WEST PAPUA - THE BIRDING ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME

West Papua, also known as Irian Jaya, is the western side of the huge island of New Guinea. It is host to an astonishing degree of endemism with a variety of habitats ranging from some of the largest areas of original, intact forest on the planet, lowland swamp forests and alpine grassland where very few birders have had the privilege to explore this amazing area. Our new shorter itinerary is designed to take in some of the best and endemic-filled sites that can be accessed relatively easily without the need for tough hikes. Our focus of the tour will be to see as many Birds-of-Paradise as possible and to get the best possible views of them at their display sites. We begin in the shadow of the Cyclops Mountains at Nimbokrang, where we can see the amazing displays of Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise and King Bird-of-Paradise. There’s also both Lesser and Magnificent Birds-of-Paradise, Pale-billed Sicklebill and Jobi Manucode amongst many other possibilities here. Moving on to the Arfak Mountains, we will focus on more Birds-of-Paradise with Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise, Vogelkop Superb Bird-of-Paradise, Western Parotia, Vogelkop Bowerbird, Long-tailed Paradigalla and a huge selection of other great birds. We will end the tour at Waigeo and this is the site to see the stunning Wilson’s Bird-of-Paradise, as well as Red Bird-of-Paradise, Western Crowned Pigeon, Raja Ampat Pitohui, Papuan Pitta and more. There’s nowhere better to end a West Papua tour as our hotel is situated right on the beach and couldn’t be more perfect!

This is still a uniquely adventurous tour but it is important to realize that our visit to this very remote region will be undertaken at an easy pace as possible and we aim to make this tour as comfortable & enjoyable as possible. We have several days spread throughout our 2 weeks here that will allow everyone some rest and some leisurely birding. There are a couple of optional tricky walks to get to higher areas in the Arfak Mountains for those that want to do that – but there’s no camping involved anywhere on this tour. We will stay in some comfortable hotels in the main towns, but once we are 'off the beaten track' our accommodation will be in remote, basic villages or a secluded rustic lodge deep in the forest of the Arfak Mountains and well away from habitation. But the results are going to be worth it! 

If you have never seen a Bird-of-Paradise or want to experience the best of West Papua but have been put off by reported poor conditions and extremely tough hikes then none of that applies to this tour. You simply couldn’t have an easier tour to West Papua to see some of the rarest, strangest and most beautiful birds on the planet.

Please ask about our pre-tour extension to the Snow Mountains 15th - 22nd October