For parrot enthusiasts, seram is exceptional. Its 11 parrot species include two found only on Ambon and one on Ambon and Seram: two of these three must rate as among Indonesia’s, if not the world’s, most exquisite parrots. They are the subtle pink salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) and the intelligent, multicoloured purple-naped lorry (Lorius domicella).
For birders with a penchant for tropical ecology, the 1,890 sq km Manusela National Park, which straddles the centre of the island, is fascinating; capped with the bare volcanic plug of Mt Binaya, which thrust up through magnificent limestone peaks and escarpments, Manusela embraces an exceptional range habitats, from mangroves and nipa palm swamps, through freshwater swamps and lowland forest, up into montane rain forest.
But seram does not give up its treasures readily. Although made a national park in 1982 and the subject of a major operation Raleigh scientific expedition in 1987, Manusela (the name means “bird of freedom”) is still without many basic park facilites. To appreciate the area and find seram’s 21 endemic bird species, you will need time, a willingness to trek through forest-sometimes up to your knees in mud-to put up with rain and leeches and to survive for days on end a diet of rice and noodles.
Trekking routes
a number of trails cross the park from Wahai on the north coast to Mosso or Hatumete on the south. They can be tackled in either direction, but the climb out of Mosso is extremely strenuous: it is known locally as the “path of sorrow”, a reference to a time in the colonial era. When villagers were forced to move to the coast. So it is best to start from Wahai, which, in addition to the 5-day, cross-island trek, offers options for 5-or 6-day circular treks up to the Manusela valley inhabited by the indigenous alifuru people, and back to the north coast via the kobipoto ridge, or down the isal river valley.
Wahai
The pleasant coastal village of Wahai is a day’s journey from Ambon. Early each morning direct buses leave Ambon’s Merdeka bus terminal, cross to seram by ferry and continue to saka, a small collection of huts and a jetty nestling by the side of enormous cliffs on Seram’s north coast. Public speed boats meet the buses in the late afternoon and whisk you off on an exhilarating, 2-hr dash along the coast to Wahai. As you pass the spectacular limestone cliffs-the end of a rugged ridge which still defies the road engineers-lookout for flocks of migratory Australian Pelicans loafing on sandbanks.
Just 8 km to the east of Wahai is the boundary of a broad swathe of the National Park that sweeps down to the sea. A day spent birding along the road tha runs through it to Pasahari provides a superb introduction to seram’s birds. Species to look for here include Gurney’s Eagle, Oriental Hobby and Pacific Baza soaring over the forest edge, Lazuli Kingfisher in partially cleared areas, Metallic pigeon, Claret-breasted Fruit-dove and Long crested Myna in the swamp forest and common bush-hen in the grasslands. You will soon be over familiar with the ubiquitous, explosive pprow calls of seram friarbird, the island’s most common endemic. It is so accurately mimicked by the black-naped oriole that most people leave seram unsure wheter they have relly seen the oriole. With the help of the National Park Rangers, a number of pleasant “off road” excursions can be arranged in this area: you can walk to the edge of the mangroves or through the swamp forest, or even float down the rivers to the sea on a bamboo raft.
Either on the way out or back (depending on the tides) check out the mangrove-lined mud-flats in air besar bay, just 2 km east of wahai. There are usually a few Australian ibises around and good range of shorebirds-and possibility of Channel-billed Cuckoos-in the migration season. The small patch of forest behind the quay is good for common Paradise-Kingfisher.
Source: Birding Indonesia. Periplus Publishing. Singapore