12 August. Back at the
airport for our delayed flight to Manokwari and things were getting fraught with
that day’s departures already fully booked and no immediate sign that the only plane
had been fixed. After further delays we were
put on the first flight, apparently benefiting from a ‘tourists first policy’ introduced
by the government. It was the sort of thing
that would cause outrage in the UK but something we were unashamedly thankful for. We arrived in Manokwari, made our way to the local
WWF Office to find our ex-pat contact, who we’d written to in advance, had tragically
died. His replacement was absolutely brilliant
in contacting a guide to put together an Arfak Trek for us at short notice. It was a complete blur to me but we got food,
porters and a vehicle to drop us in Wamare in time to walk for a couple of hours
to the forest edge below Inat Beab where we camped. Few birds were seen, the best being Papuan
Hornbill and Variable Pitohoui.
13 August. We slowly walked
up to Ciroubrei where we camped. It was
a fairly easy day in lowland and sub-montane forest during which half of the 22
species I saw were new. Highlights were
the immaculate Dwarf Whistler, Black-chinned Robin, Frilled and Golden Monarchs
and Lesser BoP.
14 August. From
Ciroubrei at 1000m in altitude we had the option of diverting to the village of
Mokwam in the hope of finding bird guide Seth Wonger who lived there. We had not been able to contact Seth in
advance and Mokwam was quite a detour, including losing precious altitude
before regaining it, so we decided our limited time would be better spent
higher up in the Arfaks. In hindsight
this would only have been a good move if Seth hadn’t been around. We climbed steeply for 3-4 hours up to Gunung
Umsini. For me it was probably the
toughest day of the trip being a very steep climb on a muddy trail. Birding was particularly tough, and often I’d
fall behind the others, see them stopped to look at something and it would be
gone by the time I caught up. The rest
of the day was spent on the ridge trail and around Bini Bei where we
camped. A tough day but some excellent
birds seen including Black Sicklebill, Magnificent BoP (although sadly only a
female), Tit Berrypecker and Cinnamon-browed Melidectes.
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15 August. All day along the ridge from Gunuing Umsini as far as Gunung Ngribbou and in the Bini Bei area, much of the time on my own. Best birds I saw included Garnet and Ashy Robins, White-breasted Fruit-Dove, Vogelkop Bowerbird, Black Sicklebill and Western Parotia (again sadly just females).
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| coastal view from the Arfaks |
16 August. A long day. It started with a return to Gunung Umsini then much of the morning walking along the ridge to Gunung Ngribbou and back before the steep walk down to the road at Tana Mera. Here it didn’t take long to get a bemo back to to Manokwari where we paid our guide and porters, checked into a hotel (Losmen Mulia) for two nights and went for a meal with the WWF guy. Highlights to day were White-faced and Ashy Robins, Mottled Whistler, Black Pitohoui, Vogelkpop and Flame Bowerbirds, male Superb BoP and female Western Parotias. I found the Arfaks particularly tough. We probably should have spent longer up there and would definitely benefitted from having a bird guide. Although I saw lots of good birds some of the best were only females (Magnificent BoP, Western Parotia) or brief views (Flame Bowerbirds). I also missed a lot seen by others, much more than on the rest of the trip together. The most painful of these were Green-backed Robin (Nick was next to me watching this one but by the time he’d stopped telling me how good it looked and started on directions it had moved out of sight – I’ve never let him forget that!), Spotted Jewel-Babbler (fortunately Nick was on his own for this one as a closer miss would have been too hard to take), Long-tailed Paradigalla (Barry) and Lesser Ground Robin.
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| similar view to above but clear |
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| lower forest |
17-18 August. We had a
day trip to Warkapi, an area of lowland rainforest about two hours along the
coast from Manokwari. We knew this was
where Birdquest had seen King Bird of Paradise and we managed to find the guide
they used. Hopes were high but it was to
prove a very frustrating experience. It
was hot and birding was slow. We tracked
down a calling Yellow-billed Kingfisher but failed to see it despite spending
over an hour peering from all angles into the tree it was sitting tight in. What a wind-up! On the way back I stumbled into a pair of
Blue Jewel Babblers by the trail.
Brilliant, but unfortunately only Garry, who was directly behind me at
the time, got onto them before they slipped away. Nick, just behind, took this particularly
hard, as I would have done in his position as Jewel Babblers are stunning
birds. To add insult to injury I then
saw a Magnificent Riflebird that no-one else got onto, although it was only a
female. Other birds seen included Ornate
Fruit-Doves, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Lowland Peltops, Glossy-mantled
Manucode and female Lesser BoPs. Back in
Manokwari we were told that the fortnightly overnight ferry to Sorong was
scheduled to depart the following evening.
This seemed a much more certain option that the following day’s
Biak-Manokwari-Sorong flight, a route/plane that we’d already had issues with. Plus we could have another crack at King BoP
at Warkapi in the morning.
18
August.
We returned to Warkapi and asked our guide to concentrate on King BoP. He took us directly to a very tall tree
covered in creepers in a different area of forest. Despite his pointing we couldn’t see anything
although the lack of a common language meant that we weren’t sure if he was
saying ‘this is where Birdquest look’ or ‘there is one behind that
branch’. As four of us concentrating
with binoculars couldn’t see anything we hoped it was the former! Nick was feeling really rough and retired to
the main road to lie in the shade. We
wandered along the road and back to where we’d heard the Yellow-billed
Kingfisher the previous day but it was silent.
In desperation we offered our guide a bonus if he showed us King BoP
and, although it galvanised him into action, the result was the same - a
blank. We left Warkapi mid-afternoon
feeling quite dejected and with Nick barely able to walk. A Variable Dwarf Kingfisher, nice as it was,
was little consolation for not having seen King BoP. Nor was a better view of female Magnificent
Riflebird. Back in Manokwari we
collected our gear and went down to the harbour where we got tickets for a
4-berthed cabin. Getting on the boat was
not an experience I’d like to repeat in a hurry – it was still very hot and the
whole population of Manokwari seemed to be trying to get through the one
gate. Nick could hardly stand and needed
us to keep him going. Once onboard and
in our cabin things were quite different.
It was cooler, peaceful and Nick started to improve. The only annoyance was an internal speaker
that played canned music and calls to prayers.
Barry, who had worked at Swan Hunters, deftly disconnected it and we got
an uninterrupted night’s sleep, although hit was just as well we did not hit an
iceberg as we would have missed the call to muster stations, not that we would
have understood it!
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| Manokwari, with ferry coming into the harbour |
19
August.
We arrived in Sorong slightly nervous that our contact might have given
up on us as we had not been able to alert him to our change of plan. He was waiting at the quay although claimed
to have made a wasted journey to Jefman Airport to meet our plane the previous
day. This seemed unlikely as the airport
was on an island served only by ferries which came into this quay! He didn’t persist with this story and we soon
suspected he always hung out at the quay hoping to avail his services to any
arriving Westerners. We spent the
morning getting supplies and hiring a motorised long-boat for four days to visit
Batanta. We set off on the 3-4 hour
journey. It was initially quite choppy
as we crossed Sorong Bay and headed for the northern coast of Salawati but the
channel separating it from Batanta was calm.
Both Batanta and Salawati appeared to be almost completely forested and
looked superb. Half way along Batanta we
came to the small village of Wai Lebed, out destination. There we found Anton Dei who agreed to guide
us and arranged for our supplies to be cooked for us. As the light was fading we were shown to the
‘guest house’, which consisted of empty rooms with matted floors. We’d made it to Batanta.
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| leaving Sorong, the waves might not look much but it was quite choppy in a longboat |
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| Batanta guest house |
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| Batanta channel and Salawati (in distance) |
20
August.
There was only one thing on my mind as we got up before dawn and were
led up the mountain behind the guest house.
We climbed steadily for a couple of hours up to and along a ridge as
Anton took us up to a display ground of Wilson’s Bird of Paradise. We approached cautiously and settled behind a
screen he’d made. We could hear birds
calling and then one appeared. It was
absolutely stunning. We spent the morning
engrosed and my most vivid memory is of Anton putting a leaf in the middle of
the pristine display area. The male flew
in before Anton was out of sight and his anger was apparent. Not content to merely remove the leaf he
grasped it in one foot and shredded it into several pieces each of which was
flung away. Only when his ‘stage’ was
immaculate again was he content. Until
that point a pair of Giant Pittas watched repeatedly in Borneo 6 years before
were my best birds ever. Now they had a
very serious rival and had to settle for a share of that accolade (it became a three-way split in 1998 after
I’d seen Kagu in New Caledonia, a situation that remains to this day). On the way back down we saw a very unpleasant
looking off-white snake that Anton was quite concerned by. Barry then disturbed a pitta on the trail
that he was sure was Red-bellied. If one
is going to dip on a new pitta it could be a lot worse than doing so after
seeing Wilson’s BoP. Likewise getting
poor views of Pheasant Pigeon. All other birds paled into comparison but Common
Paradise and Variable Dwarf Kingfishers, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Hooded
Pitta and male and female Red BoPs made it a very good day. An evening listening to the small waves
breaking on the shore while my mind replayed our encounter with Wilson’s BoP
was about as close to paradise as I’ve come.
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| Wislon's BoP displays in here somewhere ... |
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| No 50 from Brooke Bond Tropical Birds series I collected and not very carefully stuck in the album as a seven year old in 1961. They were illustrated and described by C.F. Tunnicliffe. |
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| forest on Batanta |
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| descending the ridge trail on Batanta, one bit of forest up close looks much the same as any other ... |
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| C.F.Tunnicliffe's Tropical Birds number 49. Understandable why out of 50 species illustrated two were Birds of Paradise, they are just so good, but a bit surprising that both were West Papuan island endemics, not that I was complaining. |
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| sunset on Batanta, rarely have I felt so at peace |
21
August.
I decided to concentrate on looking for Barry’s Red-bellied Pitta but I
wasn’t successful and ended up seeing just 14 species. Although 5 sightings of Hooded Pitta were
nice it wasn’t the one I’d hoped for and in hindsight I would have done better
going back up on the ridge again.
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| the beach at Batanta with Wilson's ridge in the background. The beach full of broken coral and quite idyllic although it was much hotter than this picture suggests. |
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| my only 'wildlife' shot from Batanta, oh for the poor light capabilities of digital photography |
22
August.
We crossed to Salawati as it was getting light and Anton took us to a
good area of lowland forest. Despite
being less than half an hour away by boat much of the avifauna is surprisingly
different. Our target here was the
enormous Western Crowned Pigeon and, as hoped, Anton flushed one which perched
up in a tree giving us excellent views. We
then found a female plumaged King BoP.
It appeared to be displaying, tail cocked, vent and breast feathers
puffed out, wings arched and fluttered, head pointed up and undulated -
presumably it was a young male. It was
brilliant, especially after our massive disappointment at Warkapi, although an
adult male would be absolutely superb.
Also on Salawati we saw 27 Papuan Hornbills before returning to Batanta
for a final look round, adding Yellow-capped Pigmy Parrot, before returning to
Sorong. The journey started well, in the
sheltered channel. Our boatman cut
across to the northern coast of Salawati to buy some cigarettes in a village
there. I don’t know how much of a detour
this was but it was probably enough to cause us great anxiety. Back in Sorong Bay the swell had got up and
the light was starting to go. A flotilla
of fishing boats heading out for the night passed us and the lights of Sorong
began to come on as they got closer.
Then our engine cut out and we drifted a bit before the boatmen got it
restarted. We’d hardly made any progress
when it did it again and this time there was no restarting it. It was now fully dark, there were no boats
visible and Sorong still looked a good distance away. The waves were big enough for a broadside to
swamp us, the boat had no oars and it was starting to leak water. Barry ripped up a couple of seats to use as
paddles which were enough to keep us back on to the waves. Much to the others amusement I got a travel
neck pillow out of my bag and inflated it – I’ve never been much of a
swimmer. He boatman kept trying to
restart the engine and even stripped it down but to no avail. At one stage I felt confident we were heading
for the shore but as we got closer, and could see cars lights on the coast
road, I realised we were heading between an island and the shore. Next stop South China Sea? Should we bail out? Before we could make any rash decisions we
drifted within hailing distance of a fishing platform and roused someone. They had a boat and came out to rescue us,
although they’d only been towing us for a couple of minutes when their engine
died too. What odds we’d be rescued by the only boat with an engine as dodgy as
ours? Luckily it soon restarted and we
were towed into Sorong Harbour. I’ve
never been so pleased to touch the land, even if it was under a foot of water. Note to self: next time make sure the boat has two engines!
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| preparing to visit Salawati |
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| dawn departure to Salawati |
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| rescued |
23
August. Our last full day and a late start after the
previous evening’s ‘adventures’. We
chartered a taxi and spent the afternoon on a logging road at km 18. It wasn’t the best time of day and was very
hot but we did see the hoped for Black Lory and a nice selection of other
parrots, of which Palm Cockatoo was the best.
24 August.
We said goodbye to Barry who had an extra day
(he returned to the logging road and saw Forest Bittern there!). We caught the ferry to Jefman Airport and
started the long journey home. We saw
Lesser Frigatebird and Crested Tern from the ferry, Moluccan Kestrel on Ambon,
Tree Sparrow at Ujung Pandang, Pacific Swallow at Surabaya and Long-tailed
Shrike at Jakarta. The flight to London
was less eventful with a Gulf stop in darkness.
It was the toughest trip I’ve
done, both physically and in terms of finding birds but I couldn’t have asked
for better companions to go on such an adventure with. The places and the birds we saw were
tremendous and if we missed a few things all the more reason to go again …
So thanks Nick, Barry and Garry,
we made a good team. And John Tabone and
crew in Wamena for making the Habbema Trek so memorable and Anton Dei for the
unforgettable Wilson’s BoP experience.
Every time I see Attenborough in Paradise I’m taken right back there.
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[Dale Zimmerman plate from Beehler et al Birds of New Guinea]
I could argue that 8 (Wilson's BoP), 10 (King BoP) or 11 (King of Saxony BoP) was the best in the world although only seeing male Wilson's on this trip it has the edge. With its white gape are there any colours it doesn't have? Oh, and Dale, the blue on the head isn't nearly vivid enough.
[blogged June 2013]
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