Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine April 2017 | Page 115

Travel | Ternate to Sorong
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1 Rainbow Lorikeet, Aduway Village, Misool Island.
I still feel the same way about Wallace; the more I learn
about him and visit the places he describes, the more
I would love to sit with him on a forest log, chat about his
ideas, enthuse over the beauty of the region’s exuberant
wildlife and swap travel tales.
2 Life in the village of Aduway on the island of Misool.
A young girl relaxing in a dugout canoe.
3 The traditional pinisi, Ombak Putih, anchored
in the Wallace Channel where Alfred Wallace emerged
after his challenging sail from Seram.
4 A welcoming performance from a local dancer
in the village of Wawiyai on the Island of Waigeo.
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5 Senses – Sound
WAIGEO ISLAND
When we sit on a wooden bench in
the tropical rainforests of Waigeo Island,
we know we are waiting for the birds-of-
paradise to start singing. If you’ve never seen
one, you might expect such gorgeous animals
to have a mellifluous song. Think again.
The red bird-of-paradise sounds more like
an excited crow. When the males dance
wildly in front of the rather drab females,
the sounds of the cicadas, katydids, frogs
and other birds are drowned out by the
cacophony of these birds-of-paradise.
Kalimantan and Sulawesi which marked
the divide between these two faunas. This
became known as Wallace’s Line.
It was the inspiration for the owners of
Seatrek Sailing Adventures in Bali to run
cruises based on the life and travels of
Wallace, and they asked me to lead them.
We sail in great comfort aboard the Ombak
Putih, a beautiful white traditional pinisi
or double-masted ketch.
The guests get a chance to find and identify
bugs, and to spend time with everything
from jelly-like plankton in the dining-table
aquarium to birds-of-paradise, from snails to
giant coconut crabs, from stingless jellyfish
to screeching parrots, from anemonefish to
whale sharks, and from pitcher plants to
giant forest trees – a veritable natural history
smorgasbord! Sometimes I set camera traps
overnight in the forests so that later we can
see if any creatures have passed by while we
have been sleeping. Some of the activities
cause a degree of consternation before we
start, such as wading in guano in a bat-filled
cave to see a very rare crab, walking through
a night-clothed rainforest, or swimming
through a pitch-black cave; but with
the encouragement of others, many tell me,
they have just done the most exciting and
awesome thing in their lives.
Two of the bird-of-paradise species we
watch are on Waigeo Island in Raja Ampat,
where my conservation NGO, Fauna &
Flora International (FFI), is working with
several villages to conserve the forests
and the animals within them. We’re 114
years old this year and have worked in
Indonesia for 20 years, majoring in
community-based approaches.
We go snorkelling at least once each day and
have the time and space to do this over a
range of coastal habitats, each of which has its
own enchantment. The fringes of mangrove
swamps and extensive white-sand flats may
Ketika duduk di bangku kayu yang
berada di hutan Pulau Waigeo, kami sadar
sepenuhnya bahwa kami sedang menantikan
kicauan burung-burung cenderawasih.
Jika Anda belum pernah menyaksikan satu
pun, dalam bayangan Anda, hewan secantik
ini tentunya memiliki suara merdu. Namun
ternyata, kicau burung cenderawasih
merah ini lebih seperti suara burung gagak.
Ketika cenderawasih jantan membuat tarian
untuk memikat lawan jenisnya, maka suara
jangkrik, tonggeret, katak dan suara burung
lainnya langsung tenggelam oleh kicauan
burung-burung cenderawasih ini.
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