Tag Archives: bali

Bali As An Eco-Tourism Gateway

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Bali is a major world tourist destination and there are many forums and blogs dedicated to making the most of your trip to Bali.  I am just going to briefly describe some activities which may interest eco-tourists and bird lovers in general.  I have already done reviews on the two hotels we stayed in:  Cendana Resort and Holiday Inn Resort Baruna Beach and I can recommend them for a stay in Ubud and Kuta respectively.  Trip Advisor has hundreds of reviews so I would advise taking a look there to find something that suits you.

SIGHTSEEING

I had originally planned to do Bali Bird Walks but we got rained out.  Not to worry as I know we will be back in Bali someday.

I would also like to visit Bali Barat National Park sometime when we aren’t totally exhausted.

The Monkey Forest in Ubud is extremely popular and very touristy but it’s still a lot of fun!  There is a nominal charge of around $4 to enter and you can buy bananas outside to tempt the monkeys.  They don’t require much tempting, they are more like New York muggers and will aggressively jump on you and rummage through your pockets if they see anything banana-shaped (men take care)!  Don’t wear glasses or jewelry as they have been known to snatch them off tourists.  Here’s some pics.

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Balinese Temples are everywhere and some will allow tourists inside if they are properly dressed in a sarong (no shorts or beachy outfits).  Otherwise you can still admire them from the outside.

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SHOPPING

Ubud Area Arts, Crafts and Furniture Markets are on the road between Ubud and Bali Bird Park and a major stop for tourist groups as well.  If you go with a guide or driver, they will get a commission on whatever you buy so try to go alone or get dropped off if you are after the best prices.  You can even buy thatching to bring home and make a cabana in your backyard!  I loved those fancy doors but didn’t want to try shipping one.

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Back in Ubud town, there are shops along the main tourist drag-Monkey Forest Road and a small art market at the top of the road near the palace.  I loved the paintings of birds and really wanted that one with the cockatoos but it cost over $100 and was huge!  I asked for smaller ones but they didn’t have small cockatoo paintings.

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There are tailors everywhere and we both had some outfits made.  My husband got a suit and I got an evening dress and a few tops for a cruise we have planned next year.  This is Sanggar Tailoring in Kuta near the Kuta Art Market.  This suit (first fitting shown here) cost $135 including fabric.

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RESTAURANTS

Needless to say, there are hundreds of restaurants with all kinds of cuisines.  We had pretty much OD’d on nasi goreng and satay in West Papua so by the time we got to Bali we wanted a change.  We did get a bit lazy and took several meals in our hotels for most breakfasts and dinners but went out for lunch.  Ubud has a great Mexican place-Taco Casa.

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And being an expat American, I was craving typical diner type food such as Flapjaks in Kuta and Johnny Rockets in the Beachwalk Mall.

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RELAXATION

Massage parlours and day spas are everywhere and very cheap!  This spa pictured is in Cendana Resort and it was really good.  We were getting massages every day and I got a facial, body scrub, hair treaments and French braiding.  Great way to spoil our aching muscles after the birding expedition!

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There are modern shopping malls such as Discovery Centre and Beachwalk which are air conditioned fi you want to escape the afternoon heat.  We saw “Oz the Great and Powerful” for only $5 each at the Beachwalk cinema and it was cool and comfy inside!

Review: Holiday Inn Resort, Baruna Bali

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We recently spent 3 nights at the Holiday Inn Resort, Baruna Bali following our birding expedition to West Papua.  I chose this hotel since both my husband and I have lots of Priority Club points from various promos over the last few years and it didn’t hurt that I have permanent platinum status from my Priority Club Visa from Chase.  I knew that we had a good chance of an upgrade………and it came through!  Award nights go for 20,000 points.  I could have booked the Intercontinental for 30,000 points a night but I thought this location was better for shopping and sightseeing.

As you first arrive, there is a security guard on the gate.

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The lobby is large and comfortable.  Our room wasn’t ready but since we had been upgraded to an ocean view, we didn’t mind waiting.

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The decor is pretty generic but it was clean and there was a nice lounge on the balcony.  The room had one of those annoying glass-walled bathrooms but fortunately there are blinds to cover it up.  I would have like to see some Balinese art on the walls.  We had a great view of the pool and the sea just beyond.  The hotel is right on the beach.

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There are actually 2 pools but we hung out at the main one.  There are nice cabanas surrounding the pool and since we were traveling in low season we never had trouble getting one.  Nice swim-up bar and happy hour at 5.

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This stone sink in the bathroom near the pool is typical of Balinese sinks.

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Massage ladies still ply the beach but they are not allowed into hotel grounds.  The hotel has a spa but it’s expensive.  We chose to go to day spas nearby which were really  cheap-$10 for a standard one hour massage.

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The first night we had the All you can eat pasta bar but it was a bit strange.  It’s not like the ones where the dishes are pre-made and you help yourself.  They bring you a card and you mark off which sauces, meats and vegetables you want and which noodles to serve it over.  The pastas did taste good but the service was a bit slow.  We are more the buffet type than the fine dining type so others may prefer the individually ordered pasta method.  A dessert is included and we both opted for some ice cream from the gelati bar.

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Even if you have to pay for this hotel, it’s generally around the $100 mark so a good value.  It’s well located in the heart of Kuta and walking distance to several shops, we even walked to and from the Discovery Centre.  Taxis are best obtained on the street after you exit the grounds so you can bargain with them.  We tried to get Bluebird taxis with meters as they were the best value.  In the map below, A marks the hotel and the X marks the Discovery Centre and you can see how close the hotel is to the airport.  We were not disturbed by aircraft overhead.  If you want to get to the Bali Bird Park from here, you are probably better off hiring a taxi for the day.  Traffic is terrible in Kuta so start early!

Holiday Inn Resort Baruna Bali Location

 

Review: Cendana Resort In Ubud, Bali

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As I mentioned in my Eco-Lite post on the Bali Bird Park, it can be easily accessed from Ubud.  When I was planning this part of the trip, 5 days of R&R in Bali after the challenging birding adventure in West Papua I had to decide whether to stay in the pleasant small town of Ubud in central Bali or at one of the beach resorts.  Since I was short on cash and had Priority Club points to burn I ended up splitting the stay between 2 nights in Ubud paid and 3 nights in the Holiday Inn Baruna Beach on points.

I booked this resort on Hotels.com as I was working towards a goal of 10 nights to earn a free night in the Welcome Rewards program and these 2 nights put me over the top, plus I used the Ultimate Rewards mall to click thru.

Cendana Resort is well located in the centre of Ubud on Monkey Forest Road within walking distance of both the Monkey Forest and the Art Market.  It’s reasonably priced at around $50-80 depending on room type and season.  We arrived in the night so didn’t get to see the gardens at first but the room itself was gorgeous!  I love traditional Bali/tropical decor and this place has it in spades!  A large bathtub was a welcome sight after roughing it in Papua!

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The next morning, we were delighted by the beautiful gardens surrounding the large swimming pool.  Our room looked out onto a rice paddy giving a rural feeling even though the hotel is on Monkey Forest Road.  There were a few birds flying over the rice paddies.

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The room rate includes a delicious buffet breakfast including my favourite pineapple pancakes!

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The one criticism I could make was the very small cages the myna birds were kept in.  They are beautiful birds, tame and can talk pretty well but I would have preferred to see them in a large aviary where they could at least see each other if they can’t be kept together.  Birds are flock creatures and don’t like to be alone.

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Eco-Lite: Bali Bird Park More Photos

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Yesterday I launched my new series designed to help people find mini-trips to appreciate birds closer to home or on more conventional trips to beach resorts such as Bali.  All the information on Bali Bird Park is in the first post but I took so many photos, I thought I would follow up with more here so I don’t make the informative post harder to load.

When you first enter, you will see lush gardens and several birds on stands or wandering about the park.  They have photographers there if you want to have a photo posing with the birds.

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Then you will pass by some large aviaries and habitats featuring various Indonesian birds and a few from Australia.  You can also see some baby Eclectus Parrots that are being handreared.

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These birds are from Africa.

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IMG_8566 Then you pass through the Birds of Paradise exhibit.

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Next there is a huge walk-in aviary featuring birds from Bali.  You can see the highly endangered Bali Starling here but they are kept separate for their security.  They are in a breeding program trying to increase the numbers.

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Then you will come to a free-flight show that they do around 11am featuring both birds of prey and some dazzling macaws.  This was one of the times my camera was fogging up due to the humidity and intermittant rain.

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Then you will come to the Papua Rainforest Aviary whose photos I featured yesterday.

As you leave Bali Bird Park, you will see a well-stocked gift shop with bird themed paintings, jewelry and knick-knacks.  I bought out the bird bling when we were there but they have probably replenished it by now………they do take credit cards!

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Birding In Indonesia

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INDONESIA’S BIRDING HOTSPOTS

From Crowned-Pigeons and Birds-of-Paradise, to endemic Pheasants and Pittas, not to mention a wide variety of parrots such as Cockatoos, Lories, Fig Parrots, Eclectus and more – Indonesia has some of the world’s best birdwatching.   Spanning two continents and home to over 1,600 species (including almost 400 endemics) there are plenty of reasons to come birding in Indonesia, then come again and again.

I have found the Burung Nusantara website a tremendous resource for planning my own trip to West Papua in the near future.  They also have comprehensive guides on how to get to the birding hotspots, what species to look for and how to organize guides.  Some places where birders flock to such as the Arfak Mountains and Raja Ampat don’t have email or cell phones so it can be very difficult to get ahold of guides or book things in advance.   In the low season, it should be feasible to just show up and ask for a guide, preferably one of the recommended guides on this site as they have good experience and skills.  In the busy season, you will probably need to find some way to book in advance, otherwise you may find that the best guides are already booked by major birding tour operators.Ekkie

Here’s a selection of recommended birding hotspots and where you can read more about them.  In future posts, I will take each one in more detail as to how to get there and organize the birding in that area and how you can reach Indonesia from your country using your frequent flyer miles.

 

SERAM

Key bird species:

Forsten’s Scrubfowl; Rufous-necked Sparrowhawk; Meyer’s Goshawk; ‘Seram’ (Long-tailed) Mountain-Pigeon; Salmon-crested Cockatoo; Red Lory; Blue-eared Lory; Purple-naped Lory; Moluccan King-Parrot; Moluccan Scops-Owl; Moluccan Boobook; Lesser Masked-Owl; Lazuli Kingfisher; ‘Seram’ Swiftlet; Olive Honeyeater; Seram Honeyeater; Seram Myzomela; Wakolo Myzomela; Seram Friarbird; Moluccan Cuckoo-shrike; Pale-gray Cuckoo-shrike; Black-chinned Monarch; ‘Seram’ Golden Bulbul; Cinnamon-chested Flycatcher; Seram Thrush; Streaky-breasted Fantail; Drab Whistler; Seram White-eye; Rufescent White-eye; Gray-hooded White-eye; Seram Oriole; Moluccan Starling; Long-crested Myna.

 

ARFAK

 

Key species:

Magnificent Bird-or-Paradise; Black Sicklebill; Long-tailed Paradigalla; Arfak Astrapia; Arfak Bowerbird; Lesser Bird-of-Paradise; Superb Bird-of-Paradise; New Guinea Eagle; Feline Owlet-Nightjar; Mountain Owlet-Nightjar; Spotted Jewel-Babbler; Chestnut-backed Jewel-Babbler Spotted Catbird; Flame Bowerbird; Magnificent Riflebird; Buff-tailed Sicklebill.

 

RAJA AMPAT

 

Key species:

Wilson’s Bird-of-Paradise; Red Bird-of-Pardise; King Bird-of-Paradise; Northern Cassowary; Western Crowned-pigeon; Pheasant Pigeon; Black Lory; Beach Kingfisher; Bruijn’s Brush-turkey.

 

NIMBOKRANG

 

Key species:

Northern Cassowary; Pale-billed Sicklebill; Blue-and-Black Kingfisher; Brown Lory; Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise; Shovel-billed Kingfisher; Victoria Crowned Pigeon; King Bird-of-Paradise; Blue Jewel Babbler; Brown-necked Crow; Hook-billed Kingfisher; Vulturine Parrot; Papuan Hawk-owl; Lesser Bird-of-Paradise; Brown-collared Brush-turkey; Greater Black Coucal; Papuan Nightjar; Grey Crow; Black-sided Robin; Lowland Peltops; White-eared Catbird; Wompoo Fruit-Dove; Coroneted Fruit-Dove.

 

BIAK AND NUMFOR

 

Key species:

Long-tailed Starling, Biak Black Flycatcher; Biak Paradise-kingfisher; Biak Lory; Geelvink Pygmy-parrot; Biak Scops-owl; Biak Monarch; Biak Coucal; Biak Scrubfowl; Biak Gerygone; Biak White-eye; Numfor Paradise-kingfisher.

 

LORE LINDU

 

Key bird species:

Small Sparrowhawk; Bare-faced Rail; Sulawesi Woodcock; Metallic Pigeon; Ornate Lorikeet; Yellow-and-green Lorikeet; Ochre-bellied Hawk-Owl; Cinnabar Hawk-Owl; Speckled Hawk-Owl; Diabolical Nightjar; Scaly Kingfisher; Purple-bearded Bee-eater; Cerulean Cuckoo-shrike; Pygmy Cuckoo-shrike; Chestnut-backed Bush-Warbler; Blue-fronted Flycatcher; Sulawesi Blue-Flycatcher; Geomalia; Sulawesi Thrush; Great Shortwing; Olive-flanked Whistler; Maroon-backed Whistler; Malia; White-backed Woodswallow; Sulawesi Myna; Fiery-browed Myna; Mountain Serin

 

BALI BARAT

 

Key bird species:

Beach Thick-knee; Orange-breasted Pigeon; Javan Cuckoo-shrike; Black-winged Starling; Banded Pitta; Bali Starling (Myna); Java Sparrow