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| Lesser Birds of Paradise (Paradisaea minor) |
Birding in Lower Montane Forest of Arfak Mountains
There is a birding site in the south of Manokwari city which visitors can go to watch Lesser Birds of Paradise, King Bird of Paradise, Common Paradise Kingfisher, Magnificent Riflebird, Hooded Butcherbird, Coconut Lorikeet, Great Cuckoo Dove, Beautiful Fruit Dove and a lot of other birds that live in lower montane forest.
To reach that forest, we need to go by car for 1.5 hours and then continue our trip by hiking steep slopes of Arfak range for 1 hour. We will arrive at our huts and birding site located in the middle of Susnguakti forest.
Our Clients
As a tourist guide, I have organized hiking and birding tours to this forest for visitors who come from various countries in the world such as Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, the United States, Germany, China, Korea, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, and a lot of other countries which I cannot mention one by one in this blog post. We spend between 3 days to 5 days in the forest to explore the biodiversity of plants and animals in Susnguakti forest of Manokwari.
Tour in the forest will be done both during the days and at nights. In the mornings and in the afternoons, we will walk under the canopy of the forest to watch birds, butterflies, insects, and tropical plants. At nights, we will walk through the forest to find cuscus possum, brown ground skink, and Papua dragon lizard. Wear hiking boots and socks to protect yourself from mosquito and snake. Sometimes we could see birds that sleep on the lower branches of trees. One example is the Spot-winged Monarch (Symposiarchus guttula). I was walking with 2 Dutch tourists and our local guide when we saw the bird. I and one of the tourists carefully aimed our cameras at the bird and then shot him several times. After that, we left him to continue our exploration of the forest.
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| Birding in Susnguakti forest of Arfak range |
There are also some Indonesian tourists who visited Susnguakti to watch Lesser Birds of Paradise.
Night Walk
Where to stay in Susnguakti forest
I and local villagers have prepared huts in the jungle for visitors to stay. We provide dome tents, mattrasses, pillows, sleeping bags, cooking and eating utensils to serve tourists who take birding and wildlife watching tour with us. These huts are located near a small river. These huts are not luxurious hotels but they are our only accommodation for visitors who want to watch paradise birds, cuscus possum, Papua dragon lizard, and a lot of unique vegetation in this lower montane forest of Arfak range.
What visitors need to bring:
Please, bring a good pair of binoculars, camera with telephoto lens, head torch, trousers, t-shirts (dark colour ones such as dark green, dark gray, or the camouflage colours), hiking boots or sport shoes with socks, personal toiletries, and towel, anti insect spray or lotion.
How to get to Manokwari?
Manokwari is the capital of Papua Barat province of Indonesia. There are regular flights from Jakarta (the capital of Indonesia) to Manokwari served by such airlines as Garuda, Batik Air, Sriwijaya, and Lion + Wings Air. I could meet you at the airport of Manokwari or at the hotel where you stay in the city and organize your bird and wildlife watching tour to Susnguakti forest.Booking your birding tour in Manokwari
If you plan to visit West Papua for hiking and birding in tropical rainforest of Manokwari, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by e-mail to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by sending text message to my number: +6281332245180.
