Hello everyone,
I am planning to do a 3 weeks birding trip in mid-may this year. I was thinking of going to Indonesia. As I don’t know much about this country, I have several questions about birding there. I will be travelling on a budget, which means backpacking and independent birding (no guides). In order to better expose what I mean by “independent birding” I will quickly describe my last trip in south east asia which is exactly what I’d like to redo this year.
2 years ago I did a 2 months trip in south east asia: Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Initially, birding was not my first purpose but I ended up doing it a lot (almost everyday). I was a beginner/unprepared birder with no experience whatsoever. I had no fieldguides, no binoculars, no good camera, no hiking shoes and was travelling on my own. I had planned nothing. Still, I really enjoyed it. I may not have seen some rare/endemic species (despite the bare faced bulbul in Laos) but I kept entertained for 2 months. I was doing 3 kinds of birding:
1) Touristic places vicinity: As birding was not my only purpose, I also visited some touristic places. Most of the time, birding was possible around, for example: Angkor Forest, Bat Cave, Vang Vien, Luang Prabang waterfalls etc…
2) Random places: Most of the time I was slipping in random towns/villages. What I used to do was driving 10 minutes out of town (In Vietnam I bought a motorbike), stop on the side of the road, and walk for 2-3 hours in the forest/in fields along a river. My best experience was Koh Ta Kiev island in Cambodia were I spent 5 days birding, almost alone on the island.
3) National Parks: That was mainly in Vietnam: Phong Nha, Cuc Phuong, Ba Vi, Tam Dao, Ba Be Lake. But what they called national parks in Vietnam are not always what you could think, Ba Vi and Tam Dao are full of resorts. Anyhow, for most of them, you could go in the parks without a guide and follow the different trails.
My main question about Indonesia is: Is it easy to do some independent birding there ? Are some national parks accessible without a guide ?
Would you recommend a specific island ? In order to save time and money I’d like to spend the 3 weeks on the same island. Just looking at the map, I was thinking of Sumatra or Kalimantan because they are big enough to visit several places.
I am still a beginner birder (but better prepared) and I am clearly not expecting to see 200 species in 3 weeks as in organized tour. I know independent birding is not the best way to fill your lifers list but I really prefer birding on my own.
Any advice/comment is more than welcome !
Thanks !
Julien
I am planning to do a 3 weeks birding trip in mid-may this year. I was thinking of going to Indonesia. As I don’t know much about this country, I have several questions about birding there. I will be travelling on a budget, which means backpacking and independent birding (no guides). In order to better expose what I mean by “independent birding” I will quickly describe my last trip in south east asia which is exactly what I’d like to redo this year.
2 years ago I did a 2 months trip in south east asia: Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Initially, birding was not my first purpose but I ended up doing it a lot (almost everyday). I was a beginner/unprepared birder with no experience whatsoever. I had no fieldguides, no binoculars, no good camera, no hiking shoes and was travelling on my own. I had planned nothing. Still, I really enjoyed it. I may not have seen some rare/endemic species (despite the bare faced bulbul in Laos) but I kept entertained for 2 months. I was doing 3 kinds of birding:
1) Touristic places vicinity: As birding was not my only purpose, I also visited some touristic places. Most of the time, birding was possible around, for example: Angkor Forest, Bat Cave, Vang Vien, Luang Prabang waterfalls etc…
2) Random places: Most of the time I was slipping in random towns/villages. What I used to do was driving 10 minutes out of town (In Vietnam I bought a motorbike), stop on the side of the road, and walk for 2-3 hours in the forest/in fields along a river. My best experience was Koh Ta Kiev island in Cambodia were I spent 5 days birding, almost alone on the island.
3) National Parks: That was mainly in Vietnam: Phong Nha, Cuc Phuong, Ba Vi, Tam Dao, Ba Be Lake. But what they called national parks in Vietnam are not always what you could think, Ba Vi and Tam Dao are full of resorts. Anyhow, for most of them, you could go in the parks without a guide and follow the different trails.
My main question about Indonesia is: Is it easy to do some independent birding there ? Are some national parks accessible without a guide ?
Would you recommend a specific island ? In order to save time and money I’d like to spend the 3 weeks on the same island. Just looking at the map, I was thinking of Sumatra or Kalimantan because they are big enough to visit several places.
I am still a beginner birder (but better prepared) and I am clearly not expecting to see 200 species in 3 weeks as in organized tour. I know independent birding is not the best way to fill your lifers list but I really prefer birding on my own.
Any advice/comment is more than welcome !
Thanks !
Julien