We just got back from a 2-week holiday to northern Sulawesi where we had the opportunity to explore the beautiful Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve. Tangkoko Batuangus and the associated protected areas cover nearly 9,000 hectares, including three volcanic mountains. It’s also home to several rare and unique animals we hoped to see. Sulawesi itself is a magic place for wildlife with a greater percentage of endemic mammals than Madagascar. This is partly because it’s situated on the ‘Wallace Line’. Named after the famous explorer, this marks the transition from Australasian marsupial fauna, and the Western Palearctic animals like squirrels and monkeys.
Obir, our guide for the afternoon
Our guide, Obir, met us at the park entrance. To our surprise, Obir was carrying a telescope and had an incredible knowledge. His career had been varied including fishing and retail but about nine years ago his mother-in-law encouraged him to take up guiding. Rather than following the traditional academic route, she helped instil his knowledge of the forest. The rest he self-taught. Obir knows the calls and locations for all the birds and animals and has exceptional natural history knowledge.
Northern Sulawesi has a history of highly trained wildlife guides. More specifically, most of Indonesia’s great dive guides come from here. They are trained in the fertile volcanic sand areas, where crazy endemic creatures live in abundance. It seems to have become a stock in trade for local people to show wildlife. In recent years, Obir says, more and more Indonesians are travelling to see the nature in Tangkoko Batuangus too.
Our encounter with the famous black macaques
The road into the park winds along the mountainside offering views into the lush valleys and hills beyond. Road signs warn to slow down, to avoid collisions with the Black or Celebes Macaques. These monkeys are endemic to northern Sulawesi, one of a remarkable seven species of macaque that live on the island.
Our first encounter about a kilometre walk from the park entrance was with a troop dubbed ‘Rambo’. They initially approached down a forest track towards us.
Some monkeys were higher in the canopy and seemed to be spotting fruit. A coconut that dropped to the forest floor attracted the group’s attention and they ran toward it with glee. The rest were browsing on leaves from a branch they’d torn down across the path. The troop sat feeding, reminiscent of their gorilla cousins in Africa.
A local researcher was following the group taking notes. Youngsters had just been born, with some clinging to the undersides of their mother. The troop compromised a core of juveniles with, presumably, sisters and mothers alongside. One bigger male with predominant red buttocks walked nearby.
The babies were eager to climb. As we approached, they’d yelp and stagger downwards, keeping a moderate distance. The mothers would discourage the youngest from climbing. The adolescents were more independent and played together.
Squirrels and Cuscus
Neither monkeys nor squirrels occur east of Sulawesi. Likewise, Cuscus, a type of marsupial, don’t occur to the west. Sulawesi’s most famous marsupial, and the one we had hoped to see, is the incredible Bear Cuscus. Squirrels were a bonus. Most guests come to see the cuscus, macaques and the amazing nocturnal tarsiers.
Almost as soon as the monkeys found us, Obir spotted a Bear Cuscus very high up in the canopy. We left the scope standing while we refocused attention on the monkeys. Then, Obir heard a squirrel call so we sauntered through the forest in its direction. To our surprise it was sitting motionless very low down in the canopy, allowing us the chance to take a couple of photos before it ran off.
Seeing squirrels, monkeys and cuscus at the same spot, conjures the magic of Sulawesi. Nowhere in the world can you see such an extraordinary diversity of mammalian life. Add to that, the unique nature of the animals themselves.
Bear Cuscus are like the platypus of Sulawesi. They are large … twice the size of the macaques. Australians will recognise the Koala-like nose. The face is more bear-like, but the body is akin to a cat and they have a thick, prehensile tail like a monkey.
During the 2.5 hours in the forest we saw about seven Bear Cuscus. Towards the end of the day we turned a corner and yelped with delight as there were three including a baby, sitting quite low down among the foliage.
Forest kingfishers
Most westerners equate kingfishers with rivers and fish … as the name implies. Most kingfishers, however, are forest-dwelling. Indonesia has 53 species of kingfisher, compared to about a dozen in most other southeast Asian countries and Australia. There are three that live commonly in Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve’s forest. We saw the Green-backed Kingfisher.
Spectral Tarsiers
The reason most people come to Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve is to see Tarsiers. The Gurskey’s Spectral Tarsier lives in this part of the reserve. There are probably about 500 animals distributed in groups of 3-7 living in tree hollows throughout the forest.
The tarsiers weren’t present at one of the roost spots today so we headed downhill to a strangling fig, tangled around a tree. The tarsiers roost during the day inside a hole against the tree and between the fig’s limbs. The guides played some tarsier calls to entice them to come out early and they emerged to sit in the open. They called back … a piercing and shrill but very high-pitched screaming sound, much louder than human voice, we were told.
Sulawesi is the global heartland for tarsiers with 14 known species. Tongkoko National Park is the best place in the world to see them.
For more information on travel inside Indonesia, visit https://wildiaries-travel.com/
