We pulled up to Lampuuk beach after an hour in the Becak from the city of Banda Aceh. The beach is really stunning with only one set of bungalows and a restaurant. The bungalows are built into the cliff face, with a open air rock face bathroom....
The view from the balcony wasn't bad either.
Herry told us about a group of Black Gibbons that lived about 2 hours from where we were staying, and suggested a day trip out. So we agreed to do this in a couple of days. The next couple of days where spent chilling on the balcony (you cannot sunbath on the beach as it is still covered by Sharia Law), and the evenings with a couple of really cool English girls, from Bury St Edmunds, Laura & Kyleesha.
We then earned ourselves another day on the beach as I told Laura & Kyleesha about the trip and they decided they wanted to go. As they were leaving the day before us they agreed that they could go on the Wednesday and we would go on the Thursday.
Soon enough after another morning sunbathing listening to the call to prayer (its a hard life), it was Thursday and time for our trip.
Herry picked us up at 10am and soon we were off on our way round the coast of Aceh province. The whole area is really pretty, with long white beaches and really big waves. We soon found our way moving up into the mountains and two hours later we arrived at the restaurant where the gibbons hang out.
When Herry had taken the two English girls the day before the gibbons had been there when they arrived, but when we arrived they were not. We had some lunch and we were there about an hour, but no gibbons. Then our guide said lets walk up onto the lookout point and see if we can see them. By this point i was not the happiest camper because i was so excited to see them, i was pretty disappointed. We climbed up to the look out point, there were no gibbons but loads of mosquitos, so I got bitten to pieces. I had by this time resigned myself to the fact that I would not be seeing them. But as we were walking back down the mountain we heard something in the trees above, when we looked up it was a black gibbon swinging right over our heads.
It was totally amazing, he was very curious and playful, he kept trying to pull down a light that the restaurant owner had hung in the trees. We watched him for about 10 minutes and then someone said there are more in the restaurant. Wow, it was totally amazing, they were just sitting there in the restaurant next to the restaurant owner.
It turns out that there are a family of 4, mum, dad, a 5 year old and the 6 month old baby. The dad started visiting the restaurant about 10 years ago, he comes at 9am every morning and stays for an hour and then between 1-2pm he comes back and stays till 4-5pm. They are totally wild gibbons and live in the jungle that overhangs the restaurant. About 6 years ago he started bringing the mum monkey down and then as they have had babies they bring them too. They had also had another daughter but she was killed by a car, you will see from the video that the restaurant is very near the road.
They each seemed to have their favourite spot to sit in the restaurant, Herry said that i could sit next to the mum and baby, so I did. I ended up playing with this baby for about an hour, it was a totally magical experience. Made even more so by the fact that both Herry and the restaurant owner both said that this was the first time she let go of the baby. Usually mum keeps hold of the baby and noone can touch her. But for some reason she trusted me and with her sitting by watching we passed a lovely hour just playing. I think she was teething too, because she kept sucking on my wrist, and trying out her blunt little teeth. She also had a bit of a thing about my bracelets, but she was so gentle, she never once tugged on them, like maybe a baby might, she was just feeling them and looking at them. I could go on and on about this baby gibbon, it was totally different experience to the Orangutans. And i felt incredibly privileged to be the first human to play with the baby, especially to be able to hold her hand, anyway here is a few pics and the video.
Whilst i was cooing over this adorable baby, Craig was bonding with dad gibbon over some noodles and fanta. You need to know that the noodles were really hot, which is why we hadn't eaten them all, i think it gave him a bit of a shock.
After about an hour and a half mum and baby gibbon went and sat in the trees and the 5 year old started acting up. He is very playful and attention seeking just like a child, although sometimes getting a little bit too boisterous. The guys you see with him in this video are the restaurant owner and his sons.
As we were leaving, the dad gibbon was sat on a bench with the restaurant owner getting a stroke, and he was acting just like a dog.
This was definitely one of the best things i have done, and although they are really cute and fluffy, they are dangerous wild animals. The adults have really big teeth and very sharp claws, i was very careful at all times not to get in between the parents and the baby. As well as being amazing, beautiful and life-changing I was still on guard the whole time, aware that things could change. Luckily they didn't and i think you will agree from the footage that the whole family except the hyper 5 year old were incredibly relaxed with the situation.
Hardly anyone knows about this place, which I think is the way that it should stay, it makes it so much more special. There is nothing online about it and really only the locals know, so I am not going to say where it was.
After that we made the two hour trip back to Lampuuk in a very happy bubble. Another day on the beach and then the following day Herry went to the embassy to pick up our passports with our new visas and dropped us back to Banda Aceh for our early flight the following morning to Surabaya, Java.
I will never forget this experience and I have to thank Herry for not only taking us there and the brilliant video footage that he recorded us for us, but just being an all round good guy. He really cant do enough to help you and I would highly recommend anyone visiting Banda Aceh to get in touch with him, he can help with just about anything you could ever need while in Banda Aceh.
The following morning, we left to go to the airport, on the way we visited one of the mass graves from the tsunami, another very sobering reminder of what this city has been through.
Next stop Ijen Volcano, East Java...................
1 comment:
you're making me jealous now we're back in the UK! Ijen is amazing!!!! You have to go up in the middle of night though, we left about midnight and then you get the chance to see the flames and (hopefully) go down into the crater before any officials arrive. Enjoy! X
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