Bohorok Orangutan Viewing Centre

Bohorok Orangutan Viewing Centre

Located just outside Bukit Lawang Gunung Leuser National Park, in Sumatra, the Bohorok Orang-utan Viewing Centre is about 90 kms from Medan. The Bohorok Orang-utan Viewing Centre is a famous rehabilitation centre that was set up in 1973, by two Swiss zoologists, Regina Frey and Monica Boerner, to help primates to get readjusted to the wild after confinement or dislocation.

The orangutans of Sumatra are an endangered species, with loss of habitat, and poaching pushing them towards extinction. The Bohorok Orang-utan Viewing Centre is an effort to preserve and save these animals that are quickly dying out. After it was opened in 1973, with funding coming from the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Bohorok Orang-utan Viewing Centre has seen almost 200 orangutans released into the wilderness.

The Bohorok Orang-utan Viewing Centre is a center where a visitor can closely watch semi-wild orangutans, where they are being trained to return to their native habitat after being freed from captivity. In 2002, a new quarantine centre was set up outside Medan, as an additional facility with the Bohorok Orang-utan Viewing Centre.

As this center, named Bukit Lawang Centre became operational, the Bohorok Orang-utan Viewing Centre has been restricted to be the home of old and sick orangutans.

The quickest and comfortable way to get to Medan is by air and there are flights connect all the major cities in Indonesia from here. Kualanamu International Airport (Indonesian: Bandar Udara Internasional Kualanamu) (IATA: KNO, ICAO: WIMM) is an international airport serving Medan. It is located in Deli Serdang regency, 26 km east of downtown Medan.