Birding and Wildlife Watching: December 2023

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Birding and Sightseeing Tour in Sorong City

Everybody knows that Sorong city is the main gate for visitors who want to spend their holidays in Raja Ampat islands or explore rainforest for birding and wildlife watching in Tambrauw regency and Klasow valley. Sorong itself has got numerous attractions for visitors who are interested in the city and its surrounding environment.

Love Hill in Sorong city

Beautiful Natural Places

Sorong city has got a number of places which are beautiful both for sightseeing and wildlife watching. Some of them include mangrove forest, nature tourism park, love hill. These places are suitable for visitors who want to see green trees that are the habitat of birds and butterflies. Birds such as Helmetted Friarbird, White-bellied Cuckooshrike, Olive-backed Sunbird, Brown-backed Honeyeater, Orange-fronted Fruit Dove can be seen in these places. There are also butterflies such as the Cruiser Butterfly, Silky-Owl Butterfly and Ulysses butterfly Visitors need to bring binoculars and camera to do birdwatching and butterfly watching in these forests.

Religious or Cultural Sites

Christ The King Cathedral of The Catholic Church has got unique design that looks like a pyramid. As a matter of fact, it is not a pyramid. The design of the church building was inspired by the physical form of the bower of the Vogelkop Bowerbird. The bower is the artistic display of a male Vogelkop bowerbird. He will decorate his bower with flowers and various colorful articles which he thinks are attractive for his female counterparts.

The design of Christ the King Cathedral that is inspired by the bower of Vogelkop Bowerbird

Interesting Places in Sorong

Buddhist Temple

The Buddhist Temple - This complex building is located on a hill in the middle of Sorong city. Surrounded by green vegetations, this temple offers calm place for anyone who wants to enjoy beautiful scenery of Sorong city and peaceful environment. Visitors need to pay small amount of money to get permit to access to the front area of the worship building that overlooks some part of Sorong city.

Traditional Markets

This is a high recommended site for anyone who want to see goods and services that are traded by the city dwellers. There are vendors who sell fruits, vegetables, rice, fish and meat and there are vendors who offer hair-cutting, cell phone repair services and etc.

Historical Sites

For visitors who are interested in historical background of Sorong, the recommended place to go is Doom island. The Dutch built houses and offices in the island soon after World War II. The Dutch found huge oil deposit in the surrounding regions. Many of them still exist and have become informal historical evidence about the presence of the Dutch in 1950s and early 1960s

Exploring, Eating and Shopping

At night visitors can enjoy seafood or the spicy Indonesian foods in hundreds of the food booths that are scattered around the town. There are malls, big and small shops that sell various kinds of products from clothing to electronics and from snacks to medicines. Visitors who stay for 1 or 2 days in Sorong city can explore it by using public transport, chartered car or even on foot. Visitors stay mostly in hotels that are located at busy streets, they will be able to explore a lot of interesting shops, cafes, eating houses and certain neighborhoods. A visitor who walks around Sorong city for quite long will feel tired. He or she could book a massage service in the city to sooth muscles, relax, and enjoy life for a while before leaving this city.

There are still a lot of interesting places around the suburb areas which tourists can visit if they want to explore further areas of outside of Sorong city. Some of them include Aimas town, Sausapor town or even Fef town in Tambrauw mountains. Aimas has got farmlands. Sausapor is a small coastal town.

Equipment to bring

Most visitors who go to Sorong city are snorkelers and scuba divers. They will continue their trip to Raja Ampat to see the marine life of the tropical islands. So, a mask, snorkel and swim fins will be needed for that purpose. A good underwater picture such as Nikon W300 or Olympus Tough TG 6 is a good photographic device for both snorkeling and scuba diving.

Visitors who are more interested in wildlife usually bring binoculars, super zoom lens and laser pointer for watching birds, butterflies and other animals while walking through rainforest and nature park.

Well, if you are interested in taking a tour around Sorong city and want me to organize your trip, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by whatsapp to +6281332245180.