General Information Internal Kipper is Back....
14 Apr 09
I have spotted our good Kipper back on line.
Welcome back and hope you had a memorable time.
Did you manage to see lots of animals and how was it?
Did you get much rain in the forest and able to listen to the wonderful night sounds from your tent?
Manage to use your night camera? I hope so as it would be good to see the odd video clip.
Welcome back -
Posts: 16
14 Apr 09
Regretfully not such a good trip!
Perhaps I'm used to the slickness of Africa!
I used a company from the UK for this trip, Primate Safaris, the itinerary was a fictitious dream!
I have not one animal photo of any good. 
The trip went wrong on two counts!
1) The fictitious licence given to the itinerary!
2) Our guide!
1) The itinerary
"You will trek in the forest with a knowledgeable trained guide with a visit to the orang-utan rehabilitation centre"
The treks were a walk along a jungle path on the edge of the forest! We saw 2 orang at a distance & impossible to photograph!
"You will join up with the anti logging patrol where you will trek in the forest on your own elephant looking for wildlife. You will feed, wash & generally look after your own elephant"
Yup! True! We washed & scrubbed the elephants!
Yup! True! I was given a handful of fodder to feed the elephant!
We "Trekked?" Huh! Had an elephant ride for about thirty minutes on a predetermined track with no chance for wildlife.
I expect to a tourist, new to wildlife safaris this all would have been just fine! But for a grumpy, wrinkled old Englishman???..........Bah!!
"You will meet with the "Tiger Protection Team" for a briefing for the next few days in the forest!
Huh! Never happened we just hoisted our backpacks & climbed & climbed & climbed & climbed! 3000 meters into the forest. At least I know my heart is OK! 
I also lost 3 kilo!
The guide ( now to call him a guide is real poetic licence!)
We were met at the airport by him & our driver for the 3 hour trip to Bukit Lewang.
Dumped in the back of the vehicle occasionally he would interrupt his continuous conservation with the driver to point out
"Now we see a rubber plantation"
"Now we see a palm oil plantation"
All our questions were ignored!
He did however take delight in pointing out that there was a camera charge at Orang-utan centre (Common in Asia to pay extra for cameras)
The problem was the Indonesian Rupiah notes have many zero's on reflection I paid 1,000,000 Rupiah, about 100 Euro.
It was posted the costs for camera's & video but I'm unsure of the exact amount & I have no problem with this cost if it is to help the rehabilitation.....But why do I feel that our guide pocketed half?
On our journey we stopped for lunch at a road side stall, no choice!
After sweeping away the flies from the food we were served cold fish & rice! Unpalatable to our western tastes!
But 30 minutes later we arrived at our lodge!....At lunch time!
We believe our guide had been given an amount of money to pay for our trip & the more he saved the more he pocketed especially as he arranged what we were to eat each day at the lodge & we had the same meal lunch & dinner each day!
We looked forward to our night in Medan for our transfer to Pedan! How stupid were we? To hope it would be OK!
We were dumped in a second rate hotel, our room opened into the lobby where a television blasted away & no shower!!!
Our guide had disappeared with no trace or imparting of any information to us!
Nobody spoke English, we tried for a better room to no avail so booked out & found our own hotel only to be found by our panicked guide later that evening!
We decided to call a halt to the trip but alas were unable to book flights to Singapore!
But at least we were given a choice where to eat & the choice of the menu that evening!
The following morning we had a brief tour of the city before the airport!
Grrrrrrrrrrrrh! Our guide was coming with us to Pedan to help us on our next leg of the trip!!!!
After a one hour flight & a 7 hour minibus journey we arrived at our next destination Kerinci!
The team in the forest were excellent, not "Tiger protection" as in the itinerary, but they were good & new the forest well.
After a long hard 8 hour climb we set up camp along with a hide, Ergh??
Unbeknown to us they had bought a puppy as tiger bait which they staked out!
We spent the whole night listening to the pitiful cries of the poor creature!
In the morning we took them to task over this only to be told that they had been told that we only wanted to see tiger!
Our guide took a back seat in this as we believe it had been him that told them this! We know he had never seen a tiger & was keen to do so!
Yet again he had been manipulative!
The pup was despatched to the village & the rest of our time in the forest was uneventful but very enjoyable the whole camp relaxed & a general happy spirit took over!
Even the heavy storm which turned our camp into a waterfall was part of the enjoyment.
Would I go again?
I would certainly go into the forest with the team from Kerinci!
I will not use the company in the UK again nor recommend them!
I believe the company in Sumatra tried their best but I am unsure if our problems were caused by them or the guide, I am sure it was the guide! He was no help, knew little & managed to appear in the few photographs we have!
Kipper got it wrong this time!
It was an experience, so OK! Been there! Done that!
14 Apr 09
Aha!
The highlight of the trip?
Upgrade to business class on the Airbus A380!.....Wow!
Real food!
Real China!
Real bed!
Lady Kipper just sat there with a big Cheshire cat grin as she took in her surroundings with awe!
Oh well!....Back to "Cattle Class" next trip!
I would add if ever you have the chance to fly Singapore Airlines do so, for me they are the best, excellent service what ever class you fly!
15 Apr 09
Welcome back, Kipper!
Feel sorry for you that you didn't enjoy your trip! It's a shame! I went to Sumatra to Gunung Leuser and Lake Maninjau in 2002 and really enjoyed the trip, especially the orang utan trekking which we made with a fantastic local guide. Sometimes it's crazy how dependent the success of a trip is with the quality of the guide. The problem is you never know before 
... Bad luck this time!
