The Bohorok Orangutan Centre at Bukit Lawang
History
The Bohorok Centre for ex-captive Sumatran orangutans was established in 1973 by two Swiss zoologists, Regina Frey and Monica Boerner, with funding originally provided by the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). In 1980 the Centre was taken over by the Indonesian Government. Since then it has received virtually no outside funding, and it no longer operates as a rehabilitation centre for orangutans.
Since it opened in 1973 more than 200 orangutans have been released. The centre has been closed to admitting more orangutans since 1996. The centre no longer meets modern standards of species re-introduction. Furthermore, the area is already over-saturated with orangutans, and therefore not suitable for releasing more rehabilitants. Releasing ex-captive apes into areas of forest where wild populations exist also risks importing disease. For these and other valid reasons, Bohorok cannot be modified and updated to function again as a rehabilitation centre.
The area remains open to tourists, providing the incredible opportunity of viewing orangutans in the semi-wild on daily excursions to the feeding platform, an experience which galvanizes support for their conservation and well-being, and fuels the local economy.
It is essential that visitors refrain from touching or feeding the orangutans as they are susceptible to many human illnesses which their immune systems cannot deal with.
Tragedy at Bohorok
A tragedy struck the village of Bukit Lawang on November 2nd 2003. A flash flood swept through the resort, killing over 200 people and making hundreds homeless. Two orangutans also died in the flood. The village was levelled and tourists were advised to stay away for the short term. Authorities blamed a combination of factors for the tragedy: natural causes exacerbated by extensive illegal logging in the Leuser Ecosystem.
A new information centre has opened where you can hire a guide for trekking. Park permits are still available from the PHKA office in Bukit Lawang. Bohorok's staff are currently responsible for supplementing the diet at the feeding platform and for the welfare of the ex-captive orangutans living in the forest surrounding the centre.
A film about the flood by Handcrafted Films and Gekko Studio, from www.films4.org:
The Feeding Pla
tform
Tourists are still able to see the semi-wild orangutans and visit the forest feeding platform. It is a marvellous sight to see them swinging freely through the jungle. Tourists are delighted how close up they can view these amazing animals, although it is imperative that there is no direct contact and the rangers ensure that visitors maintain a reasonable distance.
They are normally fed twice a day at the feeding platform. They are purposely only fed a monotonous diet of bananas and milk to encourage them to forage in the wild. Different orangutans come on different days and the feeding enables the rangers to observe the apes to make sure they are coping well with living in the wild.
Future for Bohorok
It is, of course, imperative that Bohorok functions with due consideration of the wildlife/tourist balance, so as to benefit locals, tourists and orangutans alike. SOS and our partners, the Orangutan Information Centre, have been running an ecotourism development programme in Bukit Lawang - read more about it here.