SULAWESI & HALMAHERA
25th May 2002 to 15th June 2002
David & John F. Cooper
We found potography extremly difficult on this trip, due to poor light in the forest areas, all the photographs were taken by ourselves.
INTRODUCTION
Wallacea is a transitional zone between the Oriental and Australasian faunal realms. At 379, Sulawesi, formerly known as Celebes, has the smallest numbers of bird species of any of the seven biogeographic regions in Indonesia, though hosts 96 species not shared with other regions. Birdlife International has identified 24 Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs) within Indonesia, of which our trip to Sulawesi and Halmahera visited the following:
Sulawesi lowlands within the Sulawesi Biogeographic Region
Sulawesi mountains within the Sulawesi Biogeographic Region.
North Moluccas within the Maluku Biogeographic Region.
ITINERARY
25th May: Arrived Manado after midday and driven to Tangkoko NP where we met up with Howard & Thais Armstrong. Late afternoon visit to a grassy clearing staying until after dusk.
26th May: All day spent in lowland areas of Tangkoko NP.
Tangkoko Volcanic beach.
Tangkoko National Park.
Butterflies in Tangkoko National Park.
27th May: Climbed to c.1,100m on the volcano in Tangkoko NP. Left Tangkoko NP at 4pm for the Hotel Minahassa in Manado.
View taken from the top of the volcano in Tangkoko NP.
28th May: Early morning Merpati flight from Manado to Palu. Driven to a river crossing where we birded the scrubby habitat before continuing to Lore Lindu NP in time for some birding along the upper section of the Dongi-Dongi road until after dark before continuing to Wuasa.
Flying into Palu.
Lore Lindu National Park entrance sign.
Moths found along the Anaso track in the Lore Lindu National Park.
29th May: Driven to the top of the Anaso track, surviving one of our jeeps bursting into flames half-way up. Spent most of the morning around the summit before walking down virtually the entire track in the afternoon.
Our jeep along one of the tracks in the Lore Lindu National Park
Four Views taken along the Anaso track, with some nice looking forests.
30th May: Morning spent at Lake Tambine then walking the road past the base of the Anaso track before a brief foray along the Anaso track halted by a torrential downpour. Spent the remainder of the daylight walking the road from Lake Tambine in the direction of Wuasa.
Arriving at Lake Tambine
Another view taken at Lake Tambine.
Swallowtail Buterfly type feeding on the red flower in the National Park.
31st May: Spent the morning in the Wuasa forest with a brief lunchtime visit to nearby paddies before returning to the Lake Tambine area.
1st June: Early morning spent at Lake Tambine before being driven to the summit of the Anaso track from where we again walked down.
An Orchid looking wildflower found in the Lore Lindu National Park
2nd June: Early morning again at Lake Tambine before walking the road in the direction of Dongi-Dongi. Mid-afternoon rain so drove back to Palu.
3rd June: Early morning flight to Manado. Left Manado at 1.15pm arriving at Ternate at 4pm.
Our early morning flight to Manado, before catching a second flight at Manado to Ternate.
View of the flight to Manado
Low cloud on the flight to Ternate
Passing over an island on the flight
Views of our flight to Ternate.
Our plane arriving at Ternate.
View from the Ternate airfield.
4th June: The morning spent getting our permission to visit Halmahera. Took a speedboat across to Sidangoli, from where we were drove to KBP from where we walked to the top of the ridge.
Arriving at Halmahera.
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