Indonesia travelling advice

Najade

Najade

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
It's finally come the time to say goodbye to Australia and I'll be heading back home with a two week (23.11.-08.12) stopover in Indonesia.
I've already got a flight booked going out of Jakarta to Frankfurt with Oman Air, but still figuring out the best way to go about getting there. (If Indonesia proves too costly, unfeasible or overall too annoying to organise I can still decide to do another country instead.)

I have only just started making plans for this leg of the trip (as I've also got about two months worth of travel in Aus to figure out atm), but was hoping that the knowledgeable brain-trust here can help me with some advice.

What I'd like to see:
The zoo side of things
From looking around the galleries and reports there's a couple of zoos I'd like to go on Java (going east to west):

Batu Secret Zoo for Mountain Bear Cuscus, Sulawesi Dwarf Cuscus, Banded Palm Civet, Western Long-beaked Echidna, Ornate Cuscus, Common Spotted Cuscus
(Eco Green Park)
Taman Safari Prigen for Sunda Clouded Leopard, Maleo, Phillippine Tarsier, Javan Warty Pig

(I think I can give Surabaya Zoo a miss?)

Gembira Loka Zoo for Black-spotted Cuscus, Javan Warty Pig

Ragunan Zoo for Maleo, New Guinea Harpy-eagle
Sea World Ancol
Taman Mini Indonesia for Bornean Earless Monitor, Aba Aba

Taman Safari Bogor for Sulawesi Dwarf Cuscus, Grizzled Tree Kangaroo, Short-tailed Spotted Cuscus

Are there any other zoos or zoo-adjacent places like rescue centres etc. I should visit?
What other rare/special species do I need to look out for at those zoos?
Are any of those species bts or gone?
Are there any encounters, tours, etc that might be of interest?

Other things
Borobudur

Wildlife
I've only gotten around to making a list of the more interesting species for Indonesia as a whole. So I still have to narrow that down to the islands/areas in a potentially reachable distance and look at more trip reports etc.
With only two weeks and a sizeable portion of that dedicated to zoos I reckon I won't have time for more than one or two places anyway.
Don't know how much you can actually do independently cause the trip reports that I have read so far all seem to rely fairly heavily on local guides or are from an overall birding tour to begin with...
In any case it seems like a completely different beast to wildlife-watching in Australia so I definitely have to do some more research on that.

It looks to me right now that there's three cities I need to focus on:
Malang (Batu Secret, Taman Prigen)
Yogyakarta (Gembira Loka, Borobodur)
Jakarta (Ragunan, Sea World, Taman Mini) + Taman Bogor


To get to Indonesia I'm looking at two options (I think):
Option 1: Leave Australia and fly to Bali. Spend a couple of days there and then move on to Java.
Option 2: Fly into Jakarta and go from there

I guess my main questions are about the travel:
Should I choose option 1 or 2?
How easy is it to get f.e. from Bali to Java in general and Malang in particular, from Malang to Yogyakarta, from Yogyakarta to Jakarta over land (buses, taxis, trains?) or do you need to fly?
How do I then get to the actual zoos/Borobudur etc. and how much will that cost (roughly)?
(From what I've read I don't think I'm brave enough for a rental car^^)

Thanks in advance for any and all help :)
 
Quick response and advise:
A) Fly direct to Jawa and avoid Bali at all costs as much too "touristy" and non focal lacking in wildlife and even culture (the latter also misrepresented by what Indonesia expects tourists want and do. In short: the worst seaside resort antics.
B) Do include Surabaya KB in your tour: second city and the zoo is worthwhile for proboscis monkey, babirusa (our hope as all wildcaught), quite a few other endemics. Do not believe all the sensationalist press there!

Mind: Perceptions about what to expect of zoos here and keep an open mind! Mind II: Conditions and animal care are improving faster now as the local zoo association is very ambitious now and adopting conservation breeding and latest animal management practices.
 
An alternative view: Fly to Bali then overland to Jarkata.

1, There is certainly a lot of tourism in Bali, however the Hindu culture is still strong. If going to Borobudur it might be worthwhile to meet the cultural descendants of those who built it. Go to West Bali National Park to see Bali starlings in the wild.

2. There is a network of buses throughout Bali and Java, and ferries every 15 minutes or so between them. You are going one way ie from east to west rather than looping around Java.
 
Easy to get to Jakarta and air Asia around from there. I've flown air Asia Bali to Yogyakarta and Yogyakarta to Jakarta and back to Sydney that way. Works out pretty easy.

Borobudur and prambanan are both great. Do sunset/sunrise at borobudur if you can. It it well worth it.
 
I haven't been to Indonesia since 2011 but...

I'm with MRJ - fly into Bali and go west through Java. There are buses and taxis and motorbikes everywhere so it is super easy and super cheap to get everywhere (albeit often slow and frustrating!), and there are regular cheap ferry crossings between Bali and Java. If you fly into Jakarta you're just going to be backtracking all over the show. (Note that I hate Bali, but I would still do it this way because it is the most sensible way to do it).

For wildlife, pretty much all the national parks (at least on the major islands, not so much in the east) require you to have guides now which is a right pain and expensive, and they are mostly useless or worse. But if you're only visiting a couple then that's probably fine. The parks themselves tend to be easy to get to (because there are public transport options to get everywhere in Indonesia).

I wouldn't count on all those captive animals you list still being alive though.
 
So, following most of the advice here I'll fly into Bali and then make my way over to Jakarta. The decision was also helped by the fact that ADL - DPS flights were on sale.

MRJ said:
Go to West Bali National Park to see Bali starlings in the wild.
Click to expand...
Can I just rock up when I get there or do I need to organize a guide in advance?
 
GregOz said:
Easy to get to Jakarta and air Asia around from there. I've flown air Asia Bali to Yogyakarta and Yogyakarta to Jakarta and back to Sydney that way. Works out pretty easy.

Borobudur and prambanan are both great. Do sunset/sunrise at borobudur if you can. It it well worth it.
Click to expand...
Walk around the Borobudur complex early morning like you will be amazed by its splendour and you will have the first hours by yourself without the crowds!
 
Najade said:
Can I just rock up when I get there or do I need to organize a guide in advance?
Click to expand...

Actually I am not sure if guides would be able to help with Bali mynahs. The two best options are:

1. Behind the National Parks headquarters, which is on the main road into Gilimanuk. the National Parks have release aviaries here and there are always plenty of birds. Unfortunately whenever they leave the protected area they are nabbed by bird trappers. Also here are (wild) Javan lutungs, so a good spot to see them.

2. Around the Menjangan Resort, which protects a considerable area of the National Park from poachers. Birds here, while the result of reintroduction, are breeding naturally. We also saw black winged mynahs as well as plenty of other bird species, three species of squirrel and other interesting stuff. You do have to be a guest of the resort but there is an ecolodge which is a bit more reasonably priced.

When going into the National Park we picked up our guide from in front of the National Park headquarters, he was just hanging around waiting for something to happen. He was quite good, but I don't have info on me as am about to board another plane.
 
Najade said:
These guys (Bali Birding Tours) just quoted me IDR 3.000.000 for a day tour at Bali Barat NP. Is that a normal price for the area?
Click to expand...
What is included? What species are you targeting? We picked up a guide at the National Parks headquarters for a lot less and could have bargained him down further. But he did not have transport, which we had to supply.
 
MRJ said:
What is included? What species are you targeting? We picked up a guide at the National Parks headquarters for a lot less and could have bargained him down further. But he did not have transport, which we had to supply.
Click to expand...

Includes guiding fee, entrance ticket, donation, permit, transport, lunch, and mineral water during the trip.
 
Najade said:
Includes guiding fee, entrance ticket, donation, permit, transport, lunch, and mineral water during the trip.
Click to expand...
I think that is the full-price western guy price. You can try and bargain. Things have been tough in Bali in recent years and I am sure they are not overloaded with business. Try for half. The trick is to be prepared to walk away.
 
MRJ said:
I think that is the full-price western guy price. You can try and bargain. Things have been tough in Bali in recent years and I am sure they are not overloaded with business. Try for half. The trick is to be prepared to walk away.
Click to expand...
I feel this is way too high, you should bargain. This price is more like for 3 days or so, allthough Bali is more expensive than elsewhere (spoilt tourist brat market).
 
Najade said:
It's finally come the time to say goodbye to Australia and I'll be heading back home with a two week (23.11.-08.12) stopover in Indonesia.
I've already got a flight booked going out of Jakarta to Frankfurt with Oman Air, but still figuring out the best way to go about getting there. (If Indonesia proves too costly, unfeasible or overall too annoying to organise I can still decide to do another country instead.)

I have only just started making plans for this leg of the trip (as I've also got about two months worth of travel in Aus to figure out atm), but was hoping that the knowledgeable brain-trust here can help me with some advice.

What I'd like to see:
The zoo side of things
From looking around the galleries and reports there's a couple of zoos I'd like to go on Java (going east to west):

Batu Secret Zoo for Mountain Bear Cuscus, Sulawesi Dwarf Cuscus, Banded Palm Civet, Western Long-beaked Echidna, Ornate Cuscus, Common Spotted Cuscus
(Eco Green Park)
Taman Safari Prigen for Sunda Clouded Leopard, Maleo, Phillippine Tarsier, Javan Warty Pig

(I think I can give Surabaya Zoo a miss?)

Gembira Loka Zoo for Black-spotted Cuscus, Javan Warty Pig

Ragunan Zoo for Maleo, New Guinea Harpy-eagle
Sea World Ancol
Taman Mini Indonesia for Bornean Earless Monitor, Aba Aba

Taman Safari Bogor for Sulawesi Dwarf Cuscus, Grizzled Tree Kangaroo, Short-tailed Spotted Cuscus

Are there any other zoos or zoo-adjacent places like rescue centres etc. I should visit?
What other rare/special species do I need to look out for at those zoos?
Are any of those species bts or gone?
Are there any encounters, tours, etc that might be of interest?

Other things
Borobudur

Wildlife
I've only gotten around to making a list of the more interesting species for Indonesia as a whole. So I still have to narrow that down to the islands/areas in a potentially reachable distance and look at more trip reports etc.
With only two weeks and a sizeable portion of that dedicated to zoos I reckon I won't have time for more than one or two places anyway.
Don't know how much you can actually do independently cause the trip reports that I have read so far all seem to rely fairly heavily on local guides or are from an overall birding tour to begin with...
In any case it seems like a completely different beast to wildlife-watching in Australia so I definitely have to do some more research on that.

It looks to me right now that there's three cities I need to focus on:
Malang (Batu Secret, Taman Prigen)
Yogyakarta (Gembira Loka, Borobodur)
Jakarta (Ragunan, Sea World, Taman Mini) + Taman Bogor


To get to Indonesia I'm looking at two options (I think):
Option 1: Leave Australia and fly to Bali. Spend a couple of days there and then move on to Java.
Option 2: Fly into Jakarta and go from there

I guess my main questions are about the travel:
Should I choose option 1 or 2?
How easy is it to get f.e. from Bali to Java in general and Malang in particular, from Malang to Yogyakarta, from Yogyakarta to Jakarta over land (buses, taxis, trains?) or do you need to fly?
How do I then get to the actual zoos/Borobudur etc. and how much will that cost (roughly)?
(From what I've read I don't think I'm brave enough for a rental car^^)

Thanks in advance for any and all help :)
Click to expand...
The hire of a car and driver can be done quite easily. Just go to a place where there are several cars and drivers for hire and ask around. You can tell the driver what you are interested in and you will usually get good advise. Negotiate a price for your trip and include the cost of meals and possibly accommodation for the driver. If you want to hire for a few days you may be asked to give some payment as you go, to pay for the fuel etc.. Sounds expensive but really very reasonable.
Flores is great if you can get there. The hire of a boat and driver can also be negotiated for a very reasonable price, so you can get out to some of the smaller islands. Hope this helps.
 
Najade said:
Bali Bird Park - November '19
Rimba Reptile Park - November '19
Batu Secret Zoo - December '19
Gembira Loka Zoo - December '19
SeaWorld Ancol - December '19
Click to expand...

Questions for Najade:

Why did you choose not to visit Ragunan when you were in Jakarta? Ran out of time?

What birds of paradise are on show? Do you know of any that are off-show?

What were the highlights from Batu and Gembira?
 
FunkyGibbon said:
Questions for Najade:

Why did you choose not to visit Ragunan when you were in Jakarta? Ran out of time?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I lost a lot of time overall on this trip cause I broke off part of a filling in one of my teeth and so had to get that redone and of course that got infected etc pp so I spend half my time at the dentist, trying to figure out what dentist to even go to, the pharmacy or laid out in bed recovering. That's why I didn't get to any of the Safari Parks either.
Also traffic in Jakarta made it impossible to just squeeze in a quick visit.

What birds of paradise are on show? Do you know of any that are off-show?
Click to expand...
There were King, Twelve-wired, Wilson's, Lesser, Red, Magnificent and Greater at Bali Bird Park.

Gembira definitely had Lesser, not sure about Red atm.

Don't know what's off-show.
What were the highlights from Batu and Gembira?
Click to expand...
Highlights at Batu for me were Western Long-beaked Echidna, Sulawesi Dwarf Cuscus, Bornean Earless Monitor and Banded Palm Civet.

Sunda Pangolin I'd seen before, Striped Possum and Hog Badger were asleep the whole time I was there. Didn't see Bear Cuscus, Anoa or Babirusa.
There might have been some herps or monkeys that are special. But I'm not sure what counts as special with these groups.

Gembira was mainly for the Black-spotted(?) Cuscus.
They also had an unsigned Giant Salamander and a tank with signage for Greater Siren which I'd have liked to see but was under construction or sth.
There were also a couple of interesting birds.
 
Najade said:
Yeah, I lost a lot of time overall on this trip cause I broke off part of a filling in one of my teeth and so had to get that redone and of course that got infected etc pp so I spend half my time at the dentist, trying to figure out what dentist to even go to, the pharmacy or laid out in bed recovering. That's why I didn't get to any of the Safari Parks either.
Also traffic in Jakarta made it impossible to just squeeze in a quick visit.
Click to expand...

I have had a serious dental issue develop when away from home and it's pretty awful.

Does Ancol still have dugong?
 
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No Dugongs on-show.

The enclosure they were previously in only held a Sea Turtle and a couple fish.

Don’t think it’s a must do. Pretty small overall and the most interesting thing there was probably the African Lungfish.
 
Najade said:
No Dugongs on-show.

Don’t think it’s a must do. Pretty small overall and the most interesting thing there was probably the African Lungfish.
Click to expand...

I guess they have died. There was only left in 2016 when I visited and it didn't look at all healthy.

Without it I agree. I remember a couple of interesting tanks (the phone booth and the hatchback), and the fairly horrifying shark and turtle touch tank.
 
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