Sorong is an important transit city in Indonesia for visitors who want to go snorkeling and scuba diving in Raja Ampat or adventure trip in Tambrauw. As a matter of fact, Sorong city is a nice destination for tourists who love birding. For day birding, birdwatchers can enjoy their activities, usually very early in the mornings from 06:00 to 10:00, and in late afternoons from 14:30 to 18:00 at the outskirt areas of Sorong city.
Participants can be a solo traveling visitor or a group of tourists who are interested in watching birds and other wild animals of West Papua as well as enjoying sightseeing of the natural landscapes of Sorong regency.
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| Blyth's Hornbill |
Sorong is a recommended destination for visitors who like birding or want to see outdoor natural environment. There are a number of places which birders can go to watch birds. Some of them include mangrove forest, hill forest, Sorong's ridge forest, and northern coast of Sorong city.
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| Hooded Butcherbird |
In the hill and ridge forest, visitors can watch Black Sunbird, Sahul Sunbird, Olive-crowned Flowerpecker, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Palm Cockatoo, Blyth's Hornbill, Orange-bellied Fruit-dove, Black-butcherbird, Hooded Butcherbird, Brown Oriole, Orange-bellied Fruit-dove, Pink-spotted Fruit-dove, Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Yellow-faced Myna, Golden Myna, Emperor Fairywren, and etc.
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| Blue-fronted Fig Parrot, formerly called Orange-breasted Fig Parrot |
In mangrove forest, visitors could enjoy watching such birds as Orange-fronted Fruit-dove, Collared Imperial Pigeon, Brown-backed Honeyeater, Sahul Sunbird, Common Sandpiper, Willie Wagtail, Blue-fronted Fig Parrot, White-bellied Cuckooshrike, Beach Kingfisher, Little Kingfisher, Striated Heron, Rainbow Bee-eater, Brush Cuckoo, and etc.
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| Papuan Eclectus |
Visitors can bring binoculars, and camera if they want to take this tour. As a birding guide, I can bring a spotting scope to enable participants see birds in distant trees. This device greatly enhances the birding experience of participants. |
| Birding in Sorong |
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| Rainbow Bee-eater |
Birding and Snorkeling in Raja Ampat
The island of Waigeo is a great destination for visitors who are interested in birding, snorkeling and scuba diving. The target birds for Waigeo includes rainforest birds such as Pink-spotted Fruit-dove, Claret-breasted Fruit-dove, Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Papuan Eclectus, Red-cheeked Parrot, Coconut Lorikeet, Violet-necked Lory, Red Bird of Paradise, Wilson's Bird of Paradise, Yellow-billed Kingfisher, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Common Paradise Kingfisher, Raja Ampat Pitohui, and etc.
If we do island hopping trips, we could see a wide variety of sea birds such as Common Sandpiper, Pacific Reef Heron, Whimbrel, Lesser Frigate Bird, Crested Tern, Black-naped Tern, Sooty Tern, Bridled Tern, Striated Heron, Osprey, Brahminy Kite, White-bellied Sea Eagle, and a lot more.
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| Tropical sea and typical beach accommodation in Kri island of Raja Ampat |
The coral reef in Raja Ampat islands is one of the best in the world. Tour participants could enjoy snorkeling or scuba diving to see various species of marine creatures from grouper, barracuda, trevally, batfish, manta, surgeonfish, moorish idol, butterflyfish and etc. There are also turtles, wobbegong, walking shark, and giant sea clam that tourists can see while in the water.
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| Coral reef in southern coast of Waigeo island |
Waigeo, Kri, Mansuar, and Gam islands are mostly chosen by visitors as their base for snorkeling and scuba diving trips. Daily excursions to various coral reef sites and islands can be done by speed boats.
LONGER TRIPS
In addition to one day trip, I also run multiple day rainforest tours that last for 3 days to around 1 week covering Sorong regency's forest in Malagufuk, Sorong's hill and mangrove park, Tambrauw and Raja Ampat.
More plants and animals could be seen during the tours from sago palm whose pith is grated to make starch (which is the staple food of local people) to giant merbau tree whose trunk is cut to make wooden blocks and planks for house contruction.
If you are interested in taking a birding tour from Sorong city and want me to organize your trip, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.
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