Bukit Lawang

Bukit Lawang is a small ecotourism village on the eastern edge of Gunung Leuser National Park in Bahorok, Langkat Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Situated along the Bahorok River, it is internationally known as a gateway for observing critically endangered Sumatran orangutans in the wild. Formerly an orangutan rehabilitation centre from 1973, it now offers guided jungle trekking within the UNESCO-listed Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra.

Visitors can expect a riverside jungle village surrounded by dense lowland rainforest of Gunung Leuser National Park. The main experience is guided trekking on forest trails to observe semi-wild and wild Sumatran orangutans, Thomas's leaf monkeys, gibbons and diverse birds. The Bahorok River runs through the village offering tubing on rubber rafts. Accommodation is in simple guesthouses and ecolodges, with trails, a former orangutan feeding station area, and Bat Cave accessible with a guide.

Bukit Lawang Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre was established in 1973 by Swiss conservationists Monica Borner and Regina Frey to rehabilitate captive and displaced Sumatran orangutans for release into Gunung Leuser National Park. The centre operated until 2002 and helped establish the area as a conservation and ecotourism model. Gunung Leuser National Park itself was declared in 1980 and together with Kerinci Seblat and Bukit Barisan Selatan forms the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 2004.

Bukit Lawang lies in the Karo Batak region and local communities are closely involved in ecotourism as guides, porters and hosts. The village demonstrates community-based conservation where tourism provides livelihoods linked to protection of the rainforest and Sumatran orangutan habitat.