Dear All ;
Greeting from the lovely sunny warm autum Denmark.
Russel had kindly recommended me to send you a note concerning our visit
to the Australian neighbour: Indonesia, from we just had just arrived home
safely with all our luggage intact from our great orangutan / nature /
birding trip in Indonesia, and we hope to soon recover well from the
jet-lag,
and be back in our dailylife.
We travelled from Copenhagen by SAS - Scandinavian Airlines - to Singapore,
where we had a stopover one night, and continue by Lufthansa to Jakarta,
from where we flew to Palangkaraya, Kalimantan ( Indonesia Borneo ). From
Kalimantan we flew via Jakarta to UjungPandang ( Makassar ) at South
Sulawesi, and then on to Manado, North Sulawesi, from where we travelled via
Singapore and Bangkok return to Copenhagen.
We felt very good about the visit, and we enjoyed very much the Indonesia we
had the chance to meet - a unique opportunity for us to experience.
Our main destination was visiting our danish friend Lone Droscher Nielsen
and her fabulous and wonderful Orang Utan rehabilitationcenter at Nyaru
Menteng north of Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.
http://www.orangutan.com/theprojects/NyaruMenteng/nyarumenteng.htm
We had a stopover in Jakarta where we among other visited two very large
birdmarkets, where there thousands of birds, incl. many parrots for sale -
and hundred of owls, due the Harry Potter book, as it seem everyone now
should wanted an owl. - Also on roadside, incl. in Kalimantan, plenty,
thousands of birds are solds, for pets but also for eating, example
fruitdoves
for Rp 25.000 ( about US$ 4, - ) each.
It would be far better if this trade was in domestic bred birds ... ! - It
would be a great task for the avicultural world, which actually have an
overproduction of captive birds, to supply the wanted birds for these
markets,
instead of the trade continue in wildcaughted birds ... ! - I asked some of
the local traders, and they didn't even know there being bred birds in
captivity. There are certainly no need for the trade in wildcaught of birds,
as there are plenty of domestic bred birds, which easy can match the any
demand for the pet trade.
Birdlife Indonesia had today advised me, at they are developing a
collaboration
awareness project on bird trade with several NGOs in Java. Hopefully this
project could reduce a significant rate of bird trade in Indonesia.
Even Indonesia is a real big country and has an astounding number of
choices, and even though we only could stay too few days, we were very
fortune to have seen a lot of and felt the special atmosphere of Indonesia
... - We could not believe Indonesia in the different regions we visited so
brilliant in all aspects. We had great and fantastic taste of Indonesia !
Indeed we were very fortunate to have seen more, that we could have expected
to see, and that was particularly satisfying for me. - We saw most of
wishes on our " wish-to-see list ".
I had a great birding and nearly all birds I saw were new for me ... as it
was my first visit ever to Indonesia.
And I met other birders, incl. some from Australia ... !
By the time came to the end of our Indonesian odyssey I realized that, we
had a very exciting and fruitful trip to this fantastic area of the world,
and we had explored and learn a lot about Indonesia.
Indonesia is surely one of the world's top nature-diving-birding
destinations, with a great diversity of habitats and a high level of
endemisn of flora and fauna, and not to forget the easy-going people, great
accommodations and good food, and different kind of nature conditions make
for a great and wonderful as well as a special experience.
Yes, this visit provided us with a lot of good informations, not only on
birds and other wildlife, but also on the life in Indonesia, as the people
and culture, history and geografi, nature and wildlife, flora and fauna.
And now we must put it all in good use ... ! - Among other with help from
the notes and photos.
We are very grateful to be able to made this pilgrimage to Indonesia.
It was memorable tour with some wonderful memories of the local people and
the beautiful islands. The kindness and generosity of the Indonesian made
us welcome whereever we went in Indonesia.
We are now trying to come back down to earth from such an incredible and
fantastic adventure.
I know how long time we phycical were in Indonesia, but how long mental time
is another question, as we experience so very much, that it is impossible to
short describe the contents of the trip, as there are too many memorable
moments to recount them all.
" Have you been a week in at country - you write a book ".
" Have you been a month in a country - you write an article ".
" Have you been a year in a country - you write nothing ".
Statements which no doubt will also mark the trip report and the many other
out-puts concerning the trip logistics, birding and other happenings from
our trip in Indonesia. - Now the mental part of the trip had really started.
In all my minds, flashing back my time in Indonesia.... and talking to many
people as if the subjects are never finished.
Tuesday the 17 sep. I am leaving Copenhagen for Teneriffe to participate the
V. International Parrot Convention, Loro Parque, Puerto de la Cruz Tenerife,
Spain http://www.loroparque-fundacion.org and there I will of course brief
concerning my Indonesian experiences.
Best wishes,
Peter
r.t.:
Peter H. Them, Parrotdata, DK-Denmark
www.parrotdata.com
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