Wildlife of Waigeo Island, Papua, Indonesia
6th -10th October 2025
Waigeo Island, Papua, Indonesia
After an amazing eight days exploring the mountains of Papua, I returned to the coast and headed out to Waigeo Island, the largest of the Raja Ampat Islands that lie just off the north coast of the Bird’s Head Peninsula. Its still part of Papua, but famous for its pristine coral reefs and popular with divers it has well developed tourist facilites... very different from the undeveloped wilderness I'd just left! The habitat and wildlife are similar to the main island, but are generally more accessible with some unique local species.
Raja Ampat Eco Resort
I spent four nights at the peaceful, secluded Raja Ampat Eco Resort, right on the beach, surrounded by exotic butterflies and serenaded by birds of paradise, parrots and butcher birds against the backdrop of the lapping waves.
In between heavy rain showers, a night walk around the resort revealed the beautiful three-meter python below, together with a collection of weird and wonderful tropical spiders and insect life.
Amethystine Python (Simalia amethistina)
Spiny Backed Orbweaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis)
Slugmoth Caterpillar (Limacodid sp.)
Saporkren
I was looked after during my stay by the wonderful Rati, who kept me supplied with coffee and arranged trips by boat to the nearby village of Saporkren. The boatman doubled as my wildlife guide and although he spoke very little English, did a good job of finding two different possums and a Papuan frogmouth on the night walk.
Then the next morning we hiked up the steep central mountain to the bird hides, first for the noisy and exuberant red bird of paradise, and then the amazing Wilson’s bird of paradise. Reputed to be the most beautiful bird in the world, it certainly has one of the strangest displays… as you can see in this video.
Male Red Bird-of-Paradise (Paradisaea rubra) displaying, watched by two females
Wilson's Bird-of-Paradise (Diphyllodes respublica) displaying
Krefft's Glider (Petaurus notatus) eating a gecko
Palm Cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus)
I thoroughly enjoyed my time on Waigeo. Unfortunately, heavy rain in the afternoons and evenings preventing me getting out for more than one night walk so I missed out on special local species like the Waigeo cuscus. The Raja Ampat Eco Lodge was the perfect place to recover from the ordeals of trekking on the main island though, combining peace and relaxation with great wildlife photography opportunities... I'd definitely recommend it to anyone visiting the region.
Mammal Species
Krefft's Glider (Petaurus notatus)Striped possum (Dactylopsila trivirgata)
Wilson's Bird-of-Paradise (Diphyllodes respublica)