Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine October 2015 | Page 150

148

Travel | Birding in Paradise

Birding
Maluku
Garuda Indonesia operates
13 routes with 154 weekly
flights to and from Maluku

Maluku comprises
myriad separate
islands, and each one
is special. Seram
has tall mountains
packed with Malukuendemic birds, and it
is fairly easy to get
to from Ambon.
At the other extreme are the Kei
Islands out east near Papua;
however, they are a lot easier to
get to today than when Wallace
visited – especially thanks to
Garuda Indonesia’s Explore
flights direct to the island’s
capital Langgur from Ambon –
and birders should travel to both
Kei Besar and Kei Kecil to check
out the endemics.
Most important as a birding
place is probably Halmahera in
the North Maluku province. You

fly to Ternate and make your
way by boat to Halmahera; most
people arrive at the town of
Sidangoli. Nowadays birdwatching on the island is pretty
well organised; you can find a
capable guide to accompany you
all the way from Ternate. Most
of the eco-resorts on the island
will know how to find the muchsought-after endemic Wallace’s
standardwing. They will take you
for an early morning walk to
where this bird-of-paradise
displays; they might even have a
picnic table under the display
tree where you can enjoy your
morning coffee.
Even if you are not a hard-core
birder, I think you would agree
with me that just being on a
tropica