2, 3 and 4 Days Jungle Tours
2 Days / 1 Night Jungle Tour
A 2 days tour starts from Ketambe with a 30 minutes walk north along a paved road before you enter the jungle of the Leuser National Park to the east. During both days you will mostly walk the paths within the large trail labyrinth where you will look for and observe orang-utans and other animals. Sometimes the paths will be left and you need to walk in dense jungle to follow the orang-utans. The usual daily walking time is between 5 and 6 hours. There will be a longer break beside the river to take a swim and relax. The night you will spend at campsite C1 under a provisional tent made out of plastic foil.
You can go deeper into the jungle and have longer walking time when you ask the guide. On the 1st day's afternoon or on the 2nd day's morning you will cross the river and continue walking to the hot springs. At the hot spring area you can enjoy taking hot, warm and cold bathes, because the hot water is flowing into the river and mix up with the cold. The night you spend at the campsite C1 or at a place close to the hot springs, depending of river crossing. Not all of the way back will be the same you came, so there is a better chance to see more animals. The trek ends on the 2nd day at 5 PM in Ketambe.
3 Days / 2 Nights Jungle Tour
The 3 days trek is one of the most requested tours, because it is a tour to get a good impression about the rain forest and its inhabitants. This tour covers the area between Ketambe, the main orang-utan area (trail labyrinth), campsite C1 and hot springs HS. Depending of you, there might be time to continue behind the hot springs to the former waterfall (already collapsed), near campsite C3. There is enough time to look for and follow orang-utans and observe other animals. After lunch at C1 on the first day you will have time to relax and bath in the river. In the afternoon you will go again to the trail labyrinth and behind to look for animals. Usually 1st night you stay at campsite C1.
The 2nd day you will have to cross the river to continue your way to the hot springs. Sometimes the water level of the river is too high and you cannot cross. In this case you will start to walk on a longer trail in the direction of C2, but go down to the hot springs. This path is more difficult than that on the other side of the river. The overnight stay for the 2nd night is planned near the hot springs HS. During the main season July/August the few places at this campsite HS can be blocked by groups which have arrived earlier. In this case you can camp at C3, if there is still the time to go there before darkness or at C1 again. At the hot spring area you can enjoy taking hot, warm and cold bathes. The program for the 3rd day depends from where you slept the night before. The guide will try not to go back same paths you came.
You can ask the guide to do a more challenging route, but then you will have less time to relax at the river and hot spring. There is still time to observe orang-utans. The way between C1 and C2 is of higher difficulty than the other parts. Depending from the weather conditions on a 3 days trek different routes can be used. The 1st route is via C1, C2 to HS or C3 (overnight C2 and HS or C3). The 2nd is via C1, HS, C3 to C5 (overnight HS and C5). Campsite positions are shown on the map above. If you sleep the last night at C5 you will have to return to Ketambe by walking most of the day. Including campsite C5 is only recommended for people with good condition.
4 Days / 3 Nights Jungle Tour
The 4 days trek also starts with a walk through the trails labyrinth, where usually orang-utans can be spotted. The camp for the 1st night will be at C1, where you can relax and bath at the river. During the 2nd day you will hike on a trail up and down with some parts at rocky area more deep into the jungle to C2. This campsite isn't situated beside a large river. Water will be taken from a small stream. On the 3rd day you will continue first uphill and later down to the hot springs beside the river, where you will have few hours to relax. If you like, you can spend the night over there or continue to C3. On the last day you will walk back via HS and C1 with time to watch animals. During this 4 days you will cross rivers 4 times. If you ask the guide and want a more challenging tour you can spend the 2nd night at the campsite C5. That means on the 3rd day you need to pass the river again and continue steep paths, up and down to C6. This is only recommended for with very good physical condition.