Purified Water On EcoTravel Treks

Purified drinking water for our guests and less plastic bottles on our jungle treks – once again our team is making a difference in Bukit Lawang and in the whole of Gunung Leuser National Park! Our “LifeStraw® Mission” introduced in March 2017 features a high volume water purifier with a 12 litre capacity and additional our “LifeStraw Peak Gravity Antivirus Purifier 8 Liter” since 2023, an exclusive device for EcoTravel guests on our jungle campsites. The award-winning technology by Vestergaard even makes microbiologically contaminated water safe to drink and can remove up to 99.9999% of bacteria, viruses and protozoa.

The LifeStraw product used on our treks can purify up to 18.000 litres of water through membranes with a pore size of 0,02 microns. Unlike many other water filters on the market it works without chemicals, batteries or moving parts and even exceeds US EPA drinking water standards. This innovative device was originally developed by Swiss company Vestergaard for use in humanitarian crises and after natural disasters. Our partner’s business is aimed at improving human health and quality of life around the globe. This is why they launched their campaign “LifeStraw – Follow the Liters”, which is supported by EcoTravel Bukit Lawang: part of the global revenue from all LifeStraw-products is donated to schools in developing countries for the use of “LifeStraw Community” purifiers.

Leaving greener footprints for future Generations.

EcoTravel already invests a lot of money to clean the rainforest from waste left by other trekkers! Our teams never leave a single plastic bottle in the jungle and our guides are meticulous about collecting all the garbage left behind by some other tour operators or individual travellers. Which means that after each EcoTravel trek it’s not only the campsites which are free from garbage but the complete trekking trail as well!

But we never stop improving! And with this new water filter we are making a big step to minimize the number of plastic bottles and increase our guests’ health and wellbeing. In tropical climates, an adult is supposed to drink 3 – 5 litres of water a day, depending on their individual physique. Until recently, recyclable water cleaners have been useless on our treks in Gunung Leuser National Park due to their sheer size or their failure to provide clean water for a high turnover of guests. Each EcoTravel guest will be given an unused 1,5 litre bottle to be refilled for free with clean water in our EcoTravel Cottages throughout their stay and on our jungle treks. Used bottles will be disposed of after your stay by our EcoTravel Team. Nevertheless, guests are always welcome to bring their own re-useable water bottles!

We expect to be running “zero plastic bottle tours” in the future, as our guests are very keen to support our initiative “Keep The Jungle Green” by bringing a steel bottle from home or using our free water refills during their tour. On top of that we exclusively provide a marvellous device in our EcoTravel office: the original, ultra-light and travel-friendly “straw” water filter for all enthusiasts and adventure travellers who do not want to carry heavy water bottles but prefer filtered water from rivers or waterfalls along the way. Cheers to a cleaner and greener world!