23 nights, 9 stops — the definitive indonesian wildlife traverse.
Komodo National Park → Flores → Raja Ampat → Waigeo Island → Arfak Mountains → Nimbokrang → Halmahera Island → Tangkoko Nature Reserve → Lore Lindu National Park.
Arrive in Komodo National Park, met and transferred to your accommodation. Few wildlife encounters are as primal as standing, with a ranger, near a three-metre Komodo dragon in the open.
Dive or snorkel with mantas and turtles between the islands. Take a ranger-led walk to find Komodo dragons, then snorkel the reefs.
Climb Padar for the island views and visit a pink beach.
Transfer to Flores. Settle in at Labuan Bajo and take in the harbour and islands. Island-hop to nearby reefs and beaches by boat.
Island-hop to nearby reefs and beaches by boat. Explore the Flores hinterland's springs and villages. Flores keeps the logistics simple — a comfortable harbour town to bookend the dragon islands.
Explore the Flores hinterland's springs and villages.
Transfer to Raja Ampat. Dive or snorkel the world's richest reefs, then kayak the karst lagoons. A boat day among the islands, with mantas and reef life below.
A boat day among the islands, with mantas and reef life below. An early forest walk for Wilson's bird-of-paradise, then the sea. Nowhere on earth packs more marine life into one place — Raja Ampat is the global summit of reef biodiversity.
An early forest walk for Wilson's bird-of-paradise, then the sea. Explore hidden lagoons and viewpoints across the archipelago.
Transfer to Waigeo Island. A pre-dawn forest trek for Wilson's and red birds-of-paradise. Bird the lowland forest, then snorkel the island reefs.
Bird the lowland forest, then snorkel the island reefs. Search the canopy for displaying birds-of-paradise. Waigeo offers two of the planet's most spectacular birds within reach of the world's best reefs.
Search the canopy for displaying birds-of-paradise.
Transfer to Arfak Mountains. Sit at a forest hide for the Vogelkop bowerbird and Western parotia. Bird the steep cloud-forest trails for montane endemics.
Bird the steep cloud-forest trails for montane endemics. Dawn and dusk at the display grounds and bowers. The Arfak's bowers and dances are among the most astonishing displays in the bird world.
Dawn and dusk at the display grounds and bowers.
Transfer to Nimbokrang. Dawn at the twelve-wired bird-of-paradise display, then forest birding. Work the canopy leks for the lesser bird-of-paradise.
Work the canopy leks for the lesser bird-of-paradise. Search the lowland forest for pittas, jewel-babblers and parrots. Nimbokrang's lowland birds round out the Arfak's montane species for a full Papua list.
Transfer to Halmahera Island. Dawn at the standardwing lek, then lowland forest birding. Search the forest for Halmahera's Moluccan endemics.
Search the forest for Halmahera's Moluccan endemics. Bird in the morning and snorkel the reef by afternoon. Wallace's standardwing links Halmahera directly to the birth of evolutionary biology — and it still displays each dawn.
Transfer to Tangkoko Nature Reserve. Dawn with the black macaque troops and dusk with the tarsiers. Walk the coastal forest for hornbills, cuscus and the maleo.
Walk the coastal forest for hornbills, cuscus and the maleo. Search the figs for tarsiers and the trails for endemics. Sulawesi's isolation bred a cast of unique animals, and Tangkoko is the easiest place to meet them.
Transfer to Lore Lindu National Park. Bird the montane forest for Sulawesi's highland endemics. Explore the megalith valleys between birding sessions.
Explore the megalith valleys between birding sessions. Search the deep forest for anoa and babirusa. Lore Lindu blends montane endemics with one of Indonesia's most enigmatic archaeological landscapes.
A final morning in Lore Lindu National Park — a last outing or a slow start as time allows — before the transfer onward and the journey home.
Dry season. Calm seas, clear water and active dragons in the open savannah.
Wetter and lush; seas rougher, but fewer visitors.
A polished Marriott Luxury Collection resort at Labuan Bajo, the refined base for the Komodo islands.
A celebrated eco resort on a private island in southern Raja Ampat, ringed by a no-take marine reserve.
A full-service beach resort near Labuan Bajo with its own jetty for the dragon-island boats.
A boutique island resort off Labuan Bajo, a tranquil base before the dragons.
Overwater and beach bungalows on Birie Island, a comfortable reef-and-birding base.
A relaxed bay resort on Flores, comfortable and well-placed for the Komodo crossings.
Add nights, swap a park, extend to the coast — this route is a starting point, not a fixed menu. Tell us how you travel and we'll route the rest.