The islands of Sulawesi and Halmahera are a treasure trove for birders, however, even in 2024, the logistics are complicated and language is a big barrier. Coupled with a low bird density, habitat destruction and lack of information, birding becomes a challenge and the local bird guides take you for a ride and literally rip you off with crazy pricing even when Indonesia is one of the cheapest places in the world.
Planning phase was very frustrating with very few independent trip reports and ebird as the only source of updated bird sightings. Taking everything into consideration, we decided to bird Sulawesi independently and for Halmahera, we hired a guide since we did not receive any reply to our mails/WhatsApp sent to various accommodations and car rental companies.
People of the island were very helpful and warm, the only problem was with people dealing with tourists, they tried to extort money at anything and everything with outrageously high quotes. We negotiated crazily, did not shy away from asking for discounts, stood our ground and even fought to bring the prices down.
Flights: We used all regional carriers: Batik Air, Lion Air and Wings Air and found their services acceptable. Couple of flights were rescheduled leading to a bit of panic since we did not have access to wifi at remote locations. However, the airlines themselves kept booking us into the next best available flight with no impact on our itinerary.
- All flights were booked via Nusatrip (https://www.nusatrip.com/en), a reliable website for bookings.
- For Wings Air, we pre-paid for check-in luggage as at airport it is expensive.
- All airports were well maintained with helpful staff and easy security. No rush
- Web check-in is mandatory and all airlines use a common phone app Bookcabin for this purpose. Again very easy to use. Seems they also sell flights tickets, so you can compare Nusatrip and Bookcabin.
Travel Dates: 16 July 2024 – 12 August 2024
Itinerary: We visited most of known birding sites adding only Morotai that is usually left out in the standard itineraries, below is our itinerary with a focus on the logistics:
18 July 2024: Batik Air Jakarta – Palu, self drive to Wuasa
19 July 2024 – 22 July 2024: Lore Lindu NP and surrounds
23 July 2024: Lion Air Palu – Makassar, automatically rebooked into an earlier flight from (1650 Hrs to 1400 Hrs), self drive Makassar – Malino
24 July 2024: Lompobattang Mountain, drive back to Makassar
25 July 2024: Karaenta Forest, Bantimurung Bulusaraung National Park and Rammang Rammang
26 July 2024: Lion Air Makassar – Ternate
27 July 2024 – 30 July 2024: Public speed boat Ternate – Sofifi, Halmahera birding
31 July 2024: Charter speed boat Tobelo – Morotai, captain was hesitant due to potential collision risk with bigger vessels in pitch darkness, convinced him and left at 0500 Hrs.
01 August 2024: Public speed boat Morotai – Tobelo, kept waiting for more passengers, eventually sharing the charter cost with another passenger who had a flight to catch. Drive Tobelo – Sofifi, reached just in the nick of time to catch the last speed boat for the evening from Sofifi – Ternate. Back breaking due to extremely rough seas, engines required constant refuelling all the while crew/passengers kept smoking sitting on the semi-open fuel cans.
02 August 2024: Birding around Ternate
03 August 2024: Wings Air Ternate – Manado, self drive to Batu Putih village (Tangkoko)
04 August 2024 – 05 August 2024: Tangkoko and surrounds
06 August 2024: Tangkoko – Kotamobagu, poor visibility during heavy rain and one near miss as a speeding driver decided to suddenly stop in the middle of the road to buy something from a roadside vendor.
07 August 2024: Bogani Nani Wartabone Nasional Park
08 August 2024: Kotamobagu – Tomohon
09 August 2024 – 10 August 2024: Tomohon
11 August 2024: Batik Air Manado – Jakarta
Car Rental: Indonesia is a right hand drive with not many self drive options and it was a struggle to find someone willing to give us a car. Eventually we found the following:
Palu: RMGP Self Drive, +62 852 4134 5503 (https://rentalmobilgreenpalu.com/): At the time of booking they offered us a new Daihatsu Terios at 433,000 IDR per day, but we ended up getting a beat up old manual Terios, cant complain as they were the only company offering a self drive. Car pickup and drop was arranged at the airport at no extra cost. Driving a manual was ok, traffic was manageable at Palu and Wuasa had no traffic.
Makassar: Intrans, +62 813 4377 9779: Far better experience and customer centric, we booked a cheap Brio at 350,000 IDR, but got upgraded to a new Toyota Avanza Automatic at the same price. Car pickup and drop at the airport. Driving in Makassar is not for the faint hearted, be prepared.
Manado: Manado Adventure Jaya, +62 8114305788, Christo, +62 895 8014 58953: Toyota Avanza at 466,000 IDR. The car was good, but they tried to extort money at every possibility which we avoided. Car pick-up and drop at the airport. A bit of traffic in Manado and Kotamobagu, but not lethal like Makassar.
Bird Guides:
Halmahera: Rob, the owner of Weda resort was the only person to respond to our WA whose resort was unfortunately shut down due to fresh mining and destruction of the nearby forest. He suggested that we contact Ilham and since no other soul responded to our mails/WA, we were kind of forced to take a package tour for the Halmahera part of the trip. Ilham is a pretty good guide, knows the birds well and was good company.
Ilham: +62 822 7154 0523
Tangkoko, Sulawesi: As a renowned global birding location, guiding has become a mafia business here. There is a union and one cannot enter the NP without taking a guide. We contacted almost all the Tangkoko guides before our travel and were quoted obnoxious prices ranging anywhere from 1500 USD to 2500 USD for a 5/6 day package including a day visit to Gunung Mahawu. We decided to reach the place and then negotiate.
Upon reaching, we did a bit of window shopping and eventually stumbled upon Roy, a young guide who knew birds very well and was ready to take us into the NP at a fraction of the cost others were asking. His mentor turned out to be Bobby, another experienced guide who was leading a bird group in some other part of Sulawesi. Via phone, we agreed on a price to stay at Bobby’s lodge.
Overall, we ended up paying a quarter of the cost. To avoid the hassle, we recommend contacting Roy/Bobby beforehand and negotiating hard.
Roy: +62 822 9162 9207
Bobby: +62 821 8795 5877
At the Tangkoko lookout, we realized that many guides pretend to be expert birders, which they are not, so be very careful in selecting a guide. Out of all the guides at the lookout, Mensur stood out, he had a keen eye, knew birds very well and was not greedy like others, freely sharing a few sites where we could find our missing targets. We do not know his pricing, but he surely is a good guide, Mensur Dalambide: +62 821 8967 1159.
Gunung Mahawu: On our first day at Gunung Mahawu, we birded along the roadside and the overgrown trails, until an aggressive Tangkoko guide approached us asking where our guide is which was responded in an equally aggressive tone. He backed off and we spent the rest of the day birding freely.
By evening, we were still missing the Pitta so we contacted Adam, a local guide who was not available, but kindly connected us with Epi Sinta, an indigenous who runs the pitta hide in the area. We contacted him and were informed that pitta stopped visiting the hide, nevertheless, Epi spent the next morning with us at the cost of a lunch. Mind you, he does not speak English and communicating with him is a big hassle.
Epi Sinta: +62 819 9912 1036
Adam: +62 821 9135 5775
Bogani Nani Wartabone Nasional Park: This park supports the last remaining Maleo’s in the world and the easiest accessible area is either Tambun or Muara Pusian. Bobby strongly advised to visit Muara Pusian as the Maleo’s come very close whereas in Tambun, the birds maintain distance and the caretaker is a pain with all local guides boycotting him. We somehow ignored this advice and fell into Max’s trap. Reaching Tambun at 0530 hrs, Max asked for 100 USD for the day. With no option, we agreed and while we did see the Maleo’s from far away, we realized that the 100 USD was only for one hour and not for the entire day. We fought it out informing that we will only pay if he spends 8 hours birding with us. After a nasty stand-off, we just paid the park entrance fee+ranger fee that was listed on the park board.
We do not know the situation in Muara Pusian, but be careful in Tambun. Via WA, we lodged a complaint on the Bogani Nani helpline which was responded promptly informing that Max had retired and should not be entertained.
Accommodation:
Zest Airport Jakarta: Not bad for an overnight stay, free airport shuttle service.
Nasional Lodge, Wuasa: Bird friendly accommodation close to the Lore Lindu NP, the rooms are small and bath is claustrophobic. Gloria is now constructing new rooms with better facilities. Food is good and staff is courteous. On arrival, Gloria suggested we hire a local bird guide at a nominal cost that we agreed. Lito was excellent as a guide, speaks only Indonesian and still uses an old Nokia phone.
Gloria: +62 813 1221 3557
Celebs Villa, Malino (+62 821 2120 4050): Decent property, due to lean season, our room was a bit damp, otherwise ok. For meals, we went to a nearby friendly restaurant where you can also stay at a cheaper price. Many more properties available as Malino is a tourist town.
Harper Perintis by ASTON, Makassar: Excellent property, booked one day prior through WA (+62 852 1111 8399)
Villa Ma’rasai, Ternate: Excellent with great food.
Losmen Balis: Subaim, Halmahera: Similar to Nasional Lodge, average food
Hotel Molokai, Morotai: Decent for a location like Morotai, lot many surfers stay here.
Tangkoko Lodge: Owned by Bobby, clean, nice rooms with excellent food.
SutanRaja Hotel, Kotamobagu (+62 822 5943 7118): Excellent, an hours drive from Muara Pusian/Tambun. The other option is to stay at the guest house inside the park.
Hotel Villa Emitta Tomohon (+62 823 4991 1115): Excellent clean hotel with good food, close to Gunung Mahawu.
Local SIM: The plan was to purchase a Telkomsel SIM from the Jakarta airport GraPARI store, however the hotel shuttle was waiting for us and we decided to buy from an outside store. Never materialized as the local SIM could not be activated and we managed the entire trip without it.
Following is a brief update on the birding sites, please feel free to contact us for the kml and Garmin tracks data if anyone is interested:
Olobogu River grassland (-1.031808, 119.946837): A quick stopover at the agricultural fields with Pale-headed and Black-faced Munia as a highlight.
Lore Lindu National Park: We spent 4 birding days and managed to see most of the targets barring the White-eared Myza, Mountain Siskin, Piping Crow and the Sombre Pigeon (HO). Inspite of the rain, we finished most of the birding within 3 days and the 4th day was more of a reserve day for us. Four day entry fee for two people was charged at 1.2 Million IDR, however we suspect it was shared between Lito and the rangers.
Lake Tambing (-1.325407, 120.309419): Easily accessible, this location holds most of the key Lore Lindu birds including the Geomalia, Hylocitrea, Dark-eared Myza and Sulawesi Bush Warbler. Geomalia was seen behind the toilet block and other’s were seen along the track starting from the toilet block.
Anaso Track (-1.321703, 120.301803): The start of the trail is along the roadside and well marked with a big board. Still, let us know if you need a Garmin track for the hike. The hike reaches close to 2200m and has visible scars from the 2018 earthquake. As a Geomalia individual has made Lake Tambing its home, there is no need to start early. The key birds for us here were the Satanic Nightjar, Dwarf Sparrowhawk, Streak-headed White-eye, Sulawesi Babbler, Sulawesi Leaf Warbler and the lore lindu subspecies of the Scaly-breasted Kingfisher. Unfortunately, Sombre Pigeon remained heard only and did not break cover.
Roadside birding: The forest between Lake Tambing and Anaso track is very birdy, no trails, we simply bushwhacked following the Malia calls, Malia, Sulawesi Thrush and Maroon-backed Whistler came as a highlight.
Mid-elevation grassland: Interesting place, a savanna habitat at approx. 1500m asl with Purple-bearded Bee-eater and Sulawesi Pitta as a highlight.
Nocturnal Birding: Lito was pretty good and had his sites for most of the owls namely Eastern Grass Owl, Speckled Boobook, Cinnabar Boobook, Sulawesi Scops Owl and Sulawesi Masked Owl.
Lompobattang Mountain, Malino: Based on past records, we decided to bird the eastern slope of Lompobattang and parked our car approximately -5.272834, 119.924190 and hiked the village trail reaching prime Lompobattang Flycatcher’s habitat in no time (forest patches interspersed with clearings, in this case agricultural land). Thankfully, the highlight for the morning were two Lompobattang Flycatcher, Lompobattang Leaf Warbler and a Sulawesi Thrush family feeding next to us. Hike is straightforward, Garmin data is available.
Karaenta Forest, Makassar (-5.023945, 119.742853): Started from Makassar at 0430 Hrs, reaching in one hour and heard the Green-backed (Black-headed) Kingfisher just before dawn that led us into an overgrown trail. Bird vanished after daybreak. Road construction underway, slow trucks and a bit of careful driving required while overtaking. We did make a few roadside stops on our way back with Yellow-sided Flowerpecker and Grey-sided Flowerpecker as a highlight.
Bantimurung Bulusaraung National Park, Makassar (-5.016102, 119.681315): On our way back from Karaenta, we birded the parking lot of the NP, nothing interesting, moved on.
Rammang Rammang, Makassar (-4.925095, 119.607204): We missed getting good views of the Black-ringed White-eye at Karaenta, so we drove at good speed, reaching the Rammang Rammang village on the other side of the NP by noon. After parking at the boat launch site, walked back to the main road and instinctively walked a trail on the left of the road. The trail led us into a shrubby habitat and under scorching noon sun, managed to get better views of the white-eye. We were so dehydrated by then that we forgot to take the coordinates of this place.
Halmahera: We did not visit any hides or display sites and just focused on roadside birding managing to see most of the endemics with the Halmahera Flowerpecker as the only painful miss. Ilham was guiding us here, so following is just a snapshot of the area’s we birded.
Gunung (Hill) Uni-Uni: Key birding sites were 1.051767, 128.275488, 1.015368, 128.302668 (Uni-Uni bridge) and the viewpoint at 1.014709, 128.304884.
Gunung Roni: We missed the Azure Dollarbird at 0.997481, 127.963280 but did find many other interesting birds here. The Common Paradise Kingfisher was not seen at its usual place and we ended up seeing it closer to Tobelo.
Nocturnal Birding: Ilham had own own sites for the Halmahera Boobook, Moluccan Owlet-nightjar and the Moluccan Scops Owl.
Morotai: We literally forced the speed boat captain to set sail in pitch darkness, only to find the Desa Mira village head (2.175105, 128.592175) not at his home. A nice chap, but by the time he returned and arranged motorbikes to take us into the forest, it was already mid morning. We wanted to hike, but Ilham insisted to use motorcycles. Anyway, we were successful in locating the Morotai Friarbird, but the Morotai White-eye eluded us and Ilham was pretty disheartened. During the evening we dug through all past records hoping to get an alternate site. We found one site (2.063896, 128.315812) with the highest probability as two different unrelated sightings came from this location. Ilham laughed it out mentioning the site was all cleared up and worthless to visit. Anyway, next morning with two hours in hand, we visited this site and voila, a white-eye family responded to Rishi’s playback!!!
Ternate: Ilham took us to his friend’s hide for the Moluccan Dwarf Kingfisher and the North Moluccan Pitta.
Tangkoko: We saw almost all the target birds, only missing out on the Red-backed Thrush. Roy took the following route during our excursion:
Campground (1.569287, 125.161812), 0600 Hrs: Several endemic birds seen flying as they moved out of roosting.
Trails: Roy had his locations for the kingfishers/owls. For others, we just followed the calls
Evening, farming area (1.564615, 125.156865): Good birding in the evening and for nocturnal birds.
Batu Putih village forest (1.554855, 125.142997): Roy took us here for the Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher. We ourselves simply could not have located this bird, it’s tiny and can be anywhere.
Tangkoko overlook (1.521025, 125.137460): Great view of the valley and excellent early morning birding. Roy is smart, he went with us to area’s where we would struggle and left this overlook for us to bird ourselves.
Boat ride: Bobby coordinated with his regular boatman to take us to the Great-billed Kingfisher area. That was enough for us to find the bird.
Tambun, Bogani Nani Wartabone NP (0.588658, 124.118871): We started from Kotomagu at 0422 Hrs, reaching in exactly an hour, the last road stretch was in bad shape. Max took us to a hide/shelter from where we could observe the Maleo’s.
Gunung Mahawu, Tomohon: We saw our first Scaly-breasted Kingfisher approximately at 1.348225, 124.870692, next day Epi showed us 2 more individuals along with Sulawesi Blue Flycatcher.
We were also lucky to spot a few mammals like the Moor Macaque (Karaenta) & Celebes Crested Macaque, Sulawesi Bear-Cuscus and Gursky’s Spectral Tarsier at Tangkoko.
Excellent report with all details :).