Indonesia

Bali, Borneo, Komodo and Biawak Besar (and a few gibbons)

Wildlife, Nature & Cultural Travel in Indonesia - Bali, Sulawesi, Java, Sumatra, Komodo

There are few, if any, countries in the world with the diversity that is Indonesia. A land of active volcanoes - there are more here than anywhere else on Earth - lush tropical rainforests, a snow-capped mountain, superb beaches, unparalleled coral reefs, cultures including mountain warriors in New Guinea, urbane and modern city-dwellers, devout Muslims, graceful Hindu Balinese, Dyaks from Borneo and a hundred more spread through 17,000 islands straddling the Equator. Wildlife includes the largest and most dangerous lizard in the world, the Komodo Dragon, forest elephants and rhinos, tigers, monkeys including the amazing Proboscis Monkey, gibbons and of the course orangutans. But as well as these more familiar kinds there are also animals both strange in appearance, such as the babirusa, a forest pig whose tusks grow through its upper snout - and strange in distribution - marsupials more usual in Australia.

The islands of Indonesia sound like a roll call of the exotic worlds of storybook, adventure, and wildlife documentary. Borneo, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Komodo, Bali, Java. And despite on-going population growth, habitat destruction and increasingly common forest fires, this magical land can still provide the traveler with all these experiences, and more. Seventy foot long trading boats still fight whirlpools that can sink them in minutes as they ply the Mahakam River in Borneo, traveling from seaside city to the villages of tribal Dyaks over 200 miles upstream, where tattooed "long-ears" still prepare their narcotic Betel paste in time-worn tradition. Amid noise, confusion, explosive color and heat Balinese cremate their dead on the backs of paper and wood bulls, often en masse. In the forests of Sumatra a trek is taken with care, if wild elephant are heard along the jungle path. Tigers' pug marks can be found in the mud of streams, and the eerie call of gibons greets the early morning light. The Toraja cliffs hold the images of the dead, and in Tangkoko Dua Sudara reserve tiny tarsiers leap from tree to tree, with huge round eyes searching for insects.

BALI                             KOMODO

Please call or email for information about planning your nature tour to Indonesia

You can find our information about traveling within Indonesia, including immigration, visas, getting about, dining, money and lots more on our Indonesia Information pages here.

We often get asked about terrorism in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries (yes, we're willing to bring up travel subjects that most companies don't want mentioned). While there have been several well-publicized attacks there, overall the risk is small, and these attacks do not reflect the overall view of the Indonesian people, their attitude or action towards visitors, including Americans. On Bali, which is Hindu and not Muslim, this is especially obvious. Naturally we keep up to date on the situation over there, and use a variety of sources other than the State Department's Travel Advisories. (And speaking of which, our general feeling about these is summed thus: what was the response of your loving and concerned mother and your unmarried, doting aunt regarding your climbing a tree when you were 10. Generally their thoughts on your safety were, and probably still are, that all you should do is stay in bed with the covers drawn, where they could keep an eye on you.)

We believe there is a large dose of politics in the warnings, as we note that despite the several recent terrorist attacks in Britain, the attempted airline attacks on aircraft originating there, and the number of known British-born terrorists that have conducted or attempted to conduct attacks on travelers and others, Britain does not even appear as a country on the general State Department list, let alone be the subject of a Travel Warning or milder Public Announcement. However, we do not wish to downplay the risks these days of such events; but the risk seems spread over many countries, and the decision to issue, and especially to rescind, a warning does not seem to be equally applied across all. A useful map on recent and current terrorism incidents can be found here.

click for information about our February 2008 tour to Bali & Komodo