Day 2: Birding around Jakarta. Morning trip to visit areas north of Pamanukan (Tegalurung, Poponcol, Pangarengan, Mayangan) and various locations in Muara Gembong including Singkil. All of these sites are around two hours from Jakarta and access is relatively easy. We may record highlights such as Milky Stork, Glossy Ibis, Javan Plover, Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo, the endemic Sunda Coucal, Javan White-eye - large flocks can be seen in the mangrove areas at Tegalurung, Java Sparrow and Asian Golden Weaver.

Day 3-6: Birding at Gunung Gede National Park. Our main objective will be to observe a good selection of the Javan highland endemics but also to enjoy the forest and the spectacular volcanoes that Indonesia is renowned for. We will spend a bit of time in the Cibodas Botanic Gardens where we may enounter a few endemics including White-flanked Sunbird, Pygmy Tit and Sunda Forktail. But we will mainly concentrate on the Gunung Gede trail walking up the hill to the botanic gardens and past the golf course. We will climb up a rise to the park headquarters before ascending to the waterfall.

Day 7-8: Leaving Gunung Gede, we travel to Carita, stopping at Bogor en route. Birding in the remnant forests near Carita. The density of birds is low but we will see some good species including the localised endemics - Grey-cheeked Tit-Babbler, White-breasted Babbler and Black-banded Barbet. We may also encounter Banded Kingfishers, Banded Broadbill, Banded Pitta, Bay Banded Cuckoo and a few other non-Banded things. Nightbirds such as Sunda Scops Owl, Large-tailed Nightjar and Javan Frogmouth are also possible.

Day 9: Depart Carita. After some early morning birding we will return by vehicle to Jakarta for our flight to Bandar Lampung in Sumatra’s south. Afternoon flight to Lampung in southern Sumatra arriving in the late afternoon. We will meet our driver for the rest of the trip and transfer to our accommodation in Bandar Lampung.

Day 10: Travel to Way Kambas. At Way Kambas National Park we will stay at the newly built Alam Way Kanan Guest House. This wonderful national park is very well known for its large mammals and lowland specialist bird species. The 130,000 hectare lowland swamp forest is an island in a sea of humanity. While it is partly degraded by logging it is now well protected and offers refuge to a number of endangered species including Sumatran Tiger, Javan Rhino, White-winged Duck and Wrinkled Hornbill. Our main quarry here will be the White-winged Duck and nightbirds. We may be lucky to see Bonaparte's Nightjar, Brown Hawk-Owl and Gould's Frogmouth.

Our driver will cook in the ranger’s kitchen for us. We will bird the entrance road around Way Kanan Pos and the Look Trail; evening spotlighting along entrance road.

Day 11-13: Way Kambas. This morning we will take a trip upstream to Rawa Gajah (Elephant swamp) and to the Alang Alang for White-winged Duck. Later we’ll bird along the entrance road, and in the afternoon a boat trip downstream to Pertama Swamp and Kali Biru Pos. Cinnamon-headed Green Pigeon is common here and we should have some excellent sightings of the stunning Small Blue Kingfisher. The Look Trail is good for pheasants and partridges and Banded Pitta is regularly seen here and on the main road.

Day 14: travel from Bandar Lampung to Jakarta. Fly back to Jakarta from Bandar Lampung for overnight stay.

Day 15: fly to Padang in central Sumatra.

Day 16: Drive from Padang to Kersik Tua near Gunung Kerinci. Drive through the hills mainly through forests and villages with occasional stops for birding around Danau Kerinci and surrounding swamps/padis.

Day 17-19: Birding on the slopes of Kerinci National Park. Kerinci-Seblat in Sumatra’s south west is Indonesia’s second largest national park. The park lies in the central area of the southern Barisan Ranges. The elevational range is from 200 metres to the summit of Gunung Kerinci, which is 3,805 metres. With this large area and altitudinal range from lowlands to alpine areas, the park is exceptionally important in conservation terms as it protects a wide range of habitats including lowland dipterocarp forest, lakes and wetlands, montane and hill forest and alpine woodlands. As a consequence of this diversity of habitats, biodiversity within the park is very high. Of special interest to the birder are the many endemic Sumatran bird species that are found here along with a plethora of rare or restricted-range birds, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates, and plants, including various species of the astounding Rafflesia and Amorphophallus. Botanically the Kerinci-Seblat National Park is more than twice as rich as that of the Amazon Basin (Gillison et al 1996).

Most of the restricted-range birds occur in the hill forest along the Tapan Road and in the montane forest on the slopes of Gunung Kerinci and Gunung Tujuh. There are fifteen Sumatran endemics to be found within the boundaries of Kerinci-Seblat National Park and a further six endemics shared only with Java. A number of other important species are shared with Peninsular Malaysia, Java or Borneo, including the spectacular Fire-tufted Barbet, a monotypic genus confined to the upland forests of Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra - delightfully common on Gunung Kerinci and the Tapan Road. 

On the slopes of Gunung Kerinci, a plethora of diminutive ground-dwellers can distract one from the main task of searching for the endemics. Pygmy Wren-Babbler, Eyebrowed Wren-Babbler, Sunda Robin, Lesser Shortwing, and White-browed Shortwing are all common. The lower stretches of the forest appears to be wren-babbler heaven as the vocalisations of Pygmy, Eyebrowed and Rusty-breasted provide a constant background, while the fascinating Long-billed Wren-Babbler (otherwise found only in the Himalayas) is much more shy and retiring. Blue Nuthatch is shared with Java and Peninsular Malaysia, and is a major constituent of mixed flocks. Other species found in the exciting mixed flocks include White-browed Shrike-Babbler, Grey-throated Babbler, Golden Babbler, and Sunda Minivet. It seems that rainy days are good for the ground-dwelling species, while the better weather brings out numerous mixed flocks and canopy-dwelling species. Gunung Kerinci is also noted as a great site for some very scarce nightbirds – Pale-headed Frogmouth, Rajah Scops Owl, Barred Eagle Owl and Salvadori’s Nightjar.

Day 20: Drive to Sungai Penuh, afternoon drive along Tapan Road.

Day 21-22: Tapan Road. Midmontane and lower elevations of Kerinci-Seblat National Park along the Sungai Penuh-Bukit Tapan-Maura Sako road. After a few days on Gunung Kerinci, the birding along the Tapan Road down to Muara Sako is positively racey! The Tapan Road winds up from the town of Sungai Penuh to Bukit Tapan and beyond to the west coast. The area between the Bukit Tapan Pass (1,500 m) and the small village of Muara Sako lies within the Kerinci-Seblat National Park, protecting some really wonderful hill and lower montane forest. This is the best site for a number of the Sumatran endemics as well as for many more widespread spectacular Sundaic species. The best strategy is to walk along the road from the pass down to Muara Sako, although this will take a full day. There are no trails into the forest so finding the ground-dwelling specialities, like Graceful Pitta and Bronze-tailed Peacock-Pheasant, is not an easy task requiring some dedicated bush-bashing.

Day 23: Tapan Road; afternoon drive to Padang. Morning birding along the road, first along trail near Bukit Tapan Resort, then around km 24, lunch at Mauro Sako then long drive to Padang.

Day 24: fly from Padang to Jakarta. We’ll return to Jakarta for a last evening in the luxury of our beautiful hotel in Jakarta and a last night party!