Over the past few weeks, I have been blogging about our big West Papua adventure and the relaxing stay in Bali afterwards. Here are some general tips to make your trip in Indonesia more rewarding and some tips especially for eco-tourists.
BEFORE YOU GO
1. Get in touch with all the birding guides by email or text message and make sure they are available at the time of your visit. You may be able to wing it in low season but in high season (May-Aug) the best guides will be booked up by birding tour operators.
2. If you don’t like carrying a lot of cash, prebook as many hotels as possible online and pay by credit card, preferably one that earns miles. In our trip, we were able to prebook Aerotel in Biak, Aston Niu Manokwari, Cendana Resort and Holiday Inn Baruna Bali (points). It is not possible at time of writing to prebook the hotels in Sentani and Sorong, though this could change at any time as more hotels get savvy to online booking. We booked HamuEco Resort by Facebook and paid cash when we got there.
3. Very few places take credit cards in West Papua but some hotels and large stores do. Notify your issuers that you will be using your cards in Indonesia and especially West Papua so they don’t cut you off. Credit cards are widely accepted in Bali. Use a credit card with no forex fee.
4. Scan your documents such as passport, driver’s license, travel insurance, etc and email it to yourself.
5. Join Trip It and send your flight and hotel bookings. You can use it from a smart phone even if you aren’t online at the time to track your confirmation and PNR numbers.
6. Make a few photocopies of your passport and bring some extra passport photos. You will need them for your Surat Jalan.
7. Start collecting old clothes that you can wear for birding and then discard later. Trust me, they will be tattered even more while birding and you don’t want to be doing laundry. Plan on treating yourself to new clothes in Bali, local t-shirts are also available in the alrger cities of Papua.
8. Order a copy of the Photographic Guide to Birds of Indonesia, I really wish I had done this before leaving although to be fair it was only published a few weeks before we left. It’s an excellent book!
9. Use an Indonesian travel agent such as Mau Ke Mana to book the flights you can’t book since you are a foreigner. Don’t risk being stranded with full flights.
10. Don’t forget to buy travel insurance. If my usually hardy husband can get malaria and dengue; anyone can, don’t think it won’t happen to you. We were lucky that it didn’t hit him until we were back in Australia, it would have been a disaster if it had hit him in West Papua.
11. Visit your doctor to get malaria pills and any other vaccinations you need. If you have a long flight, ask your doctor if you are a suitable candidate for mild sleeping pills such as Ambien/Zolpidem.
12. The day before you go, make sure all your batteries are charged-cameras, laptops, phones, tablets.
WHILE YOU ARE THERE
1. Most people reading this blog will be able to get a visa on arrival at Bali or Jakarta. Check the list of countries which qualify. Make sure you have $25 cash for each person ready. It is OK to give a $50 bill for 2 people. If your passport expires in less than 6 months, get a new one before you travel.
2. You will need a lot of cash as the birding guides I have been blogging about don’t take credit cards. Once you land in your gateway airport, go to one of the international bank ATMs such as Citibank or HBSC as they will let you withdraw more money at one go. I’m not sure but I think $500 or $600 is the max. Once you are in West Papua, the local bank ATMs will only give you a max of $200 in rupiahs. You can do more than one transaction at a time up to your home bank’s limits but you will pay your usual ATM fee each time. This was a major annoyance to me.
3. If you use Bali as a gateway, there are money changers everywhere but be careful. Many of them are scammers and will quote you a very good rate, then try to stick you with a wad of small bills. They will short change you a few hundred thousand rupiah on purpose. Then when you complain, they will take the wad back from you, hold it near the edge of their desk/kiosk and while they top it up with bills, they will slide a few bills out the bottom so you end up short changed even worse. I knew about this scam so I insisted on pinching the corner of the wad of bills at a few money changers and once they realized I was holding it too tight for them to slide bills out the bottom, they refused to do business with me. I finally found a travel agent who was giving a good rate and let me count the money on a table in front of him and didn’t try to sneak any of it back.
4. Most hotels in Bali will pick you up free at the airport, if yours does, take advantage of it. If you are going direct to Ubud or your hotel doesn’t provide transfers, use the prepaid taxi service at the airport. These drivers are honest and will take you where you want to go with no mucking around.
5. In Bali, use metered taxis such as Bluebird. Elsewhere, you will have to negotiate with taxis, bemos or ojeks (motorcycle taxis). Ask your hotel what the going rate is, then confirm it with the driver.
6. If Bali is your gateway, this is a great chance to have clothes tailor-made. Order them the day you arrive, then take off on your trip to West Papua or elsewhere in Indonesia. They will be ready when you return (and you will probably be a bit slimmer as well)!
7. Schedule a few days R&R in Bali after your birding trip and plan to do your shopping then so you aren’t lugging stuff all over Papua.
8. If you have special birds you want to see, tell your guide so he knows which places to take you to.
9. If you travel in high season, be prepared to share the hides for Birds of Paradise and even take turns. If you go in low season and there aren’t any other tourists, you can take your time and stay in the hide as long as you want.
10. Your shoes will probably get all muddy and yucky and you won’t want to take them home. Consider leaving them behind for your guide, if he doesn’t want them someone in the village will.
11. In some remote places, you will be expected to bring enough food from town for both yourselves and your guides. Make sure you know of any religious restrictions (Muslims don’t eat pork) and shop accordingly.
12. Don’t bargain with birding guides. Their rates are very reasonable and they will earn them. If you deal direct with the guide, just pay what he asks. If you are on a tour, ask the tour leader if you are expected to tip, most of them will have already built this into the price they charge you. Remember, you are supporting them so they don’t have to earn a living trapping birds.