phone-icon 1-888-990-5552 email-icon info@rockjumper.com
user-icon
Log in / Register

Indonesia - Highlights of the East: Sulawesi, Moluccas & Papua

© Red Bird-of-paradise by K. David Bishop
Indonesia - Highlights of the East: Sulawesi, Moluccas & Papua 2025

15 Jul 2025 - 31 Jul 2025 (17 days)

USD7,795 - 1 Space Available

Book Now

client-img

Tour Leader: Stephan Lorenz

Tour price (Per person): USD7,795 * GBP6,216 * EUR7,501 * AUD12,516

Single Supplement: USD820 * GBP654 * EUR789 * AUD1,317

Flight costs: USD1,300 * GBP1,037 * EUR1,251 * AUD2,087

Can be linked with: Indonesia - Highlights of the West: Greater Sundas & Dragons 2025

Indonesia - Highlights of the East: Sulawesi, Moluccas & Papua 2026

31 Jul 2026 - 16 Aug 2026 (17 days)

USD8,100 - Spaces Available

Book Now

client-img

Tour Leader: Stephan Lorenz

Pricing notes : *Prices are estimated and dates may change*

Tour price (Per person): USD8,100 * GBP6,459 * EUR7,795 * AUD13,005

Can be linked with: Indonesia - Highlights of the West: Greater Sundas & Dragons 2026

As a result of the remarkable biogeography of the region, our Highlights of the Eastern Indonesian archipelago provides very little overlap in bird species to our Highlights of Western Indonesia, with a phenomenal number of special and endemic birds.

We begin by exploring the prime highland site of Lore Lindu National Park on the island of Sulawesi. Boasting over 70 endemic species, the exceptional range of highly desirable birds we will seek include the endemic Hylocitrea, now placed in its own monotypic family, the indescribable Purple-bearded Bee-eater, bizarre and unique Geomalia, Fiery-browed Starling, Satanic Nightjar, Ivory-backed Woodswallow and the impressive Knobbed Hornbill.

We then wing our way to the nearby island of Halmahera, where we visit a lekking site for the highly sought-after Standardwing, surely one of the most bizarre birds-of-paradise! Here we also seek a mind-boggling number of Moluccan endemics including the spectacular Ivory-breasted Pitta, White (Umbrella) Cockatoo, Azure Dollarbird, Chattering Lory, Halmahera Boobook and Moluccan Owlet-Nightjar.

Moving further eastwards, we again enter a completely new biological zone as we arrive in Sorong, on the extreme western tip of New Guinea. Here we bird the famous Vogelkop, hosting a veritable feast of incredible highlights such as Magnificent and King Bird-of-paradise, numerous imperial pigeons, fruit doves (Wompoo, Superb, Orange-bellied and Pink-spotted Fruit Doves to name a few), parrots (including the localized Black Lory and Moluccan King Parrot) and kingfishers (Red-breasted Paradise and Blue-black Kingfishers being two of the prime targets.)

We conclude our tour on the Raja Ampat Island of Waigeo, famed for the best snorkelling in the world! Here our targets in this tropical island paradise include Red Bird-of-paradise, the incredible Western Crowned Pigeon, Palm Cockatoo, Raja Ampat Pitohui, Waigeo Shrikethrush, Brown-headed Crow and much besides. And, as a way of celebrating the finale of this remarkable tour we will visit the display ground of quite possibly the most spectacular bird on Earth – Wilson’s Bird-of-paradise!

Top Birds

Wilson’s, King & Red Birds-of-paradise; Glossy-mantled Manucode; Standardwing; Paradise-crow; Papuan Dwarf, Blue-and-white, Lilac, Yellow-billed, Green-backed, Hook-billed, Beach & Blue-black Kingfishers; Red-breasted Paradise & Common Paradise Kingfishers; Rufous-bellied Kookaburra; Scarlet‐breasted, Blue‐capped, Grey‐headed, Wompoo, Superb, Pink-spotted, Orange-fronted, Beautiful, Dwarf & Orange-bellied Fruit Doves; White‐bellied, Purple-tailed, Pinon’s, Zoe’s & Grey-headed Imperial Pigeons; Western Crowned Pigeon; Yellow-capped Pygmy Parrot; Moluccan & Great Hanging Parrots; Orange-breasted & Large Fig Parrots; Palm & White Cockatoos; Emperor Fairywren; Black Berrypecker; Pygmy Longbill; Southern Variable, Raja Ampat & Rusty Pitohuis; Lowland Peltops; Golden & Pale-blue Monarchs; Sulawesi & White-necked Mynas; Sulawesi Serpent Eagle; Sulawesi Hawk-Eagle; Barred Honey Buzzard; Yellow-sided, Crimson-crowned, Olive-crowned & Halmahera Flowerpeckers; Fiery-browed, Moluccan & Grosbeak Starlings; Ivory-backed Woodswallow; Golden-mantled Racket-tail; Malia; Black-billed Koel; Black Lory; Sulawesi Myzomela; Lemon‐bellied, Mountain, Streak-headed, Cream-throated & Black-crowned White‐eyes; Sulawesi Blue, Blue-fronted Blue & Turquoise Flycatchers; Sulawesi Cicadabird; Purple-winged Roller; Azure Dollarbird; Cinnabar, Papuan & Speckled Boobooks; Eastern Grass Owl; Great Eared & Satanic Nightjars; Wallace's & Moluccan Owlet-nightjars; Great Shortwing (Heinrichia); Pygmy, Halmahera, Golden & Cerulean Cuckooshrikes; Sulphur-vented, Island & Maroon-backed Whistlers; Rusty-bellied & Arafura Fantails; Citrine Canary-flycatcher; Dark-eared & White-eared Myzas; Purple-bearded Bee-eater; Chestnut-backed (Sulawesi) Bush Warbler; Geomalia; Citrine, Red-flanked & Ornate Lorikeets; Hylocitrea; Sulawesi Thrush; Ivory-breasted, Papuan & North Molucccan Pittas; Eclectus & Great‐billed Parrots; Dusky Friarbird; Goliath Coucal; Long‐billed & Brown-headed Crows; Moustached Treeswift; Gurney’s Eagle; Yellow‐billed Malkoha; Sulawesi Pygmy & Ashy Woodpeckers; Spot-tailed & Dwarf Sparrowhawks.

Top Mammals

Sulawesi Crested Macaque; Spectral Tarsier; Pantropical Spotted & Spinner Dolphins.

Habitats Covered

Montane and lowland forests, flooded rice paddies & wetlands, islands, beaches, mangroves

Expected Climate

Mostly hot to humid with cooler nights and mornings in the highlands

Max Group Size

8 with 1 Rockjumper leader and 1 local leader

Tour Pace & Walking

Moderately difficult birding, combined with some basic accommodations are taxing. Some steep hikes. Many long days with early starts, several flights.

Accommodation

Most accommodations are reasonable to comfortable, but those at Lore Lindu & Subaim area are basic.

Ease of Birding

Birding can be demanding at some locations. Low density of several key species. Others require repeat efforts.

Number of Species Expected

+-300

Photographic Opportunities

Photography can reasonable, some basic hides, predominant forest birding.

What our clients say about us

Lev Frid
FH, Indonesia 2022

Both my husband and I found Lev to be an excellent guide. He was both personable and knowledgeable. I especially appreciated his calm demeanor when I was unable to immediately get on a bird in the field. His photographic skills also assisted in occasionally clinching an ID of a far-off bird. And, I and others on the Tour appreciated his willingness and ability to digiscope special birds - to be be later airdropped with each other! Lev is a real, and multi-faceted, gem.

David Hoddinott
AS & FS, Indonesia 2022

We had a fantastic time. Everyone looked after us so we’ll, very well organised! Many thanks for putting a together a brilliant birding tour. It was everything we hoped for and more

Glen Valentine
JB - Lesser Sundas 2022

Although the tour was a little more strenuous than I had anticipated, it was a fantastic tour. All of the endemics except for two very rare ones—more than I’d hoped to see in my wildest dreams. Glen is an excellent guide, the local guide a very positive addition, and the driving crew was just fabulous. And when things went awry with the cancelled flight and the steep increase in the fee for Komodo, Glen, our local guide and crew handled it in complete transparency to us, so that we didn’t miss a beat. Hats off to all involved!

Glen Valentine
MG - Lesser Sundas 2022

"Glen Valentine is an amazing guide and really made the trip special. He is personable, patient and unflappable. He did a fantastic job of getting everyone on the birds and this was really challenging in many cases. One of the best I’ve experienced. Our local guide was also very good at leading us to key areas and finding difficult birds. Some of the trip was challenging in Sumba, but well worth the effort. Overall, this was a fascinating and rewarding trip to a little known part of the world with lots of really exciting endemic birds!

Glen Valentine
SL, Indonesia 2023

What a fabulous tour to such a remote part of Indonesia. As always, Glen and Keith Valentine were exceptional guides and great fun to be with. The crew of our boat, Lady Denok, were amazing whether it was in the dining room, making great coffees, getting us in and out of the dinghies or taking us snorkelling. Once we left the boat in the Tanimbars, the local agent was there to meet us and the land-based part of the tour was exceptionally well managed. The local people were very welcoming and could not do enough for us.

  • Your details

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form

  • Contact permission

    We would love to send you Newsletters (twice yearly).via Type a message, Promotions/Discounts (weekly), Blog Articles/Image of the Month (monthly) and other content that we think you would find interesting. If you are happy with this then please select your preferences below. If you would like to unsubscribe from previous subscriptions, or leave our mailing list entirely, then please do so by visiting the Preference Centre link at the bottom of these emails.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Route Map

Tour Route Map

map-direction-img
Download Tour Itinerary
English