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Saturday, May 20, 2017

Birdwatching Hiking and Camping in Manokwari

Camping at the bank of Mesirrokow river
I have organized and run birding tours in Manokwari for years now. Early this year, I introduced a new birding area called Mesirrokow. It is a lowland forest area in north-west region of Manokwari regency. There are a lot of birds that can be seen in the forest of Mesirrokow river area such as Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Palm Cockatoo, Large-tailed Nightjar, Black capped Lory, Papuan Blyth's hornbill, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Yellow-billed Kingfisher and a lot more.
In addition to watching birds, visitors who take the birding tour to the area can also see colorful butterflies, beetles, grasshoppers, and other insects. Wild boars, wallaby, deer, snakes, and soa-soa monitor make the forest of Mesirrokow river as their natural habitat.


Birdwatching Activity
Visitors can enjoy birding along the sides of the river by using binoculars and spotting scopes. In the mornings, Yellow-faced Myna, Eclectus Parrot, Willie Wagtail, and Hooded Butcherbird like to sit on the branches of trees.
Walking deeper into the jungle, visitors can watch more birds including Lowland Peltop, Dollarbird, Brahminy Kite, and Little-ringed Plover.

Birding Gear
Birdwatchers usually bring a good pair of 10x42 roof prism binoculars, a spotting scope with tripod or a D-SLR camera with telephoto lens. I have got binoculars which visitors could use to enhnace their birding experience in Manokwari

Camping and Hiking
There are no guesthouses in Mesirrokow forest. As a tourist guide, I provide tents, sleeping bags, cooking equipment and eating utensils for tourists who want to spend several days birding and camping in the forest.
As we walk further into the river-forest area, we will dismantle our tents and rebuild them in our new birding site. Visitors could also enjoy swimming, and fishing along the river.

Large-tailed Nightjar
Duration of the Birding and Camping Tour
On the average, visitors spend between 3 days/ 2 nights and 5 days/ 4 nights camping in the area. After the tour, visitors could extend their trip in Manokwari to a few more days by birding in Arfak mountains or snorkeling in some islands in Dorey bay.

Booking
If you are interested in hiking, camping and birding in Mesirrokow forest or other places in Manokwari, please, contact me by e-mail to: peace4wp@gmail.com or send text/ whatsapp message to: peace4wp@gmail.com