Birdwatching in Nusa Tenggara
Lombok
A great place for relaxing, enjoying the beaches and visiting temples and villages Lombok has become Indonesia’s new “in” tourist destination. Apart from on the slopes of Mt Rinjani, little natural vegetation remains and the island’s bird fauna is very impoverished compared to that of its neighbours. There is good trekking and pleasant mountain birding in Rinjani National Park and this is well covered in all guides to the island.
Sapit
On the mountain’s eastern slopes, this pleasant area of forest (some degraded) mixed with shifting agriculture, is the island’s only birding area.
Key species
Chinese Goshawk, Black-naped Fruit-dove, White-shouldered Triller, Scaly-crowned Honeyeater, Lesser Shortwing, Mountain Leaaf-warbler, Short-tailed Starling.
General information
From Sapit a road leads uphill for 7 km to the start of the Air Panas (“hot spring”) trail. The nicest thing to do is to charter a vehicle up ($3-6) and walk back, descending through degraded forest after 1-2 km. the sacred hot springs at air panas are surrounded by good primary forest through which there is a level trail.