Photograph of Purple-bearded Bee-eater

Purple-bearded Bee-eater by Jon Hornbuckle.

SULAWESI and HALMAHERA

Best Wildlife in Sulawesi and Halmahera

Mammals
Dian’s and Spectral (Sulawesi) Tarsiers, Bear Cuscus and macaques including Moor, Sulawesi Crested and Tonkean. Also a chance of Bottlenose and Spinner Dolphins, and Short-finned Pilot Whale.

Birds
Lesser Frigatebird, White-bellied Sea Eagle, Moustached Treeswift, Wallace’s Standardwing, Paradise Crow, Blyth’s, Knobbed and Sulawesi Dwarf Hornbills, Maleo, White Cockatoo, Moluccan Owlet Nightjar, Ivory-breasted and Red-bellied Pittas, Purple-bearded Bee-eater, Purple-winged Roller, Beach, Blue-and-white, Great-billed, Green-backed, Lilac-cheeked, Ruddy, Scaly, Sombre and Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfishers, Common Paradise Kingfisher, fruit doves, Fiery-browed, Finch-billed, Sulawesi Crested and White-necked Mynas, and Olive (Yellow)-flanked Whistler, as well as Dusky, Moluccan and Philippine Scrubfowls, Oriental Darter, Javan Pond Heron, Cinnamon and Yellow Bitterns, Pacific Baza, Barred Honey Buzzard, Brahminy Kite, Sulawesi Serpent Eagle, accipiters, Black, Gurney’s and Rufous-bellied Eagles, Buff-banded and Barred Rails, White-browed Crake, Isabelline and Rufous-tailed Bush Hens, Javan Plover, White-headed (Black-winged) Stilt, Marsh and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Grey-tailed Tattler, Long-toed and Red-necked Stints, Great Crested and Whiskered Terns, imperial pigeons, Chattering and Violet-necked Lories, Ornate, Red-flanked and Yellow-and-green Lorikeets, parrots including Eclectus, Golden-mantled and Yellow-breasted Racquet-tails, Yellow-billed Malkoha, coucals including Goliath, Sulawesi Masked Owl, scops owls, hawk owls, Great Eared and Satanic Nightjars, swiftlets, Purple Needletail, Grey-rumped Treeswift, Blue-tailed and Rainbow Bee-eaters, (Common) Dollarbird, Ashy and Sulawesi Pygmy Woodpeckers, Sulawesi Myzomela (Scarlet Honeyeater), White-streaked Friarbird, Golden-bellied Gerygone, Ivory-backed and White-breasted Woodswallows, cuckoo shrikes, trillers, Common Golden Whistler, Black-naped Oriole, monarchs, Rusty-bellied Fantail, Piping Crow, Golden Bulbul, Mountain Tailorbird, Gray’s Grasshopper Warbler (mostly Nov-Mar), Great Shortwing, flycatchers, Red-backed and Sulawesi Thrushes, Malia, white-eyes, flowerpeckers and Black Sunbird. Also a chance of Purple Dollarbird, Moluccan King Parrot, Spotted Harrier, Geomalia, Blue-faced Parrotfinch, Mountain Serin, Great-billed Heron, Australian Pratincole, Great Knot, Far Eastern Curlew and seabirds such as Great Frigatebird, Brown Booby, Bridled Tern and Bulwer’s Petrel.

Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish
The seas around Sulawesi, especially those to the east of the main island, are believed to be the richest in the world. Over 3000 fish species have been recorded, mostly around some of the richest and most pristine coral reefs on Earth.

Best Sites for Wildlife in Sulawesi and Halmahera

Best Times for Wildlife in Sulawesi and Halmahera

Although the rainy season may last into August the best time to visit these islands is mid-July to October. Wallace's Standardwings usually display the most at the start of the dry season, which is usually August to early September.

Recommended Books etc. for Sulawesi and Halmahera

A Guide to the Birds of Wallacea by B Coates and K Bishop. Dove Publications, 1997.

Birding Indonesia edited by P Jepson and R Ounsted. Periplus Editions, 1997.

Trip Reports for Sulawesi and Halmahera

Many trip reports, some for Sulawesi and Halmahera, are posted on the websites listed here. On some of these websites some reports are independent and some are posted by tour companies who organize tours to Sulawesi and Halmahera. These tour companies and others also post their own reports on their websites, which are listed under 'Some Organized Tours to Sulawesi and Halmahera' below.

Local Guides and Tours in Sulawesi and Halmahera

The costs of organized tours partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ. If you are travelling independently, employing such local guides will greatly increase your chances of seeing the wildlife you wish to see.


Accommodation in Sulawesi and Halmahera

Some Organized Tours to Sulawesi and Halmahera

There are many tour companies who organize tours to see mammals, birds, other wildlife and other natural wonders. The cost of these tours vary considerably according to such variables as the airlines used, the number of days the tours last, the number of sites visited, the number of people in the group (an important consideration if you wish to see such wildlife as rainforest mammals and birds), the number of tour leaders, the standard of accommodation and transport, and the percentage profit the company hopes to make. Generally, where the number of days tours last and the number of sites visited are similar, the cheapest tours are those that use the cheapest airlines, accommodation and local transport, that have the largest groups with the least number of leaders, and that make the least amount of profit. The most expensive tours tend to be those which are exceptionally long, use the most expensive accommodation (ridiculously lavish in some cases, even for single nights) and which make the most profit. Some tour costs partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ.

While tour companies organize tours with set itineraries many also organize custom tours for individuals and private groups who instead of taking a tour with a set itinerary want to follow their own itinerary to suit their own personal tastes, whether it be mammals, birds, other wildlife, other natural wonders or even man-made attractions, or a mixture of them all. Many organized tours with set itineraries are also fast-paced and target as many species as possible, whether they are mammals, birds or other wildlife or everything, which usually leaves little time to enjoy the best sites and individual species, but on a custom tour those taking part can specify the pace and the sites and species they wish to concentrate on. Custom tours also suit people who like to travel with people they already know, rather than with a group of strangers, and people with partners with different interests. Individuals and small groups will almost certainly have to pay more than the price of an organized tour with a set itinerary but a large group of friends may be able to travel for less than the price quoted for a set tour.

Tour companies who are running organized tours to Sulawesi and Halmahera in the next couple of years include the following. Many of these also offer custom tours.