International and Domestic flights to Papua
International gate to enter Papua is only available in Jayapura This is a land border crossing from Vanimo (PNG) to Jayapura (Indonesia). Besides this single International gate, the next closest International gate to Papua is Samratulangi Airport Manado, North Sulawesi. From Manado and other parts of Indonesia, various air companies offer their service to most cities in Papua. Daily Merpati Airline, Wings Air (Lion Air) & Express Air flights are available from Manado and Ujung Pandang (Makassar) South Sulawesi, entering Sorong. Daily Garuda Air flight is also serving its Jakarta-Biak-Jakarta route for those who wish to arrive via Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Those air companies provide their domestic flights between cities and town inside Papua itself.
Day01: Sorong arrival
After check in at Waigo Hotel, we will proceed for our Sorong birding as your first introduction birding in Papua. There are 3 major different sites possibly to visit here for productive birding. Birds recorded: Red-billed Brush-turkey (often heard), Little Pied Cormorant, darter, Sacred Ibis, Black & Forest Bittern, Cinnamon Bittern, Eastern, Reef & Cattle Egret, Little Grebe, Spotted Whistling Duck, White-headed Shelduck, Grey Goshawk, Brahmeny Kite, Crested Hawk, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Osprey, Buff-banded Rail, Purple Swamphen, Eurasian Coot, Lesser Golden Plover, Swinhoe’s Snipe, Wood & Common Sandpiper, Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, White-winged & Commond Black-headed Tern, Emerald Ground-Dove, Great & Borwn Cuckoo-Dove, Beautiful, Ornate, Coronated, Dwarf, White-breasted, Orange-bellied & Orange-fronted Fruit Dove, Purple-tailed, Pinon & Zoe Imperial Pigeon, Black & Western Black-capped Lory, Rainbow Lorikeet, Red Cheeked & Eclectus Parrot, Sulphur & Palm Cockatoo, Buff-faced Pygmy-Parrot, Large & Double-eyed Fig Parrot, Long-billed Cuckoo, Brush, Shining Bronze & Channel-billed Cuckoo, Lesser & greater Black Coucal, Yellow-billed, Common Paradise & Hook-billed Kingfisher, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Rainbow Bee-eater, Blyth’s Hornbill, Lesser & Greater Black Coucal, Papuan Frogmouth, Large-tailed nightjar, Barn & Pacific Swallow White-bellied, Black, Boyer's & Golden Cuckoo Shrike, Black-browed Triller, Emperor & White-shoulder Fairy Wren, White-bellied Thicket & Northern Fantail, Willie, Yellow & Grey Wagtail, Richardpipit, Golden & Frilled Monarch, Black-sided Robin, Lowland Peltops, Papuan Flowerpecker, Black & Yellow-bellied Sunbird, Yellow-faced Mynah, Brown Oriole, Singing & Metalic Starling, Spangled Drongo, White-breasted Woodswallow, Mimic Meliphaga, Varied Honeyeater, Long-billed & Plain Honeyeater, Helmeted Friarbird, Streak-headed Mannakin, Hooded Butcherbird, Torressian & Grey Crow Glossy-mantled Manucode, Lesser Birds of Paradise
Day02: Boat to Wailebed Village-Batanta Island (life jacket provided)
During this sea crossing, we hope to see: Bulwer’s Petrel (not common), Brown Booby, Black-naped, Crested, common, Little, Black-naped Tern, Lesser Frigatebird and Red-necked Phalarope were seen during this passage journey. Also we often record Sperm Whale,, Spinner Dolphin, Manta-Ray, Marlin and Loggerhead Sea-Turtle. We will camp at Wailebed Village. Our target birds for the rest of the day are: Red Bird of Paradise, Blue-breasted Pitta, Grey-hooded Pitohui, Palm Cockatoo, Papuan Frogmouth, Little Shrike-Trush.
Day03-05: Batanta-Salawati Island full birding
During the 3 full day birding here we will focus on the island endemics: Red & Wilson's Bird of Paradise, Western- Crowned Pigeon, King Bird of Paradise, Pheasant Pigeon and Northern Casowarry. Other birds include: Red-billed Brush-turkey, Little, Intermediate & Great Egret, Grey Goshawk, Crested Hawk, Long-tailed Buzzard, Gurney's Eagle, Bush-hen, Coronated, Dwarf, White-breasted, Wompoo, Pink-spotted, Orange-bellied & Orange-fronted Fruit Dove, Purple-tailed, Zoe, Spice & Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Moluccan & Western Black-capped Lory, Rainbow Lorikeet. Papuan King Parrot, Black, Brown & Dusky Lory, Palm Cockatoo, Buff-faced & Yellow-capped Pygmy-Parrot, Large, Double-eyed & Salvadori’s, Long-billed Cuckoo, Brush, Shining Bronze & Channel-billed Cuckoo, Lesser & greater Black Coucal, Azure, Little, Yellow-billed, Common Paradise, Blue-black, Hook-billed and Beach Kingfisher, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Rainbow Bee-eater, Blyth’s Hornbill, Papua & Marbled Frogmouth, Feline Owlet & Large-tailed Nightjar, Papuan Spine-tailed Swift, Mustached Tree Swift, Blue & Hooded Pitta, White-bellied, Black, Boyer's & Golden Cuckoo Shrike, Black-browed Triller, Emperor & White-shoulder Fairy Wren, White-bellied Thicket & Northern Fantail, Golden & Frilled Monarch, Grey-streaked & Shining Flycatcher, Olive Flyrobin, Black-sided Robin, Common Golden Whistler, Rusty Pitohui, Rusty Mouse-warbler, Green-backed & Yellow-bellied Gerygone, Little Shrike Thrush, Papuan Flowerpecker, Black & Yellow-bellied Sunbird, Red-collared Myzomela, Black Berrypecker, Mimic Meliphaga, Varied, Long-billed & Plain Honeyeater, Yellow-bellied Longbill, New Guinea Friarbird, Singing, Metalic & Moluccan Starling, Golden & Yellow-faced Mynah, Brown Oriole, Spangled Drongo, White-breasted Woodswallow, Hooded & Black Butcherbird, Lowland Peltops, Grey & Torresian Crow
Day06: Boat back to Sorong with stop over at Senapang Island
Today, after breakfast and morning birding we will take boat riding and head back to Sorong with stop over at Senapang Island to see Beach Stone Curlew, Common Scrubfowl, Beach Kingfsiher, Spice Imperial Pigeon, Great-billed Parrot & Varied Honeyeater. From Senapang, we will boat the rest of 1.5 hours to Sorong. On arrival, we will check in at Waigeo Hotel. Dinner at local restaurant.
Day07: Fly to Manokwari-local birding
After breakfast we will fly to Manokwari, where from there we will continue our birding to the Arfak Mountain. Transfer to Mokwam Hotel and report our Traveling Passes (Surat Jalan). We will bird the South direction of Manokwari town and expect to see Grey-headed Goshawk, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Pink Spotted Fruit-Dove, Red Cheeked & Eclectus Parrot, Palm & Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Blyth’s Hornbill, Rainbow Bee-eater, Barn Swallow, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Lowland Peltops, Crested Pitohui, Papuan Flowerpecker, Yellow-bellied Sunbird, Yellow-faced Myna, Lesser and King Bird of Paradise, Hooded Butcherbird, Torresian Crow, etc.
Day08: 4WD to Arfak Mountain-Birding
Today after breakfast, we will take 4WD (3 hrs) to reach trip our main camp site of Siyoubrig Village which is situated at 1.400m above sea-level. We will bird the rest of the day and expect to see: Wattled Brush-turkey, Blue-grey & Ashy Robin, Vogelkop Scrub-wren, etc.
Day09-11: Arfak full day birding
During this 3 full days birding, we will be based at Syioubrig Village with daily visit to up higher elevation to allow us to see different species with our main target on: 7 species of BOPs (Long-tailed Paradigala, Superb BOP, Western Parotia, Magnificient, Black and Buff-tailed Sicklebill, Arfak Astrapia), 1 species of Bowerbirds (Vogelkop Bowerbird), plus other non BOP/Bowerbird, such as: the Wattled Brush-turkey, New Guinea Harpy Eagle, Black-mantled Goshawk, White-striped Forest-Rail, Black-billed Cuckoo-Dove, White-breasted Fruit-Dove, Papuan Mountain Pigeon, Rufescent Imperial Pigeon, White-throated Pigeon, Papuan & Yellow-billed Lorikeet, Blue-collared & Vulturine Parrot, Modest & Brehm’s Tiger Parrot, Chesnut-breasted Cuckoo, Papuan Boobook, Feline & Mountain Owlet Nightjar, Lesser Ground, Ashy, Smoky, Blue-grey, Green-backed & Garnet Robin, Lesser Malampita, Grey and Brown-breasted Gerygone, Rusty and Mountain Mouse Warbler, Vogelkop, Perplexing, Papuan & Grey-green Scrub-wren, Black & Rufous-backed Fantail, Mountain Peltops, Canary Flycather, Black and Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Dwarf, Sclater’s, Vogelkop, Lorenz & Rufous-naped Whistler, Black Pitohui, Tit Berrypecker, Western Mountain-eye, Dwarf & Rufous-sided Honeyeater, Mountain Red-headed and Red-collared Myzomela, Western Smoky Honey-eater, Cinnamon browed and Ornate Melidectes, Papuan Parrot Finch, Spotted Catbird, Black Sittella, and some other birds
Day12: Drive down back to Manokwar-birding
After breakfast we’ll proceed for morning birding and back for lunch. After lunch, we will pack up our gear and drive back to Manokwari town. We may stop on the way back for short birding or photography. Check in at Mokwam Hotel and dinner at local restaurant.
Day13: Fly to Sentani/Jayapura-local birding
Transfer to Hotel Sentani Indah. After lunch at the hotel, we will precede our birding around west Sentani Lake along the driving way. Our records here are: Great Egret, Rufous Night-Heron, Pacific Black Duck, Dusky Moorhen, Comb-crested Jacana, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Brown & Great Cuckoo-Dove, Orange fronted Fruit-Dove, Rainbow bee-eater, Pied Chat, Golden Cisticola, Shinning Flycatcher, Great Bowerbird, Glossy Mantled Manucode and Lesser Bird of Paradise. Dinner at the hotel.
Day14: Drive to Nimbokrang-local birding
After an early breakfast at the hotel, we will drive for 2,5 hrs to Nimbokrang, the lowlands area where we will continue our next birding. In Nimbokrang, we will pick up our local guide, report our traveling permit and than head to our camping site. After setting up tents, we will bird nearby. The rest of the day today, we expect to see Grey Goshawk, Yellow-bellied & Sacred Kingfisher, Eclectus & Red Cheeked Parrot, Golden Cuckoo-shrike, shinning flycatcher.
Day15-16: Nimbokrang full day birding
During these 2 full days, we will focus on our target birds of the lowland alluvial forest. They are: Brown-collared Brush-turkey (hard to see), Pale-billed Sicklebill, Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise, Magnificient Riflebird (often only heard), King Birds of Paradise, Lesser Bird of Paradise, Jobi and Glossy Manucode, Bush-hen, New Guinea Flightless Rail, Victoria Crowned Pigeon (possibly), Double-eyed and Salvadori’s Fig-Parrot, Buff-faced Pygmy-Parrot, Emperor and white-shouldered Fairy-wren, Golden Cisticola, Golden, Boyer’s, and Grey-headed Cuckoo Shrike, Hooked-billed, Blue-black, Azure & Sacred Kingfisher, King Quail, Black Bittern, Spotted Whistling Duck, Doria’s Hawk, Beautiful, Pink, Coroneted, Orange-bellied Fruit-Dove, Zoe & Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Red-flanked Lorikeet, Dusky and Brown Lory, Lesser, Greater and Pheasant Coucal, Papua Frogmouth, Papuan Nightjar, Papuan Spine-tailed Swift, White-bellied Thicket Fantail, Golden, Frilled and Spotted-winged Monarch, Lowland Peltops, Blue-grey Robin, Rusty Pitohui, Meyer’s & Helmeted Friarbird, Golden & Yellow-faced Myna, Blue-jewel & Rufous Babbler, Spotted Catbird, Brown-headed Crow.
Day17: Drive back to Sentani-birding
After morning birding and lunch, we will drive back to Sentani and check in at Hotel Sentani Indah. A short birding around the Sentani Lake.
Day18: Fly to Wamena-biring
We will fly into the heart of the Papuan highland, encountering its totally different culture with lowland tribes. We will stay at Hotel Baliem Pilamo and after reporting our Surat Jalan, we will proceed for an afternoon birding. Today, we drive to upper Baliem and do short birding around it. Here are the most beautiful views of the Baliem Valley. Its another ‘the Lion King”, but Superb Bird of Paradise, Papuan Whipbird, Golden Whistler, Yellow-legged Flycatcher, Sooty, Belford, Ornate and Long-tailed Melidectes, Common Smoky Honeyeater, Slender-billed Cuckoo-Dove, Western Mountain White-eye, Red Collared Myzomela.
Day19: 4WD to Lake Habema-birding the snow mountain region
After an early breakfast at the hotel, we will take 4WD and drive towards the snow mountain region. We will stop during the driving to spot some birds such as. Island Thrush & Alpine Pipit will commonly seen, Orange-billed Lorikeet flying across the driving, Painted Tiger-Parrot, Lorentz’s Whistler, Hooded Cuckoo-Shrikes, New Guinea Thornbill, Black Sitella, Mountain, Black-throated and White-winged Robins, and Grey-streaked honeyeater. We will camp at 3.300 and do daily birding from the camp site.
Day20-21 Lake Habema full birding
During this 2 days birding, we will sufficiently allocate our time & energy to search for the snow mountain specialties, such as: Snow Mountain Quail, Short-bearded Melidectes, Orange-cheecked Honeyeater, Papuan Whipbird, Snow-mountain Munia, Lorentz's Whistler, Splendid Astrapia, Brown Sicklebill, Ribbon-tailed Astrapia, Macgregor's Bird of Paradise Salvadori's Teal, Painted & Brehm's Tiger-Parrot, Red-breasted Pygmy-Parrot, Crested Berrypecker, Rufous Woodcock, Stout-billed Cuckoo-shrike, Papuan, Large & Buff-faced Srcub-wren, Lesser & Greater Ground-Robin, Mountain & White-winged Robin, Black Sittella, Western Alpine Mannikin, New Guinea Thornbill, Blue-caped Ifrit, Belford's & Sooty Melidectes.
Day22: Drive back to Wamena-birding
After a very hearty breakfast, we will do morning birding. Before heading back to Wamena, we will have our last lunch at our beautiful campsite. After lunch we will drive slowly back to Wamena with stop over to see more birds. New Guinea Harrier should add to our list. On arrival at Wamena City, we will check in at Hotel Baliem Pilamo and visit local traditional market in the late afternoon.
Day23: Fly to Sentani-birding
After breakfast, we will be transferred to Wamena airport for our flight back to Sentani. We will use the rest of the day to bird around.
Day24: Fly to Biak Island-birding
We will fly to the coral island of Biak. As soon as we arrive, we will be transferred to Hotel Arumbae for lunch. We will do an introduction to birding in Biak and Supiori Islands. These truly oceanic islands that are only separated by a narrow mangrove-line channel, offers at least 12 accepted species of the area. We expect to see some endemics already by driving an hour out of town through the secondary forest. Biak White-eye, Biak Red Lory and long-tailed Starling are fairly easy to locate.
Day24-25: Biak full day birding
During these 2 full days birding, we will be targeting most of the Biak endemics: Biak Megapode, Biak Scoop Owl, Biak Red Lory, Geelvink Pygmy Parrot, Biak Coucal, Biak Paradise-kingfisher, Biak Monarch & Biak Golden Monarch, Biak Flycatcher, Biak Gerygone, Biak Golden Monarch, Biak White-eye. Some other birds we expect are: Crested Hawk, Long-tailed Buzzard, Great Cuckoo-Dove, Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove, Double-eyed Fig Parrot, Red fronted Lorikeet, Beach Kingfisher, Black browed Triller, Little shrike-thrust, Singing Starling, etc.
We will do daily birding with vehicle from the hotel with lunch break.
Day26: Biak birding-Fly out of Biak-Trip ended
After breakfast, we will bird again to catch up with some of the missing species we miss on last 2 days full birding in Biak. We’ll have lunch at hotel, before transferring to airport for your flight to leave Papua. TRIP ENDS
