PAU Birding site - Port Moresby

PAU is one of the Universities in Papua New Guinea run by Adventist Church, but is also known as a Birdwatcher's heaven outside of Port Moresby.

With its peaceful environment, birds enjoy their life without being killed or chased away. There are lots of waterbirds, including endemic species as well as migrant species, all the way from Alaska, on the way to Australia and Antarctica maybe.

Photographed are common species, Pied Heron, Purple Swamphen & Wandering Ducks.

Other species frequent in the area are Comb-Crested Jacana, Spotted Whistling Duck, Pacific Black Duck, Rufous Night Heron, Egrets & Cormorants, Masked Lapwing, Sacred Kingfisher, etc...

My favorite is giant Papuan Frog Mouth, most of the time camoflouged and sleep on one of the trees.

Sepik Trip No.2 - Wagu Lake

Wagu lakes lies South-west of Ambunti, and is the gateway to Hunstein Range Wildlife Management area. 5 minutes from the Guest House, Lesser Bird of Paradise dances every morning. (Please see my bad photo....)

There is also Crocodile Farm where you can possibly jump in... no, just to see Crocodile feeding.

On the way to the Lake, there are lost of water birds around, including Eagles hunting for fishes.

Wagu Lake, only reachable by Sepik Canoe Safari is one of the "must see" in Upper Sepik area.

Start of Birding Season

After few rainy months, Papua New Guinea is getting drier, and it is a start of Bird Watching Season. We had some bird watchers last week, first day was all day raining - very sorry but had good time in Kiunga, and back to Port Moresby and had a very good look at Raggiana Bird of Paradise. There were about 5 Males, took turn to dance and attract Females - more than 8 -hiding in the bush and checking how the dance was going.
The photo would be much nicer if there were no branches.... But it is in the wilderness so you can feel the Real sound and dynamism, which you cant feel or see at Zoo.
Birding season will run till the end of October/early November.

Visit to Kumul Lodge

Have recently visited Kumul Lodge near Mt Hagen.

Stunned with the breathtaking view of Waterfall coming from Misty Highlands Rainforest, amazed with the beauty of wild orchids blooming everywhere, some of them even have no names yet. What was more exiting was the different birds coming to the bird feeder in the lodge yard. We have seen 3 x Birds of Paradise in the lodge yard alone during the short stay; male Brown Sicklebill, female Ribbon-tailed Astrapia and male King of Saxony Bird of Paradise.

Real Nature Lovers Paradise, Kumul Lodge can be visited in the Package Tour as follows.
http://www.pngexplorers.com/tour/natureculture-point200.html
You can combine the visit with Madang, Walndi or both, depending on your schedule.
Hot River Expedition out of Walindi was introduced in a older post. For detail, please check :
http://pngtourismnews.blogspot.com/2008/02/hot-river-excursion-west-new-britain.html

Birdwatching in Kiunga

Kiunga in Western Province is an emerging birdwatching hot-spot in Papua New Guinea.
It was introduced in a Film by Sir David Attenborough in 1995 and bacame famous through word of mouth. Mr Samuel Kepuknai is ex-aircraft engineer and shy & hunble person, but once he is on the field with binoculars and field scope, he will trun into superman, oops, sorry, super-guide !!
If you are bird watcher and wishing to visit Papua New Guinea, do not miss Kiunga.
Photo: Flame Bower Bird in Display, taken by Mr Samuel Kepuknai

Dinosaur in PNG- Cassowaries

Cassowary is one of the largest birds in the world.

It is a family of Ostrich (in Africa) and Emu (in Australia), but Cassowaries have much more fierce looking than its relatives.Among the 3 species of Cassowaries found in Papua New Guinea, the Southern (Double Wattled) Cassowary is the largest (up to 1.9m), heaviest, and has most scary look. - That is why I have personally named it as Dinosaur in PNG !

It is very territorial birds, and can fight with others with the high, blade like casque on its head, and can run at maximum speed of 50km/hour. So when you meet the Cassowary in the wilderness, it is no use trying to escape from it.... (please be assured that it is not carnivorous and will not be interested in human being)

*Photo taken at National Capital Botanical Garden, Port Moresby

Kumul Lodge - place for nature lovers

One of my favorite lodges in the country is Kumul Lodge outside of Mt. Hagen.

"Kumul" means Bird of Paradise in Pidgin English.

There are not many places in PNG where you can see wild Bird of Paradise inside the Lodge yard, sometimes from your own room !!

More than 70 species of birds are recorded in lodge yard alone, and more can be found in nearby sites, it is undoubtedly a birdwatchers heaven, but not only that. The misty Highlands Rainforest is home to many undiscovered wild orchid species. Based at Kumul Lodge, we can arrange bird watching, orchid watching, culture visit to nearby village, Mt Hagen trekking etc...

At altitude of 2800m, it will be very cold in the night (you cant believe it is near equator...), but there is a stove in the room to keep you warm. If you are interested in nature, please don't forget to include Kumul Lodge for your trip to Papua New Guinea.

Paradise for Birds

Papua New Guinea is one of the last frontiers for many tourists, and bird watching is not an exception. There are more than 700 species of birds, some of them are endemic to here.

Here is the beautiful Brown-headed Paradise Kingfisher, one of my favorite birds. I beleive it is one of the prettiest kingfishers in the world, and surprisingly, you can see it just 60 minutes away from Port Moresby International Airport.

You may be arriving from Europe or USA and in next 1 or 2 hours, you will be with the beautiful birds like this one. Best birding season runs from April to October. (last bird wacther enjoyed very much in November though...)