Planning Itinerary: East Java

East Java: there is a wonderful, circular 2-3 week itinerary commencing from Surabaya, Java’s second largest city. The tour starts with a visit to the Brantas delta to look for Asian dowitchers and other waterbirds, then heads east along the north coast to Baluran National Park and its Green Peafowl, with a stopover to experience a sunrise over the awesome volcanic scenery of Mt Bromo/tengger. A short diversion can be made across to Bali Barat National Park from the ferry terminal at Banyuwangi, before swiing round south back on Java to the lowland reserves of Alas Purwo and Meru Betiri. Continuing west, the loop is completed after a relaxing sojourn at the peaceful environmental centre at Trawas, in the hills above Malang. Naturally, this can also be done as an add-on to Bali.

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.