Bali. April 13th – 24th 2017
We decided to take a short (11 night) break to Bali for birdwatching and relaxation. It proved to be a very worthwhile trip with 137 species seen including 43 lifers
.
Flight.
We flew with Emirates from London Heathrow via Dubai. Good choice on A380/777 comfortable and decent food and service on all flights. We paid around £450 each.
Hotel.
We booked Sapodilla hotel in Ubud for 11 nights via Booking.com. We chose this mainly because of it being a small family run hotel in a good location, walking distance to the town and many decent restaurants. The price was £53 a night per room (payable on arrival) including a very good breakfast, complimentary afternoon tea, bottled water and free shuttle service around Ubud. They provided a mobile phone so you could call them to arrange pick-ups when ready. Highly recommended.
Weather.
It was very hot (36C) and humid (85%) during our stay. It only rained one day for about an hour.
Getting around.
The hotel provided a free shuttle for local journeys. Both guides I hired provided a car and driver.
Walking was quite hazardous due to the uneven pavements, sometimes with large holes into the drains beneath. It also wasn’t helped by the fact that scooter riders often use the pavements to jump the traffic queues regardless of whether there are any pedestrians on it or not!
Car hire and taxis are plentiful and I would not drive myself in Bali as the traffic is horrendous. Although they drive on the left as UK, I could not work out their road rules at all!!
Guides.
I booked two guides via email after reading several trip reports.
Sumadi Wayan, for trips around Ubud where we were staying
Hery Kusumanegaro for a trip to Bali Barat NP.
Trips.
Bali Bird Walk with Sumadi. These walks are well known. http://www.balibirdwalk.com/
We took the free hotel shuttle to Murni’s Warung at 9am to meet Su. We were joined by 5 other people for the 3-hour walk followed by lunch included in the price ($37). Sumadi took us through the rice fields and showed us 23 species of birds, many butterflies, insects and plants and told us about the Balinese way of life.
Su is very knowledgeable and friendly and the walk proved very enjoyable. Su identified 3 species of Swiftlets (Mossy, Edible Nest and White-bellied) and after that I did not bother with Swiftlets again!
3 Javan Kingfishers were seen and Su flushed a Pin tailed Snipe from a rice field.
Other birds of note: Small Blue Kingfisher, Peregrine, Java Pond Heron, Zitting and Golden-headed Cisticolas, Bush Chat, Scaly breasted and White headed Munias.
Bali Botanic Garden at Bedegul and Lake Buyan.
This was a private trip with Sumadi as guide. We were picked up from our hotel at 6 am, with the hotel providing a box breakfast.
It took just over an hour to get to the Botanic Garden from Ubud. The garden had suffered a lot of damage due to heavy rains and flash floods in the past year and all the bridges have been destroyed making getting around by car difficult. Su soon picked up birds by call and we saw 42 species. Highlights were Grey-headed Canary, Mugimaki, Asian Brown, Little Pied and Fulvous chested Forest Flycatchers, Oriental Cuckoo, Indonesian Honeyeater, Great Tit, Orange fronted Barbet, Yellow throated Hanging Parrot. A Lesser Shortwing and Crescent-chested Babblers were heard.
Other birds were Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon, Javan grey-throated White Eye, Black-naped Oriole, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Ashy Drongo, Asian Glossy Starling, Short-tailed Starling, Golden Whistler, Blood-breasted Flowerpecker, Mountain White Eye, Ashy Tailorbird, Oriental Honey Buzzard.
After about 3 hours in the garden we went to Lake Buyan. Here the water levels have risen dramatically and in places the original shoreline is 100 metres from the current one. Gardens and houses are now under water.
Su knew where a track reached the water’s edge and we walked along a concrete wall amongst some vegetation. A White-browed Crake emerged and showed well, also a Moorhen and 2 Striated Grassbirds. We did not see any Bitterns.
We decided to take a short (11 night) break to Bali for birdwatching and relaxation. It proved to be a very worthwhile trip with 137 species seen including 43 lifers
.
Flight.
We flew with Emirates from London Heathrow via Dubai. Good choice on A380/777 comfortable and decent food and service on all flights. We paid around £450 each.
Hotel.
We booked Sapodilla hotel in Ubud for 11 nights via Booking.com. We chose this mainly because of it being a small family run hotel in a good location, walking distance to the town and many decent restaurants. The price was £53 a night per room (payable on arrival) including a very good breakfast, complimentary afternoon tea, bottled water and free shuttle service around Ubud. They provided a mobile phone so you could call them to arrange pick-ups when ready. Highly recommended.
Weather.
It was very hot (36C) and humid (85%) during our stay. It only rained one day for about an hour.
Getting around.
The hotel provided a free shuttle for local journeys. Both guides I hired provided a car and driver.
Walking was quite hazardous due to the uneven pavements, sometimes with large holes into the drains beneath. It also wasn’t helped by the fact that scooter riders often use the pavements to jump the traffic queues regardless of whether there are any pedestrians on it or not!
Car hire and taxis are plentiful and I would not drive myself in Bali as the traffic is horrendous. Although they drive on the left as UK, I could not work out their road rules at all!!
Guides.
I booked two guides via email after reading several trip reports.
Sumadi Wayan, for trips around Ubud where we were staying
Hery Kusumanegaro for a trip to Bali Barat NP.
Trips.
Bali Bird Walk with Sumadi. These walks are well known. http://www.balibirdwalk.com/
We took the free hotel shuttle to Murni’s Warung at 9am to meet Su. We were joined by 5 other people for the 3-hour walk followed by lunch included in the price ($37). Sumadi took us through the rice fields and showed us 23 species of birds, many butterflies, insects and plants and told us about the Balinese way of life.
Su is very knowledgeable and friendly and the walk proved very enjoyable. Su identified 3 species of Swiftlets (Mossy, Edible Nest and White-bellied) and after that I did not bother with Swiftlets again!
3 Javan Kingfishers were seen and Su flushed a Pin tailed Snipe from a rice field.
Other birds of note: Small Blue Kingfisher, Peregrine, Java Pond Heron, Zitting and Golden-headed Cisticolas, Bush Chat, Scaly breasted and White headed Munias.
Bali Botanic Garden at Bedegul and Lake Buyan.
This was a private trip with Sumadi as guide. We were picked up from our hotel at 6 am, with the hotel providing a box breakfast.
It took just over an hour to get to the Botanic Garden from Ubud. The garden had suffered a lot of damage due to heavy rains and flash floods in the past year and all the bridges have been destroyed making getting around by car difficult. Su soon picked up birds by call and we saw 42 species. Highlights were Grey-headed Canary, Mugimaki, Asian Brown, Little Pied and Fulvous chested Forest Flycatchers, Oriental Cuckoo, Indonesian Honeyeater, Great Tit, Orange fronted Barbet, Yellow throated Hanging Parrot. A Lesser Shortwing and Crescent-chested Babblers were heard.
Other birds were Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon, Javan grey-throated White Eye, Black-naped Oriole, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Ashy Drongo, Asian Glossy Starling, Short-tailed Starling, Golden Whistler, Blood-breasted Flowerpecker, Mountain White Eye, Ashy Tailorbird, Oriental Honey Buzzard.
After about 3 hours in the garden we went to Lake Buyan. Here the water levels have risen dramatically and in places the original shoreline is 100 metres from the current one. Gardens and houses are now under water.
Su knew where a track reached the water’s edge and we walked along a concrete wall amongst some vegetation. A White-browed Crake emerged and showed well, also a Moorhen and 2 Striated Grassbirds. We did not see any Bitterns.
