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Transport
& Logistics The province of Sulawesi in Indonesia is the rather odd shaped island to the east of Borneo and west of the Moluccas (Maluku). Indonesia has the highest rate of endemicity of any country and Sulawesi has the highest number of endemic bird species of any of the Indonesian islands. Arguably, 67 species are found nowhere else! Additionally there is a whole suite of endemic mammals and plants (and undoubtedly reptiles, amphibians and insects as well!) I travelled to three sites in Sulawesi with my friends Jan Smith from the US and Chris Lester from Melbourne. In the light of recent events a number of people suggested that we should rethink our plans to visit but the lure was too strong so we ignored them! Luckily we did - we encountered no problems or even anxious moments at all. We found everyone we met to be very charming and friendly. The national parks have their problems (see below), more related to Indonesia's dire economic problems than to anything else, but the infrastructure is still secure and functioning. The density of birds is low and birding can definitely be slow at times. But we saw nearly all our target species plus some we weren't expecting. Outside Tangkoko mammals were also rarely encountered. Transport
& Logistics We flew between Manado and Palu, then from Palu to Ujung Padang. We booked the flights with Merpati and had no problem with the Manado-Palu flight via Luwuk. But the Palu-UP flight was cancelled and we had to rebook with Bouraq when we arrived at the airport. The plane waited on the tarmac for us to book and pay for our tickets - we made it by 5 minutes otherwise we would have had to overnight in Palu. This is becoming a frequent occurrence by all accounts. Biting
things Mosquitoes were not uncommon so take plenty of repellent. Malaria is apparently uncommon in Sulawesi but it is present. I took and used a mosquito net (the one supplied at Tangkoko was full of holes). I found it to be useful against rats as well as mosquitoes. Don't mind rats in the least, except if they jump on my bed.... References Acknowledgments Sites visited Tangkoko (3/10 ~ 7/10)
Getting there - I organised to be picked up on arrival at the airport in Manado. Not cheap but worth it for the extra time there. I really loved this national park. Even though most of the birds can be seen at Bogani Nani Wartabone I recommend a visit. Some of the birds are easier to see here and it is great for mammals. In particular Crested Macaque is common (the strangest macaque I've ever seen) and best of all the guides can show you Spectral Tarsier. Unbelievably fantastic animals! Where to stay - I stayed at Mama Roo's Losmen which at the time of my visit was Rp100,000/night. The rooms are clean and spacious but hot. A tiny, ineffective fan is supplied. Meals are included in the room rate and are very good. The staff are super friendly and helpful as well as keen to help birders. That said, I recommend picking up a guide at the park headquarters as they are more knowledgable about the birds. There are a couple of other losmen close by and a new resort (the BENTENG Beach & Jungle Resort & Divecenter) a few kilometres north of the town. Birding - The entrance to the park can be found about 500 metres from the accommodation down a walking trail, the entrance of which can be found almost opposite the losman. Here you will find the park guides to help you with birding. It is compulsory to take a guide but their fees are very cheap - about Rp7500 per person a day! We (Jan joined me at Tangkoko on Day 3) found the famous Freddy to be very pleasant and knowledgable. The best areas to bird seemed to be around an open area of semi-cleared scrubland and in the forest on the slopes of Gunung Tangkoko. I climbed G. Tangkoko on my first day in a futile search for Scaly-breasted Kingfisher. It's a very hard climb from sea level to 1200 metres in 3 or 4 kilometres! The cloud forest near the summit is fascinating. The stunted trees covered in mosses and epiphytes were shrouded in mist - this came as a bit of a surprise to me. The amorphophallus flowers shown above were not uncommon at lower elevations. Bogani Nani Wartabone (7/10 ~ 10/10)
After leaving Tangkoko we picked up Chris from the airport and travelled directly to Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park (formerly Dumoga Bone). Here we caught up with Simon Colenutt, Barry Wright and Jon Hornbuckle from the UK. There is rather a lot of illegal logging activity taking place in the park but the forest was not nearly as destroyed as I had been led to expect. That said, there are a lot of areas in the forest that are overgrown and scrubby (where trees have been removed) in amongst some really nice forest; the sound of chainsaws is ubiquitous. Where to stay - The accommodation at the park headquarters is spacious and comfortable as well as cheap. The only problem is the rats that come in through holes gnawed in the fly wire which incidentally allows access for mosquitoes as well. Good meals are supplied by staff in the dining hall. Birding - To get to the forest it is necessary to wade across the stream behind the headquarters. It is a beautiful, shallow stream but fast flowing. If you have tender feet you might want to use sandals. There is no doubt that you need to employ the services of one of the park guides as the maze of trails in the forest is very disorienting - do not rely on any maps you may have from trip reports, with recent activities in the park they are now pretty well totally irrelevant. Our guide, Dede, professed not to know anything about birds and apolgised for his bad English. In fact, he not only spoke English pretty well but knew quite a few of the bird calls and had excellent eyes. Another guide by the name of Oji is very knowledgable about the birds of the area as he is helping with the research on Maleo at Tambun. We spent a morning there with him and Jon, Simon and Barry. It is fascinating to see the thermal nesting grounds of the Maleo as well as the amazing bird itself. We also saw a number of migrating raptors after a steep climb to the top of a nearby ridge. Lore Lindu (10/10 ~ 18/10)
After driving back to Manado (where we spent a tense evening after learning of the start of the bombing campaign in Afghanistan and the anti-US demonstrations in Jakarta and Ujung Padang) we caught our flight to Palu. As arranged, Darwin and our driver Christian were there to meet us and we left for Lore Lindu. We spent a full week at Lore Lindu, which I think you will definitely need in order to explore the park properly. Where to stay - We stayed 2 nights at a losmen in Wuasa and the rest of the time at the park headquarters at Kamarora. The accommodation at the park headquarters was very simple but clean and comfortable in a pleasant setting. The food supplied and cooked by the ranger's wife was varied and tasty - the tempeh is especially good. Wuasa is a lot closer to the Anaso track and the birding in nearby padi fields was interesting but Kamarora is definitely preferable for a number of reasons. Birding - We spent most of our time and effort birding around the Anaso logging trail. Fortunately, the logging company is no longer active here and it is one of the few areas where birders can easily gain access to high altitude habitats. We found the best course was to drive to the top of the track at dawn (this is how we found Heinrich's Nightjar) and walk slowly down to the turnoff with the tarmac road. This takes about 2 to 4 hours depending on how good the birding is! Birding along the road from the turnoff was also productive as was the lake, Danau Tambing. We found the birding in the forest near the lake to be best around three in the afternoon. Regrettably, birding around Dongi Dongi and Kamarora was not good and their heyday is over I fear. For more details see this page for a discussion of recent political tensions and problems within Lore Lindu National Park. One point to make is that the drive between Kamarora and Anaso, where you will presumably want to spend most of your time, is a long one. About an hour to the turn off and then another hour to reach to summit. Consequently, it would be well worth considering a couple of nights camping though obviously you can get away without doing so. Bali (18/10 ~ 22/10)
After Sulawesi we took the opportunity to go home via Bali and drop in to see the globally threatened Bali Myna. Our main objective here was obviously to see the Bali Myna, which we did. We found the logistics of this to be very easy. Just charter a vehicle or catch the bus to Gilimanuk, then drop into the park office near the giant dragon statue where you will find a park employee who will help you. We paid 900,000 Rupiah for 3 of us which included the guide's fee, the boat hire and a donation for the captive breeding program. We arrived at about 11am and were on the boat travelling to Teluk Telor by 2pm. The afternoon seems to be the best time to see the birds. In contrast to Phil Benstead's experience, we received a receipt without even asking! I would have no hesitation in recommending our guide, Iwan who was excellent and knew the area very well. Incidentally, we were unable to find Black-winged Starling. The park itself with its dry savanna woodland is super interesting; I enjoyed it a lot with sightings of Green Junglefowl, Banded Pitta, Fulvous-chested Jungle-Flycatcher (common), Small Minivet and so on. We saw the pre-release centre in another area of the park which on the surface looked well managed. Iwan told us that as part of his job he overnights there two or three times a week to guard against thievery. I was surprised and disturbed, though, to see a very large resort has been built slap bang in the middle of the myna's habitat only a kilometre or so from the area where wild birds can still be seen. Amazing!
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SULAWESI & BALI October 2001
