Our experience in Batu Katak in Sumatra, Indonesia

Batu Katak is a tiny jungle village located in North Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located within the Gunung Leuser National Park, one of two locations in the world in which you can see wild orangutans. It is also the only one where you can see the Sumatran orangutan. We chose Batu Katak as our base to see orangutans because of may reasons. You can find them in our post where we explain the differences between Batu Katak and the more popular Bukit Lawang. In this post, I will explain our experience in Batu Katak by the hand of Darwin and the Orchid Bungalow team. All of this was possible thanks to the amazing recommendation by Carly and Agung from Exploring Sumatra. So if you’re heading to the region have a look at their content. Let’s dive into our experience in Batu Katak in North Sumatra:

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Day 1. Jungle River in Batu Katak

Arriving to Batu Katak

We arranged our transportation with Darwin. He and his brother picked us up with the car from Medan (600K IDR, around 40€). The road was a prelude to what our experience was going to be. From the concrete jungle that is Medan to the actual jungle around Batu Katak. The village is quite small, with tiny houses in between the lush vegetation.

Orchid Bungalow

We arrived around lunch time. The guesthouse is located right next to the Jungle River. The accommodation consists of a few bungalows and a main building where the kitchen and outdoors dining area is. There is also a beautiful garden that is very well taken care of. They showed us to our bungalow, which was simple but comfortable. It has a nice bed, mosquito net and a fan (which is more than enough as long as you don’t try to sleep in the middle of the day). The bathroom is quite basic and the shower works sporadically, but this was not a massive problem for us, having the river so close.

Food & relaxing afternoon

The cook made us a delicious gado-gado (vegetable salad with peanut sauce) for lunch. Then, we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the town, which is very charming. We also had a relaxing Jungle River bath. Well, relaxing as long as you don’t get in too deep because the current is strong!

We spent the rest of the afternoon talking to Aria, a guy from Darwin’s team. He makes incredible locally sourced and hand-rolled cigars. We ended the day with another delicious dinner consisting on palm core curry.

Day 2. Looking for orangutans in Batu Katak

We arranged two days of jungle trekking with Orchid Bungalow with our guides Mariadi and Inra. The first objective was to see some wild orangutans, which is quite difficult because of how elusive they are and because in the dry season their favourite fruit is not often found around the village. They warned us before starting that we would probably not see any.

Morning in the jungle

We started early and hiked up the karst forest. The first thing I noticed was that Mariadi was quietly picking up trash from the jungle, which gave me a very good vibe. The hike was not exactly climbing, but a reasonable level of fitness is needed for it. The vegetation seemed to have grown wildly over the paths, probably because no one had been there since Covid-19 (we did our trek in 2022), so Mariadi had to open it again with his machete. The morning trek was beautiful but quite uneventful, with only sightings of Macaques, tree markings of sun bears and a few cicadas. The karst forest is, however, very beautiful, so this is a whole experience on its own.

We stopped at a small cave in the forest to have lunch, which was some simple rice with peanut sambal and eggs and some fresh fruit. Mariadi showed us the inside of the cave, waking up some of the bats that made their lair there.

Finally! orangutans

As we were starting our afternoon trek, we heard a noise and Mariadi turned around like a deer flashed by a car. “Orangutan” he said. And so it was. We saw a group of three, two adults and a baby. They curiously approached us, staying up in the trees as it happens with wild orangutans, but comfortable enough to not run away. We were mesmerized by them, since in my heart of hearts I had already given up on seeing any. We watched them quietly for around 45 minutes until they got bored and went away. We probably took around 1000 pictures of that moment. You can see some of them below.

Other highlights

This was obviously the highlight of the day. It was incredible to see wild orangutans, so close, and with a baby to top it up! The rest of the afternoon we spent trekking down the karst forest, when we found another rarity. A titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), also known as corpse flower. This is the tallest flower in the world and only found in Gunung Leuser in Sumatra. These flowers bloom very shortly and unpredictably, so it was another round of luck for us. This one was not even in full bloom and you can see the size in the picture below (I am 6’3″ or 1,93m).

We made it to the jungle river and had a coffee at Batu Katak Jungle River. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the river and had a nice dinner of chicken rendang, water spinach and tempe. It was a really incredible day for us and one of the most beautiful travel experiences we’ve had so far!

Day 3. The Water Cave in Batu Katak

Getting to the cave

The second jungle trek was a bit more challenging, if not physically then mentally. We were going to explore the Water Cave, a long cave in the mountain in the middle of the jungle carved by the river. We had to trek along the river for 2-3 hours to get to the entrance. There was a massive storm the night before so everything was moist and the humidity was cooking us alive together with the heat. Also, the leeches had come out to eat, so there was that. They didn’t care about socks and munched on my delicious 0- blood. On the bright side, we saw more Macaques and Thomas Leaf monkeys.

Coffee break before the cave

We arrived to the entrance of the cave around 11 am, when we saw 2 more orangutans, although this time a bit further away. We had lunch and coffee before heading in the cave. The term “Water Cave” is not coined losely. We were knees deep in the water inside the cave most of the time from start to finish. Being a karst, the shapes and colours of the rock at the entrance were already quite surreal.

Entering into the Earth

We spent more or less 1.5h inside of that cave. We saw the sunlight only once through an aperture, but we were mostly in the dark the whole time, only helped by the couple of torches that we carried and the lighter that Mariadi gave me because obviously I forgot my torch. We saw frogs, massive spiders, even more massive crickets and the odd snake. And bats. So. Many. Bats! The whole experience is hard to describe, but it was amazing to experience being inside of the mountain in the dark for so long, seeing no one else from start to finish and enjoying the crazy shapes that the water manages to carve from the stone.

When we reached the end we were starting to feel a bit uneasy to be so long in the dark and under tons of solid rock. And then Mariadi showed us the exit, which was basically a tiny hole on the ground. I am a big guy, so you can imagine my reaction. Luckily after a quick moment of flash claustrophobia the hole opened up and we went out of the cave in a nice river bend in the lush jungle and saw the sun again.

The way back

The trek back was stunningly beautiful but very demanding, as all the paths had been covered by ferns and they were really difficult to find, and the terrain was very uneven, which led to some falls and slips, luckily without permanent harm.

The leeches!

When we got back to the bungalows we took off our clothes and proceeded to remove all the leeches in our bodies. I counted 15 in mine, including my belly (how did they get there?). If you’re unfamiliar with leech craft, they inject you with an anaesthetic, so you can’t feel their bite, and heparin, so your blood doesn’t clot and it continues to flow. This means that when I removed the 15 leeched from my body, I was bleeding like a pig, leaving the floor of our bungalow like a scene of Dexter. Other than that, it wasn’t painful, just very dramatic to see.

End of our trip

We finished the day as usual, with a swim in the river and a delicious dinner made of Soto Medan (chicken coconut curry soup) with potato fritters. After dinner we took an overnight car to Lake Toba, so our experience in Batu Katak ended here, but it was a real highlight of our trip and we will remember it for the rest of our lives.

Where to stay in Batu Katak

We have only experienced staying at Darwin’s Orchid Bungalow, which was a very holistic experience meeting amazing people, exploring nature at its finest and eating amazing local food prepared with love and care, all in a very unique location and away of the typical tourist buzz that is found mostly everywhere these days. The price for the room for 2 people including breakfast is 250K IDR (around 16€), and the treks are 300K IDR per person. You won’t find Orchid Bungalow in any booking platform, but you can talk to Darwin through WhatsApp here: +62 81265000123.

There are other options in Batu Katak, although not many, but having seen the vibe of the town I can’t imagine any of them being a wrong choice. An example is Batu Katak Guest House and Resto.

Alternatively, you can base yourself in Bukit Lawang and combine the two places in one experience. You can have a look in Booking.com or at accommodations below:

Booking.com

How to get to Batu Katak

This is a more complicated question. We arranged our transportation with Darwin’s brother from Medan, which was much easier. However, if you want to save money, you’ll have to take a public bus in Pinang Baris Station direction Bukit Lawang BUT continue in the bus until Bohorok. You will pay when you step down, so make sure to not give any money until then. From Bohorok you’ll need to arrange your transportation to Batu Katak, either speaking to your homestay, asking the locals for a ride or renting a scooter for a few days (although you will rarely use it while in Batu Katak).

Closing statement

Batu Katak has been so far one of our most memorable experiences in Indonesia. Living in the village, trekking in the jungle and bathing in the river, all in company of genuine people and with good food, felt much more truthful than many other activities we have done while traveling. We were still tourists and we were still paying for a service, don’t get me wrong, but it felt less massified, less pre-packed for the Western world and more true to its nature.

Seeing the orangutans in the wild has long been a dream of mine. Based on friends’ experiences with rehabilitated orangutans, both in Sumatra and Borneo, I thought it would be quite difficult to see truly wild orangutans, instead of semi-trained orangutans on a feeding station. That was until I found out about Batu Katak and it really delivered. So, if you want to see wild orangutans, do not doubt it and go to Batu Katak!

If you’re planning a trip to Indonesia, have a look at these posts:

Perfect 3 days itinerary in Ubud, Bali

11 top things to do in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

What to do in North Sumatra, the secret Indonesia keeps from you

Where to see orangutans in Sumatra, Indonesia

What to do in Lake Toba, Sumatra

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