Bukit Lawang’s famous orangutan centre was set up in 1973 to help primates readjust to the wild after captivity or displacement through land clearing. The twice-daily feedings, provided to semidependent orangutans, take place at a feeding platform, a 10-minute scramble up steep steps beyond the park office. The office is reached by an inflatable boat crossing upriver from the village. These feedings provide a wonderful close-up view of these magnificent creatures; no guide necessary.
During the centre’s decades-long operation, it has introduced 200 orangutans into the jungle. Many of them had been kept as caged pets; the centre taught them how to forage for food in the wild, build nests, climb trees and other essentials for survival after release. The orangutans are also treated for diseases that they contracted during contact with humans. Today around 16 released orangutan live in the vicinity of Bukit Lawang.
Once the apes are on their own in the wild, the centre still provides supplementary feedings in case of awkward transitions or demanding circumstances. These feedings consist of milk and bananas and are considered a fairly bland diet compared to the diversity of food found in the forest. The semiwild apes who appear at the centre’s ‘welfare’ platform are typically nursing or pregnant females in need of an extra source of nutrition.
Outside the set feeding times visitors require a guide to enter the national park. Note that orangutan sightings are very likely but not guaranteed; during rainy season, when jungle fruit are plentiful, orangutans may stay away.
The feeding platform is located on the west bank of Sungai Bohorok within the park boundaries. Permits are required to enter the park (150,000Rp), available for purchase at the Bukit Lawang Visitors Centre in the village proper. You’ll need to show the ticket at the park office at the foot of the trail to the platform in order to be allowed to continue to the feeding platform. If you’re heading out on a trek afterwards, your guide will normally get you a ticket beforehand, which you can use to visit the feeding platform as well. Get to the river crossing around 30 minutes before the scheduled feeding time as it can take a while to ferry everyone across.
