I had an exploratory birding trip to Wondama Bay a few months ago. I visited several sites that are suitable for birding including the forest in the northern region of Wondama peninsula, around Rowi river, Wandamui Hill, and forest along the road to the southern part of Wondiboi forest.
It was a nice birding trip and I was able to see interesting birds such as Palm Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Black-capped Lory, Lowland Peltop, Blyth's Hornbill, Grey Crow, Oriental Dollarbird, Lesser Birds of Paradise, Glossy-mantled Manucode, Spangled Drongo, Black Sunbird, Olive-backed Sunbird, Red Myzomella, Common Paradise Kingfisher, Helmetted Friarbird, Pinon Imperial Pigeon, and White-bellied Sea Eagle, Brahminy Kite, Lesser Frigated Bird.
I also heard the calls of Yellow-billed Kingfisher, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, King Bird of Paradise, Red-bellied Pitta, and Hooded Pitta, Pink-spotted Fruit Dove.
Much of the forests in Wondama regency have not been explored.
 |
| Eclectus Parrot |
I brought Canon 200D and Tamron 150-600 mm telephoto lens, a good pair of binoculars and a spotting scope. These optical devices greatly enhanced my birding experience. Some people from tourism department and the national park of Cendrawasih bay accompanied me. They enjoyed the birding activity through the spotting scope.In addition to birding, we also enjoyed swimming and snorkeling where coral reef of Wondama was teeming with abundant marine life. I used Nikon 130 to take pictures of the fish, the sea star and the coastal environment.
 |
| Red-bellied Pitta |
Most of the indigenous people in Wondama live as farmers, and fishermen. Their staple food is sago. Sago flour is extracted from the pith of sago palm tree. It is interesting to see how sago flour is made. There are a lot of villages in Wondama where we can see local people make sago. In town, they work as government employee, construction workers, teachers, ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers, and etc.
The trip to Wondama was great and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves birdwatching, hiking, snorkeling and sightseeing. Anyone who is a nature lover will find a lot of natural places to explore both at sea, islands, and on mainlands.Wondama is a regency in West Papua province of Indonesia. To reach it, visitors need to take international flight from their country to Jakarta (the capital of Indonesia) or to Denpasar city of Bali island. The next trip is flying to Manokwari city. Airlines such as Sriwijaya, Batik, or Wings/ Lion Air offer regular flights to Manokwari. We can meet visitors at the airport and organize the trip to Wondama by small turboprop aircraft or by passenger boat.
In the town of Wondama, there are hotels, homestays, restaurants, shops and markets, hospital, banks and ATMs.
 |
| Flight route to Wondama regency |
If you are interested in visiting Wondama to enjoy nature based tourism activities, please, contact me by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.
