Bukit Lawang Ecotourism - Conservation-Based Ecotourism to Explore the Biodiversity of Gunung Leuser National Park in Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra

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SUMECO’s Entity: Ecotourism and Conservation in Bukit lawang, North Sumatra.

Bukit Lawang is one of Sumatra’s top tourist destinations. The Leuser ecosystem region, where Sumatran rhino, Sumatran tiger, Sumatran elephant, and Sumatran orangutan share the same area, is also regarded as one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the world. Unfortunately, many mass tourism activities incorporate unsustainable practices that cause harm to the Leuser biodiversity and ecosystem services now; the trend is expected to continue in the coming decades, worsening existing impacts.

Tourism, when handled appropriately, has the potential to be an opportunity for the socio-ecological systems on which it depends. Organizations, places, and tourists must become more committed and conscious of and responsibility for their influence. We all play a vital part in ensuring that tourism delivers on its promise of improving people’s livelihoods by protecting the environment on which they rely. Unfortunately, many tourist destinations with rich biodiversity hotspots confront numerous human resource issues.

Ecotourism has to be initiated respects the resources of protected areas and the prosperity of locals. That’s why it is focused on developing sustainable tourism models by providing both indirect and direct positive impact to conservation within and around parks, increasing their role in supporting the sustainable development of the destination. To fulfill proper ecotourism conditional, conservation efforts must be involved for the long term to preserve the ecosystem are which become the objects that local community used in tourism.

Bukit Lawang Ecotourism has continually financed SUMECO’s wildlife conservation efforts in Bukit Lawang since 2014.

Bukit Lawang Ecotourism was established in 2014 and has become SUMECO media wing to promote tourism in Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra, through social media such as Facebook and Instagram. Its main objectives are to empower the local community in Bukit Lawang through sharing knowledge, conservation efforts, and creating environmental background community. Referring to definition of ecotourism, which is defined as environmentally friendly tourism activities, is encouraged to produce tourism activities related to the nature conservation as well.

We serve responsible biodiversity exploration through jungle treks, study trips, herping, and many more activities in Bukit Lawang. We expect this effort provide positive impacts on the environment. Promoting responsible tourism has been our priority, especially since we are a conservation-based ecotourism business in Bukit Lawang through our central focus to fund SUMECO (Sumatra Ecoproject). Visiting Bukit Lawang through responsible tourism is a must, and avoiding getting too close to the animals will be one good example. During dealing with the animals, Bukit Lawang Ecotourism will always be following safety procedures and proper tourism ethics inside and outside Gunung Leuser National Park.

The pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 has been classified as a zoonotic disease. No one can stop the next pandemic, but at least we know how to behave when we are engaged in wildlife sightseeing tours, a serious responsibility is mandatory.

Our Jungle Tours to Spot Wildlife in Sumatra

As a conservation organization, all our jungle tours are designed and conducted with following the regulation and always strongly related to the conservation efforts in Gunung Leuser National Park.

Beside jungle trekking to see Sumatran orangutan, we also offer nocturnal hike, herping, wild Sumatran elephant watching in Halaban Ecotourism, and transport services from the airport to all tourist destination in Sumatra.

Jungle Tours to See Wild Sumatran Orangutan

Get to know and observe the Sumatran orangutan in their natural habitats will be your new experience. Most Sumatran orangutan in Bukit Lawang might be semi-wild, but to look for the wild ones will be something interesting.

Find out out our jungle trekking packages to see Sumatran orangutan in Bukit Lawang, inside Gunung Leuser National Park.

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Jungle Tours to See Wild Sumatran Elephant

It’s a new ecotourism village, where Leuser is surrounded by deforestation and palm oil plantations, and a few group of wild Sumatran elephants are found within their fixed movement area close to he village. It’s named Halaban Ecotourism, the best place to watch wild Sumatran elephants.

Implementing the local community based ecotourism to provide protection to the Leuser and its biodiversity.

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Herping Tours and Nocturnal Hike

Sumatra, especially the ecosystem of Gunung Leuser National Park is dominated by nocturnal species. To be able to see the truth of Leuser’s biodiversity, we encourage our guests to take a walk in the dark.

It’s important to get more knowledge than land and arboreal mammals, who are diurnals, because those diurnals play an important role in maintaining the ecosystem as well.

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SUMECO (Sumatra Ecoproject) and Bukit Lawang Ecotourism

The term ecotourism is frequently used by various parties, but when we look at its meaning, we must admit that it is not something that is common or easy to understand. We are continuing trying; at least hundreds of animals have been rescued thanks to our company revenues from our wildlife conservation mission in SUMECO (Sumatra Ecoproject), in response to high demand for what ecotourism itself requires.

Since 2014, we have spent time learning more about how ecotourism may be implemented in Bukit Lawang, which lead us to build our conservation-based ecotourism through SUMECO (Sumatra Ecoproject). We have been trying its best to save animals around Gunung Leuser National Park as long as we can do, as far as we can go.

Large sums of company profits have been distributed to fund SUMECO (Sumatra Ecoproject) wildlife conservation mission (animal rescue). That’s the reason why Bukit Lawang Ecotourism, as the main funder of SUMECO through its own media in promoting tourism, has been respectfully placed in SUMECO domain. This all-encompassing concept was born in 2009; Bukit Lawang Ecotourism was founded in 2012; and SUMECO (Sumatra Ecoproject) was founded in 2014, both by Bobi Handoko. It takes more than 10 years for me to create a strong concept between conservation and ecotourism in Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra, Indonesia.

Wildlife Conservation and Ecotourism in Bukit Lawang

SUMECO was officially created in 2014 after years of working quietly to address environmental concerns and conserve endangered creatures. Starting with the ecotourism business in Bukit Lawang, I am Bobi Handoko, the proprietor of “Bukit Lawang Ecotourism,” has agreed to share the company’s income to fund and administer the SUMECO wildlife rescue project. The establishment of SUMECO in North Sumatra province was entirely my idea; it is intended to be an environmental organization that fights for animals on the front lines in Bukit Lawang.

SUMECO and Gunung Leuser National Park

Despite many limits, SUMECO has made a commitment to cooperate with the authority of Gunung Leuser National Park in safeguarding the Leuser and its biodiversity. Running an ecotourism business at the border of Leuser has encouraged us to protect our animals. As an Indonesian, I had a good understanding of how most non-governmental organizations operate. SUMECO is not like most non-governmental organizations; it was founded not to collect money, but to use our private firm profits wisely.

Jungle Trekking, Herping, and Conservation

In addition to utilizing the earnings from our ecotourism company located in Bukit Lawang, our conservation efforts in jungle trekking and herping activities include developing communication and networking tactics to disseminate information regarding the illegal possession of endangered or protected species.

Social media plays a crucial function in disseminating information and educating the public in today’s era of modernity. SUMECO is committed to supporting the government’s efforts to protect the Gunung Leuser National Park and its diverse range of species, within the limits of its financial resources.

We have designated the jungle trekking and herping as our ecotourism activities through earning a reasonable profit for the services we provide through empowering local communities for the sake of conservation and livelihoods.

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Halaban Ecotourism – Wild Sumatran Elephant

Halaban Ecotourism is a new tourist destination. Halaban’s sustainable ecotourism development method in the initial stages, in 2023, still relies on ecotourism activities to see wild elephants that have fixed movement areas. As it’s known, this implementation was initialized in Tenggulun, Aceh Tamiang, in March 2023, when, during the process of tourism development, we often accidentally discovered many illegal logging activities carried out by local communities that had become our future challenge to its development.

Our continuous efforts for sustainable development of Halaban ecotourism have never shifted away from ecotourism elements based on conservation and empowerment of local communities, which in the future are expected to be able to increase the protection capacity of Gunung Leuser National Park, carried out by authorities together with the surrounding community.

The application of economic value through conservation-based ecotourism activities in Halaban is expected to have positive impacts on public awareness of environmental sustainability in the surrounding areas, especially for the biodiversity of Gunung Leuser National Park. Ecotourism in Halaban has a significant part in ‘creating economic benefits’ since it creates jobs in remote places that have not been touched by the government.

Engaging in our Halaban Ecotourism program will foster trust within the local community by demonstrating that conserving Leuser’s biodiversity through ecotourism can enhance local societal well-being.

Biodiversity, Ecotourism, Conservation, and Livelihoods

Conservation of natural resources, ecotourism, and local livelihoods are among the most discussed topics on a global scale. It is considered nature-based tourism that focuses on the conservation of biodiversity and the development of livelihoods.

The outcomes of the preponderance of research conducted in developing countries indicate that many nations continue to face challenges in effectively managing their resources. The primary issue lies in the inadequate human resources available for management and oversight.

In addition to generating revenue for nature preserves and national parks that support conservation efforts, unnecessary human trafficking in protected zones harms and disrupts local wildlife. Ecotourism has the potential to determine the survival or extinction of certain species.

Therefore, understanding and knowledge are the main requirements in choosing a tour operator for your ecotourism activities.