Adventure Birding 'n Outdoors in New Guinea's Wild West
The ballerina-display of the adult male Western Parotia Parotia sefilata on its meticulously cleared ground court has to be witnessed to be believed. This amazing bird-of-paradise is but one of 67 bird species endemic to West Papua, where it occurs at mid-elevations in the Arfak, Tamrau and Wandammen Mountains. Copyright © Ty Smedes smedesphoto.com
Birding break │ 7 days/6 nights
On this West Papuan birding break we basically follow in the footsteps of the great Italian naturalists D'Albertis and Beccari, who once collected in the Hattam-country only a few kilometers away from our base in the Arfak Mountains on the mid-slopes of majestic Mount Indon, towering 2,425 m above the Prafi Valley.
More than 150 years have elapsed since the intrepid D'Albertis was the first westerner to penetrate any distance into the mountains of New Guinea exactly here in 1872, but birding these magnificent woods, swathed in clouds during parts of most days, remains an irresistible adventure. A privileged opportunity also, to be taken in tow by the Hattam, across their ancestral lands, and marvel at endemic birdlife that comparatively few outsiders have ventured to come and see before.
When?
Possible year-round, but most certainly best from June to November.
Scheduled departures
Please inquire for details on our upcoming departures.
Physical effort
Reasonable physical fitness and good agility are required to bird the relatively steep slopes here.
Tour summary
Day 1 Manokwari and Arfak montane forests.
Day 2-5 Arfak montane forests.
Day 6 Arfak montane forests and Manokwari.
Day 7 Manokwari.
Tour description
Day 1 │ Manokwari and Arfak montane forests
Morning arrival at Manokwari's Rendani Airport on overnight domestic flight from Jakarta or alternative gateway. We will be there
to welcome you at the airport, and we shall soon set out together on the two hours' drive by chartered 4WD-vehicle to our
partnering community-owned guest house located at c. 1,600 m elevation in the Mount Indon area of the Arfak Mountains.
We shall make several stops en route where we may be rewarded with sightings of Moustached Treeswift, Sultan's Cuckoo-Dove,
Ornate, Superb, Claret-breasted and Orange-bellied Fruit Dove, Pinon's Imperial Pigeon, Papuan Mountain Pigeon, Long-tailed Honey
Buzzard, Blyth's Hornbill, Palm and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Pesquet's Parrot, Papuan Eclectus, Blue-collared Parrot, Masked
Bowerbird, Obscure Berrypecker, Mountain Peltops, Black-bellied Cicadabird, Rusty Whistler, Northern Variable Pitohui,
Black-winged Monarch, Torrent-lark, Grey Crow, Magnificent Riflebird, Lesser Bird-of-paradise, Torrent Flyrobin, Black-chinned
Robin, and Olive-crowned Flowerpecker.
After a packed lunch at the guest house we shall then start our exploration of these fabled mountains proper with a gentle
introduction to the commoner or more conspicuous species of the garden clearings and roadside gap-phase environment: White-eared
Bronze Cuckoo, Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo, Sultan's, Bar-tailed and Great Cuckoo-Dove, Mountain Fruit Dove, Variable Goshawk,
Plum-faced and Yellow-billed Lorikeet, White-shouldered Fairywren, Western Smoky Honeyeater, Red-collared Myzomela, Vogelkop and
Ornate Melidectes, Vogelkop and Grey-green Scrubwren, Grey Thornbill, Brown-breasted Gerygone, Mid-mountain Berrypecker,
Spectacled Longbill, Black-breasted Boatbill, Sclater's Whistler, Black Fantail, Black Monarch, Western Parotia, Canary Flyrobin,
Blue-grey Robin, Island Leaf Warbler, Capped White-eye, and Streak-headed Munia.
Other goodies we may come to grips with here include Metallic Pigeon, New Guinea and Pygmy Eagle, Collared Sparrowhawk, Pesquet's
and Blue-collared Parrot, Pygmy, Fairy and Josephine's Lorikeet, Thick-billed Berrypecker, Mottled Berryhunter, Glossy-mantled,
Crinkle-collared and Trumpet Manucode, Long-tailed Paradigalla, Vogelkop Lophorina, Black-billed Sicklebill, Papuan Grassbird,
New Guinea White-eye, and both Papuan and Blue-faced Parrotfinch, as well as Gray's Grasshopper Warbler in season.
Finally, a nocturnal excursion after dinner could produce Feline and Mountain Owlet-nightjar, Greater Sooty Owl and Papuan
Boobook, while the predominantly lowland-dwelling Marbled and Papuan Frogmouth and Papuan Hawk-Owl also have been recorded here
on occasion.
Overnight in community-owned guest house.
Day 2 │ Arfak montane forests
After a pre-dawn breakfast, we shall monitor nearby display courts of the Western Parotia from well-appointed hides. The wacko
ballet performance of the court-tending male of this species simply has to be witnessed to be believed and invariably ranks as
the highlight of a birding trip to the Arfaks. Besides the not-to-be-missed display performances of the parotias themselves,
these hides potentially also offer an intimate window of observation into the secretive lives of habitual ground-dwellers as
Wattled Brushturkey, Cinnamon and Bronze Ground Dove, White-striped Forest Rail, Mountain Mouse-warbler, Spotted Jewel-babbler,
Lesser Ground Robin, and Green-backed and Ashy Robin.
Following lunch back at the guest house, there shall be further opportunities to spend potentially rewarding time with the
parotias, or to get up close and personal with the highly entertaining Vogelkop Bowerbird from one of the hides set up in front of
its formidable so-called roofed maypole bowers in the area.
The last hours of light shall see us birding around the garden clearings.
Dinner and overnight in community-owned guest house.
The avian rewards of this tour were out of this world; we observed a good number of members of the most beautiful and spectacular bird family in the world, the gorgeous birds-of-paradise, along with a supporting cast of colourful pigeons, parrots, kingfishers and bowerbirds.
Day 3 │ Arfak montane forests
Following a hearty nocturnal breakfast, we shall hike pre-dawn to an area of secondary forest where a number of display courts of
the Magnificent Bird-of-paradise are located in close proximity to one another in a so-called exploded lek configuration. Here we
stand an excellent chance of witnessing the amazing array of display postures and high-intensity male-female interactions in this
glorious species at close range from well-appointed hides. Other birds often in evidence around the courts here include Wattled
Brushturkey, Pacific Koel, Stephan's Emerald Dove, Cinnamon Ground Dove, White-striped Forest Rail, Arfak Catbird, Rusty
Mouse-warbler, Pale-billed Scrubwren, Green-backed Robin, and Glossy-mantled, Crinkle-collared and Trumpet Manucode.
In the surrounding forest we may see New Guinea Bronzewing, Superb Fruit Dove, Wallace's Fairywren, Long-billed and Marbled
Honeyeater, Red, Papuan Black and Mountain Myzomela, Mountain Honeyeater, Goldenface, Fairy Gerygone, Yellow-bellied Longbill,
Chestnut-backed Jewel-babbler, Vogelkop and Sclater's Whistler, Arafura Shrikethrush, Hooded Pitohui, Rufous-backed and Drongo
Fantail, Black-winged and Frilled Monarch, Yellow-legged Flyrobin, Papuan Scrub Robin, White-rumped and White-faced Robin, and
Black-fronted White-eye.
We shall enjoy a packed lunch on site and continue our search for some of these more elusive species throughout the afternoon, or
we could spend potentially rewarding time with the Magnificent Bird-of-paradise again.
Dinner and overnight in community-owned guest house.
Day 4 │ Arfak montane forests
After a pre-dawn breakfast, we shall bird all day along a loop ascending to a high point at c. 2,000 m elevation in pursuit of
three potentially highly elusive species of bird-of-paradise present here: Arfak Astrapia, Black Sicklebill and Black-billed
Sicklebill. Most of the trail follows gently-sloping ridgetop cloud-forest but we shall also be traversing some challenging and
steep terrain.
Other goodies we may come across along the loop include Wattled Brushturkey, Rufous-throated Bronze Cuckoo, Fan-tailed Cuckoo,
Ornate Fruit Dove, Rufescent Imperial Pigeon, Chestnut Forest Rail, New Guinea Eagle, Red-breasted Pygmy Parrot, Brehm's and
Modest Tiger Parrot, West Papuan Lorikeet, Vogelkop Bowerbird, Papuan Treecreeper, Orange-crowned Fairywren, Rufous-sided
Honeyeater, Olive Straightbill, Black-throated Honeyeater, Cinnamon-browed Melidectes, Mountain Mouse-warbler, Perplexing
Scrubwren, Papuan Logrunner, Fan-tailed and Tit Berrypecker, Spotted Jewel-babbler, Mottled Berryhunter, Papuan Sittella,
Rufous-naped Bellbird, Black Pitohui, Regent Whistler, Friendly and Dimorphic Fantail, Lesser Melampitta, Lesser Ground Robin,
and Garnet, Ashy, Black-throated and Smoky Robin.
We shall enjoy a packed lunch in a natural forest clearing in which Archbold's Nightjar has been found to nest and where Mountain
Swiftlet, Collared Sparrowhawk, Black-mantled and Meyer's Goshawk, and Great Woodswallow may be seen flying overhead, and
continue our search for some of the more elusive species mentioned above throughout the afternoon.
Dinner and overnight in community-owned guest house.
Day 5 │ Arfak montane forests
Following a nocturnal breakfast, we shall proceed to a popular display tree of the stunning Lesser Bird-of-paradise, taking ample
time to observe the up to six plumed males that normally gather here, interacting with soliciting females.
Other noteworthy species we may encounter here include Pheasant Pigeon, New Guinea Eagle, Moluccan King Parrot, Papuan Pitta,
Masked Bowerbird, Wallace's Fairywren, Green-backed, Spotted and Tawny-breasted Honeyeater, Yellow-bellied Gerygone,
Chestnut-backed Jewel-babbler, Stout-billed Cuckooshrike, Piping Bellbird, Rusty, Vogelkop and Grey Whistler, Northern Variable
Pitohui, Sooty Thicket Fantail, Chestnut-bellied and Rufous-backed Fantail, Black-winged and Frilled Monarch, Grey Crow,
Glossy-mantled, Crinkle-collared and Trumpet Manucode, Magnificent Riflebird, Papuan Scrub Robin, and White-rumped and
White-faced Robin. And with a good dose of luck, we may be treated to a Vogelkop Owlet-nightjar at its day-time roost here.
We shall enjoy a packed lunch on site and continue our search for some of these more elusive species throughout the afternoon, or
we could spend potentially rewarding time with the Lesser Bird-of-paradise again. Alternatively, if circumstances thereto are
deemed favorable, we could try our luck at an active display site of the Vogelkop Lophorina, a jaw-dropping shape-shifter
that normally performs very infrequently only.
Dinner and overnight in community-owned guest house.
Day 6 │ Arfak montane forests and Manokwari
We have an entire day to capitalize on some of the more elusive Arfak montane specialties already mentioned above and shall drive
back to Manokwari in the evening for dinner and a good night's rest in our partnering Manokwari hotel.
Breakfast and lunch in community-owned guest house. Dinner and overnight in Manokwari hotel. Alternatively, if you stay on for
our Anggi Giji basin extension, we shall
remain in the Mount Indon area of the Arfak Mountains, take dinner and stay overnight in the community-owned guest house there,
and continue to the Anggi Giji basin on Day 7.
Day 7 │ Manokwari
We shall enjoy breakfast in our Manokwari hotel and transfer you to Manokwari's Rendani Airport to check you in for the first
morning flight to Jakarta or alternative destination.
Related links
❯Read on about the birdlife of the Arfak Mountains.
❯Read on about our Amazing Arfak birding expedition to the Arfak Mountains.
❯Read on about our Easy West Papua birding expedition visiting the Arfak Mountains.
❯Read on about our filming expedition for Vogelkop Bowerbird in the Arfak Mountains with the BBC Natural History Unit.
❯Browse our terms and conditions.
❯Browse our checklist of the birds of West Papua
