Sumatra is the largest island that is located entirely in Indonesia and the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 
The equator crosses the island at its centre. The climate of the island is tropical, hot and humid. Lush tropical rain forest once dominated the landscape.

Sumatra has a wide range of plant and animal species but has lost almost 50% of its tropical rainforest in the last 35 years. Many species are now critically endangered, such as the Sumatran ground cuckoo, the Sumatran tiger, the Sumatran elephant, the Sumatran rhinoceros, and the Sumatran orangutan. Deforestation on the island has also resulted in serious seasonal smoke haze over neighbouring countries, such as the 2013 Southeast Asian haze causing considerable tensions between Indonesia and affected countries Malaysia and Singapore.

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We kicked off the Sumatra leg of our 2019 Asian Adventure by flying into Medan from Penang, Malaysia where we had spent almost two weeks. This was the start of our month-long trek across Indonesia: Sumatra, Java and Bali.