Photograph of Banded Pitta

Banded Pitta by Roger Wyatt. This is the irena subspecies, the brightest one, which occurs from Southern Thailand to Sumatra.

SUMATRA

Best Wildlife in Sumatra

Mammals
Orang-utan, Siamang, White-handed (Agile) Gibbon, Mitred (Banded), Silvered and Thomas's Leaf Monkeys (Langurs), Long-tailed (Crab-eating) and (Sunda) Pig-tailed Macaques, (Greater) Slow Loris, Sunda Flying Lemur (Colugo), Black and Cream-coloured Giant Squirrels, tree shrews, Sambar and Lesser Mouse Deer. Also a chance of Leopard Cat.

Birds
Hornbills including Helmeted and Rhinoceros, broadbills including Black-and-red, Black-and-yellow, Green and Long-tailed, barbets including Fire-tufted, trogons including the endemic Sumatran as well as Diard's, Red-headed, Red-naped and Scarlet-rumped, kingfishers including Banded and Rufous-collared, (Malaysian) Banded (irena), and the endemic Graceful and Schneider's Pittas, leafbirds including the endemic Blue-masked, Asian Fairy Bluebird, sunbirds including Temminck's, Blue Nuthatch, Red-bearded Bee-eater, Common Green Magpie, Whiskered Treeswift and more of the 25 or so endemics which occur on the mainland (several endemics occur on offshore islands) including Salvadori's Pheasant, Sumatran Ground Cuckoo, Sumatran (Pale-headed) Frogmouth, Sumatran (Collared) Owlet and Sumatran Cochoa, and near-endemics such as White-winged Duck, Marbled Wren Babbler, Sunda Blue Robin, Sunda Forktail, and Bonaparte's and Salvadori's Nightjars, as well as Red Junglefowl, Oriental Darter, Brahminy Kite, Grey-headed Fish Eagle, Black and Rufous-bellied Eagles, Black-thighed Falconet, green pigeons, Blue-rumped Parrot, Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot, malkohas, Oriental Bay Owl, Reddish Scops Owl, Barred Eagle Owl, Large Frogmouth, Malaysian Eared Nightjar, Giant (Waterfall) Swiftlet, Grey-rumped Treeswift, woodpeckers, minivets, Green Iora, bulbuls, Greater Racket-tailed and Lesser Racket-tailed Drongos, Black-and-crimson Oriole, Crested Jay, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, many babblers including Chestnut-backed Scimitar Babbler, White-browed Shrike Babbler and Long-tailed Sibia, Lesser and White-browed Shortwings, White-rumped Shama, tailorbirds, flycatchers, fantails, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Long-tailed Shrike, Hill Myna, spiderhunters and flowerpeckers. Also a chance of Great Argus, Sumatran Peacock Pheasant, Crested Fireback, Storm's Stork, Rail Babbler, Dusky Woodcock, and Gould's and Sunda Frogmouths.

Other Natural Wonders of Sumatra

Krakatoa This volcano is famous for one of the most massive eruptions known to man, an explosion which appears to have been heard as far as about 5000 km (3000 miles) away, on the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, and about 3000 km (2000 miles) away in Perth, Western Australia! It occurred in 1883 and destroyed two-thirds of the island. Eruptions since have built a new island in the same location, already over 300 metres (1000 ft) high.

Lake Toba This is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world. It is about 100 kilometres (60 miles) long and 30 kilometres (20 miles) wide, and up to 505 metres (1666 ft) deep, and the result of a supervolcanic eruption that occurred 70,000–80,000 years ago, and which is believed to have been the largest eruption on Earth in the last 25 million years.

Best Sites for Wildlife in Sumatra

Best Times for Wildlife in Sumatra

May to September is normally the driest time of the year and June is the peak month to visit in search of birds.

Recommended Books etc. for Sumatra

A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali by J MacKinnon. OUP, 1993.

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

A Field Guide to the Mammals of South-East Asia by C M Francis. New Holland Publishers, 2008.

A Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia by C Robson. New Holland Publishers, 2009 (Second Edition).

Trip Reports for Sumatra

Many trip reports, some for Sumatra, 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 Sumatra. These tour companies and others also post their own reports on their websites, which are listed under 'Some Organized Tours to Sumatra' below.

Local Guides and Tours in Sumatra

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 Sumatra


Some Organized Tours to Sumatra

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 run organized tours or can arrange custom tours to Sumatra include the following.