpful.

Most Inspirational Moment

Seeing the wild orangutans and komodo dragons in there natural environment was unforgettable

Thoughts on Group Leader

My group leader was Elly. She's great, very passionate about Indonesia and its wildlife. She was always happy to help with any thing.

Advice for Potential Travellers

If your into photography but want to travel light this may help. I took my DSLR with just a zoom lens 300m for the wildlife, my compact for everything else and my gopro for a few videos. On one of my free days I went on a quad bike tour in Bali. It wasn't on the list of things but Elly sorted it out for me. I definitely recommend doing this.

Suggestions

This is a great trip, You will love it 😁

Most Inspirational Moment

The first sighting of the orangutans was soon after we started our first jungle trek and was a special moment, especially as they seemed so comfortable with us being so close. This was just the beginning of our trek and was followed by many more sightings including some very playful infants and an impressive mature male. The komodo dragons were no less impressive and watching a female dragon who was guarding her nest full of eggs erupt in to action to chase off another dragon who was looking to eat the eggs is a moment that I will not forget.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Elly was an excellent leader. Good company, very professional and a capable problem solver as well as being around when ever she was needed, including some late nights when the group went on from the evening meal for some music and beers and Elly made sure we all got home safely!

Advice for Potential Travellers

Its generally hot and humid and we had nightly heavy rain when in the Sumatra jungle so a light weight waterproof jacket/poncho is useful. Pack light and get laundry done half way through the trip in Sanur, the Swastika bungalows did a good job with our laundry (24 hour turn around) for very small cost. Take a t shirt or rash vest for the snorkelling to avoid sun burnt shoulders and a torch or head lamp for the boat at night (generator off at night by group decision to enjoy the silence) and in case of power cuts in the other hotels.

Most Inspirational Moment

The Gunang Leuser National Park seeing the orang-utans and other primates. The rangers are very knowledgeable and know the history of the individual orang-utans in the area. The three days on the wooden boat in the islands of the Komodo National Park adjacent to Flores. Some wonderful sunrises and sunsets. Seeing the first Komodo dragon walking across the path in front of us on Rinca - giant lizards with a rather nasty bite! The snorkelling was superb - I've never seen so many different types of fish or so many of them on the coral reefs. Apart from when some of us snorkelled off the boat at Manta Point, the water was very clear.

Thoughts on Group Leader

We had two - Elly in North Sumatra; Wira in Bali & Flores. Elly is a very experienced tour leader and provided much useful practical knowledge i.e. you should wear decent walking boots/trainers in the NP with long trousers tucked into socks. It was steep in places and slippery (we had very heavy rain) and there were leeches! She was good company and we learnt a lot about Indonesia from her. Wira wasn't quite as practical, but was very enthusiastic and arranged 2 birthday cakes. He was also a dab hand with the first aid kit.

Advice for Potential Travellers

The boat isn't big and has very little storage space, so leave your big bag at the hotel in Labuan Bajo and take just what you need for 3 days. Do take a T shirt to swim in whilst snorkelling/taking the dinghy to the beach - it is hot! As a group we decided to dispense with the air conditioning as it meant running a noisy generator all night; most of us slept on deck - much cooler and very peaceful when there weren't other boats running their generators. Do take walking boots/trainers on the central Bali day - it's quite steep descending to the lava fields. The Swastika Bungalows offered a 24 hour laundry service, or you can get your laundry done by one of the local stalls, just outside the hotel. This was halfway through the trip, so worked well. Hardy, the supermarket very close to the hotel, sold just about everything, including the local Hatten wine (very drinkable).

Suggestions

The travelling days were long - the drive between Medan and Bukit Lawang was 4 1/2 hours; moreorless a full day flying from Medan to Bali; slightly less between Bali and Labuan Bajo. Sanur is very touristy - far more so than I'd thought it would be. Ubad less so; the stall and shop keepers were slightly less pushy.

Most Inspirational Moment

Encountering semi-wild and wild orangutans in their natural environment. Closely followed by boating around the islands of komodo national park to see the awesome dragons.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Excellent. Always available and willing to help and sort out any problem however big or small. When food was served cold in one hotel, she could be heard berating the staff in the kitchen from the other side of the restaurant.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Be ready for hot humid weather and some tough jungle treking to see the orangutans. However there were always plenty of guides to ensure everyone, from the sure footed to the less fit people were able to navigate all terrain. Indonesian food can be spicy and with lots of activities, a number of short haul flights and 2 days on a boat you should take along some immodium just in case. No Delhi belly in our group though. If you can a night or 2 in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore on the way out and an extra few nights in bali at the end will help spkit the long journey. If you can't, be ready for fast transfers at Kuala Lumpur airport. The trip is well worth the long journey though and don't let this put you off this amzing trip.

Suggestions

A fantastic trip for anyone who is willing to put a bit of effort into their wildlife spotting, it will definately reward you with plenty of wildlife sightings making the effort well worth while.

Most Inspirational Moment

Up close and personal with the orang-utans and snorkelling in Flores.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Yadi was pleasant and helpful.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Take account of the amount of travelling on this trip. The internal flights are at the mercy of the airlines and scheduling may not always be as efficient as travellers would like - you just have to go with the flow. That said, the individual wildlife and other experiences certainly make it worth it. The Trip Notes suggested taking a mosquito net, etc, but the hotel in the malarial area - Flores (that we stayed in - Eco Lodge) supplied them, along with a plug and tablets (so we didn't require them) and they weren't required on the boat.

Suggestions

The optional trips on this tour are worth considering - we really enjoyed the downhill bike ride (from Sanur) and seeing the rice terraces (around Ubud).