Planning Itinerary Sumatra and West Java

Planning an Itinerary

The first thing to realize is that you can never cover the entire archipelago, even if you were to spend months or years here. Don’t make yourself an impossibly tight schedule. Be aware that distances are great and travel slow. Better to spend more time in fewer places. You’ll see more this way, not less.

Below are four 3-4 week and two overland birding itineraries that maximize both the range of species see and time spent in the field.

Sumatra and West Java: in terms of getting a massive trip list with plenty of endemics, combining west Javan with way kambas and/or Kerinci, south and west Sumatra, is hard to better. There is a great itinerary, starting with a search for Javan Coucal in the tiny marsh reserve at Muara Angke in Jakarta, followed by a few day’s cleaning-up on the montane forest endemics at Mt Gede/Pangrango National park outside Bogor. Then head to the far west peninsula to see Green Peafowl and other lowland rainforest specialities at Ujung Kulon National Park before crossing to Sumatra to see highly prized species-Storm’s Stork and White-winged Duck at Way Kambas and Schneider’s Pitta and Sumatran Cochoa at Kerinci. Alternatively you can fly from Singapore to Padang in Sumatra and then after visiting Kerinci, travel dawn to way kambas and across to Java.

Trekking and Local Guides in Indonesian Birdwatching

To trek in most areas in Indonesia it is necessary to be self-sufficient in food and to take a guide. Aour guide will need to eat rice, and lightweight, pre-packaged food is not available, it is usually best to hire a couple of porters to carry provisions and equipment. The normal daily wage is IDR 25,000-50,000 plus food. Few guides have their own trekking equipment and you will need to buy this before setting out. They will be adept at knocking up shelters (pondok) in the forest, so there’s no need to worry about tents for them.

The usual pre-trek shopping list is : a large pot (for rice), a small pot (noodles and tea), plastic cups and plates, spoons, a ladle (for rice), a small kerosene lamp, 1 litre jerrycan with kerosene (minyak tanah) and a piece of plastic sheeting and raffia. This will add up to about $ 40 in any general store and, unfortunately unless you want to cart it around, you have to buy it again at each location. The essential food on the list is rice (plan on 1 kg/4 people/day), instant noodles (one or two packs/person/day), fish (either dried, or tinned sardines), chili sauce (sambal), creamcrackers, coffee, tea, sugar, tinned milk, cigarette lighter and cigarettes (for the guides porters and anyone else you meet). You will quickly tire of rice and noodles for breakfast lunch and dinner, so look for variety to liven up the diet. Good bets are chocolate wafers, crispy crackers, egg-coated peanuts and boiled sweets. Ask the shop for rice sacks to put all this in. the porters will carry these, either slung from poles over their shoulders or in ingenious ruck sacks rigged up from tree bark.

Almost everywhere you will be expected to take a local guide when entering a forest area, whether this is in or outside a national park or reserve. In the reserve the guide will be a local PHPA ranger. They vary greatly in knowledge and enthusiasm, and the best are noted in each sections’s practicalities. In rural areas the local village head (kepala desa) will feel responsible for your safety and will understandably be concerned if you try to wander about alone. Even if you are an old hand in tropical forests, it will be hard for them to believe it. So, even though it’s a hassle, it is wiser to go with local wishes and to take someone for you. You will be expected to pay IDR 25,000-50,000 a day for the services. The trouble with local guides is that concept of recreational birdwatching will be totally new and probably quite incomprehensible to them. Take the time to explain your needs carefully.