It’s not just in the bush that you can see Australian birdlife. I see the occasional exotic parrot species in the inner city, such as these corella’s in Albert Park, Melbourne.
Corella's in Melbourne
More Australian birdlife
Ubud Monkey Forest – Bali
The Sacred Monkey Forest Ubud Sanctuary is a great place to see monkeys in a natural environment. The sanctuary is south of the town at the end of the Monkey Forest Rd (Jl Wanara Wana).
[Monkeys At Steps]
The sanctuary is set in a lush forest with temples, stone statues and hundreds of monkeys (Long-tailed Macaque, or Crab-eating Macaque as they are properly known).
[Sitting Monkey]
The monkeys are so accustomed to humans thats they generally ignore you when you walk by. The best way to get up close to the monkeys is with bananas, which are sold at the entry gate.
[Monkey Huddle]
The monkeys are not shy in accepting bananas and they will go for your bag if they think you are hiding bananas from them. Make sure you are holding onto anything loose as they may take off with that as well.
[Monkey Forest Rules]
Australian wildlife
Following on from being reacquainted with Australian birdlife, I’ve had a good run with seeing Australian Marsupials.
You can drive all over Australia and see “Kangaroos Next 10km” signs and never actually see a kangaroo.
Wildlife and farm animals
Koalas are even harder to spot than kangaroos. I got lucky here as this one was by the side of the road and was stopping traffic.
Koala up a tree
At my campsite in Capte Otway Victoria I had this curious swamp wallaby graze nearby my campervan.
Swamp Wallaby
In Cape Otway I also saw a reminder of what Australia is well known for – dangerous animals. Fortunately snakes are hibernating in the dead of winter.
Beware of snakes
Australian Birdlife
Living in a city I forget how good Australian wildlife is. I’m staying at a friends house near Lorne on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. It’s in the forest so there is plenty of birdlife. You don’t even need to go looking here. Just put a bowl of sunflower seeds outside and you will have instant feathered friends.
Australian King-Parrot
There are plenty of king-parrots here, as well as crimson rosellas and the occasional sulphur-crested cockatoo.
Cockatoo and Crimson Rosella
The king-parrots here have become used enough to humans to be hand fed.
Feeding Australian King-Parrot
Walking with your food
Tuk Tuk is a tourist service town with a rural flavour. A short stroll away and you will be walking past rice paddies and water buffalo, and chickens can be seen everywhere.
Chicken crossing
The Lake Toba region is home to the Batak people, who make up one of the largest Christian populations in Indonesia. This means that pork is available on the menu here.
Pig and chickens
Oh, give me a home where the (water) buffalo roam
The domestic Asian water buffalo are a common site around Samosir.
Water buffalo
Mud buffalo
Orangutans of Sumatra – Gunung Leuser National Park
Orangutans are the worlds largest living arboreal animal and can only be found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. These two islands have been logged extensively which has endangered the orangutan population.
The North of Sumatra has seen less logging and palm oil/rubber plantation development thus has a the largest orangutan population in Sumatra.
One of the best places to see the Sumatran Orangutan is in Bukit Lawang in North Sumatra. This little jungle village made the news in November 2003 when a flash flood swept though the town, killing 280 people. Today the town has recovered its tourism facilities and is welcoming back visitors.
The guesthouses where tourists stay is upriver from the town itself and has a footbridge and new embankments along the river along with basic tourist amenities.
Orangutans
Visitors can see the orangutans by visitng the rehabiliation centre or by trekking in the jungle to see them in the wild.
While most people come here to go for a trek to see the orangutan in the wild, visiting the rehabilitation centre will at least guarantee that you will see an orangutan on your visit to Bukit Lawang.
[Orangutan Drinking Milk]
The rehabilitation centre is part of the Gunung Leuser National Park. The orangutans are fed twice a day which is when you can see them. They are fed a simple diet of bananas and milk, which encourages them to eventually go into the wild to look for more diverse foods.
[Orangutan with bananas]
[Thomas Leaf Monkey]
Treks to the jungle range from 3 hours to 3 days and must be done with an official guide. I took a 3 hour trek because, while I love walking, I’m not a sleep in the jungle kind of guy. I was told their was no guarantee of seeing a wild Orangutan on the trek, but luckily we saw one in our first hour of walking.
The guides are locals who love their home that is the jungle. Our guide for the day is probably the coolest looking guy in Bukit Lawang. With his tattoos, long hair and jewellery he looks more like a rock star from Jakarta than a jungle man from Northern Sumatra.
[Gunung Leuser National Park Tour Guide]
What I loved about him most was his trekking gear. You see the western trekkers on these tours in their North Face/Colombia boots and pants developed by NASA that wick away sweat, and here was our guide in shorts, singlet and no shoes! At one point he stopped and showed us his bloody toe. He said with pride that a leech and been and gone.
At one point someone commented on the density of the forest, to which the guide replied in song: “You know where you are?”
No one else seemed to know the words, so I replied: “you’re in the jungle baby”.
I refrained from finishing the sentence: “you’re gonna die”. This of course is from Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N’ Roses.
Guides often bring an apprentice with them as well. In this case his brother. They bring a bag of fruit for the trek break and learn the ways of the guide along the way.
[Guide and brother]
Getting to Bukit Lawang
Bukit Lawang is four hours north of Medan, the biggest city in Sumatra. Medan airport has connections to cities across Indonesia and Southeast Asia. It’s also possible to ge to Medan by ferry from Penang in Malaysia.
Pink Dolphins of Sentosa Island, Singapore
Location: Sentosa Island – Singapore
A popular attraction of Sentosa Island is the Dolphin Lagoon, home of Sentosa’s Pink Dolphins. These dolphins start off life grey then become pink as they mature.
[A Pink Dolphin becoming pink]
At the lagoon the dolphin trainers show off the dolphins by getting them to do all sorts of tricks. For an extra fee you can have your photo taken with them.
Entry to Dolphin Lagoon also includes admission to Underwaterworld Singapore.
[Pink Dolphin Showing Off]
The monkeys of Railay Beach
Location: Railay – Thailand
The great thing about Thailand is you have a better chance of seeing exotic animals like monkeys and elephants in a urban setting than seeing them in the wild.
[Monkey - Railay]
Like most urban animals these monkeys have become accustomed to people and have acquired the bad habit of picking through human garbage.
[Monkey drinking from a can - Railay]
Elephant riding around Chiang Mai
Location: Chiang Mai Province – Thailand
When visiting Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand you can’t seem to walk more than 100 metres without passing a shop selling elephant riding tours.
There are many elephant riding trips available packaged with other activities, usually hill tribe treks and some other activity like white water rafting. These sort of day tours make for good value when you consider how much time you would save if you went to each activity individually.
Most elephant rides go for half an hour to one hour. There is no need to go for over an hour, unless you really love elephants.
[Elephant Mount]
[Elephant Trekking]
At the elephant park people were selling bundles of bananas and sugar cane to feed the elephants. It’s a great way to make friends with your ride. Just give him a tap on the head and his trunk will rise and snuffle up the food on offer.
[Feeding Elephant Banana]
[Feeding Elephant Cane]
[Elephant Head]