Tangkahan is a tourist site situated on the edge of the Gunung Leuser national park, around 20km due north from Bukit Lawang. As with Bukit Lawang, prior to tourism there was no village at Tangkahan itself, but the area is in situated in the vicinity of two established villages, Namo Sialang and Sei Serdang, while Tangkahan itself is purely a tourist/conservation site. Tangkahan is in Batang Serangan district, northern Langkat regency, while Bukit Lawang is in the Bohorok district southern Langkat regency.

Like all rural villages in Indonesia, employment opportunities are poor, and there was pressure on the jungle as a result, as local people seek to make a living from the natural resources by logging, or planting oil palms. In 2001 Lembaga Pariwisata Tangkahan (Tangkahan Tourism Foundation) was established by the local people to provide an alternative to deforestation.

The village sits at the confluence of two rivers, the Batang, and Buluh, so at weekends it can get busy with local tourists, whose favourite activity is to 'mandi' (swim/bathe) in the river.

The main tourist draw at Tangkahan is the presence of Sumatran elephants, with which visitors can interact, e.g., by bathing them in the river. On Fridays there are no elephant activities, as the elephants are on jungle patrol.

Tangkahan has no public transport links to Bukit Lawang, but our Tangkahan trips use our off-road vehicles to travel between the two villages.