Guide: Nick Buys
Sumatra is a fascinating place to visit. It is the world’s 6th largest island and one of the 17,508 islands of Indonesia. It is home to more than 30 species of endemic birds and should be very high up on the wish list for serious birders and naturalists. The logistics can be tricky at times, but if you have a sense of adventure and love exploring, then visiting Sumatra is a must. During our trip in July 2026, we focused on 3 main parts.
Gunung Leuser was the northern part of the trip and was included mainly to see Sumatran Orangutans, with the added bonus of great birding. It was the perfect introduction from a birding point of view. Most visitors stay near the park’s main entrance and do a morning visit to see the orangutans. This section can get incredibly crowded, and many of the orangutans here are from a breeding centre, so we decided to stay in a great, intimate lodge which can only be reached by motorbikes over a pretty rough track. The advantage, however, was that you are right in the middle of the forest on the border of the National Park, and they arranged permission for us to explore the trails in the park, entering from that side and not going through the busy main gate area. We arrived in the early morning hours and, after getting a few hours of sleep, we started exploring with an introductory walk around the lodge. Some of the more common but interesting species we saw include Buff-necked, Sunda Pygmy and Banded Woodpecker, Red-throated Barbet, Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrot, Black-and-red Broadbill, Black-and-yellow Broadbill, Black-winged Flycatcher-Shrike, Yellow-vented, Red-eyed and Sooty-headed Bulbul, Pin-striped Tit-Babbler, Blue Whistling-Thrush, Plain Flowerpecker, Yellow-eared Spiderhunter and Scaly-breasted Munia.
One of the highlights was a pair of Rhinoceros Hornbills, as well as Sunda and Banded Bay Cuckoo. The surrounding area is home to brilliant mammals and other wildlife as well. We found Siamang, Slender Squirrel, Plantain Squirrel, Sunda Silvery Langur, Southern Pig-tailed Macaque and, the big surprise, a resting female Sumatran Orangutan, which was unexpected, especially on the edge of the park. After a delicious lunch and short rest, we made our way to a higher viewpoint where we found Grey-rumped Treeswift, Little Cuckoo-Dove, Collared Kingfisher, Grey-and-buff Woodpecker, Pied Triller, Coppersmith and Black-eared Barbet, Asian Glossy Starling, Brown-throated Sunbird, Baya Weaver and Yellow-vented Flowerpecker. A quick stop in a grassy field on the edge of the village yielded White-headed and White-rumped Munia. A night walk after dinner got us great views of Buffy Fish-Owl and Brown Boobook. Wagler’s Pit Viper was a great sighting.
The following morning, the group decided to explore the National Park, and we were alone for the first 4 hours. The highlight was a feeding group of orangutans, including a young baby, and then a male decided to join them, swinging from branch to branch over our heads. The best part was being alone and knowing that these were not part of the habituated orangutans in the busier section. It was a mammal and wildlife highlight for everyone and a sight that no one will forget. This section was also great for birds, and some of the highlights include Mountain Imperial-Pigeon, Raffles’s and Red-billed Malkoha, Blyth’s Hawk-Eagle, Bushy-crested and Wreathed Hornbill, Blue-throated Bee-eater, Orange-backed Woodpecker, Greater Leafbird and Orange-bellied Flowerpecker.
The birding highlight was first hearing Great Argus calling several times, and we knew that Leuser was our best chance of seeing this magnificent bird on this trip. But they are very skittish and tough to see in the forest, so we took a chance and waited in one of the open areas they had cleared to display. Luck was on our side, and after waiting for a few minutes, a male came walking into the clearing and started clearing any leaves that had fallen down since he was here earlier. As a bonus, he did a quick shake of the wings and called, only standing a few metres from us.
Two Malaysian Eared-Nightjars were another great bird for this area. Unfortunately, most of our planned night walk got rained out, but we did see Thomas’s Langur and Lar Langur in the afternoon. A visit to the Bat Cave of Bukit Lawang is definitely worth a visit, and besides the stunning scenery, we had several bats present, including Fawn-colored Roundleaf Bat and Diadem Roundleaf Bat. From here, we made our way back to Medan for a short flight to Padang, where we enjoyed a great Padang-style dinner, where they serve many small plates of traditional dishes and you only pay for the ones you actually eat.
The second part of the trip was in the central highlights of Mount Kerinci, which is a must for serious birders as it is home to the highest concentration of endemics. You can probably spend a week in this area to give yourself a great chance of seeing most of them, but we only had 4 days and had to make it count. The first day was always going to be the big one, as we spent a full day exploring the famous Taco Trails, where the main target was, without any doubt, the Sumatran Ground-Cuckoo, which is probably the top target for most birders visiting Sumatra and one of the big specials for Asia. Up to a few years ago, birders would spend up to 3 days dedicated just to hoping to hear the call or get a glimpse of this incredibly tough-to-see bird. Then a local bird guide started attracting a pair to a hide, and luckily for us, this is exactly what happened, as we had unbelievable views, with them coming as close as 3 metres from us. What an experience.
And this was just the start of the fantastic day, as we also saw Sumatran Green-Pigeon, Dark Hawk-Cuckoo, Sumatran Trogon, Red-bearded Bee-eater, Banded Kingfisher, Fire-tufted, Yellow-crowned and Black-browed Barbet, Maroon Woodpecker, Lesser and Greater Yellownape, Scarlet Minivet, Sunda Cuckooshrike, Black-and-crimson Oriole, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike, Sumatran, Bronzed, Lesser Racket-tailed and Ashy Drongo, Blyth’s Paradise-Flycatcher, Sumatran Treepie, Sumatran Bulbul, Spot-necked Bulbul, Yellow-bellied Warbler, Sangkar White-eye, Grey-throated Babbler, Spot-necked Babbler, Horsfield’s Babbler, Eyebrowed Wren-Babbler, Blue Nuthatch, Rufous-browed Flycatcher, Sunda Forktail, White-headed Munia and Temminck’s Sunbird. And we still had time to enjoy a lovely picnic lunch organised by our local team. What an incredible day full of endemics and special birds.
The following day, we made our way in the other direction to the famous Tapan Road, which normally justifies at least a two-day visit, but since we only had one day, we had to make the best of our short time and cover both the upper and lower sections in one day. We did a quick early morning session higher up where we got Sumatran Flowerpecker, Fire-tufted and Black-browed Barbet, Rhinoceros Hornbill, Maroon-breasted Philentoma, Golden Babbler, Sumatran Whistling-Thrush, Sunda Forktail, Asian Fairy Bluebird, White-throated Fantail and Little Cuckoo-Dove. Our main target was the stunning Graceful Pitta, for which they have created 3 hides, and this has been a pretty easy bird to see. But for some reason, the bird decided not to show up to any of the hides, and we did spend a big part of the morning here, which did not help. So around 11, we decided to try again in the afternoon and try to pick up a few other birds lower down.
The next big target for today was the Sumatran Leafbird, which is a tough bird that many birders struggle to see, and without too much effort, we had seen 3 different birds. Amazing how birding works! We also found Blue-winged Leafbird, Black-and-crimson Oriole, Fulvous-chested Jungle Flycatcher, White-tailed Flycatcher, Yellow-breasted and Orange-bellied Flowerpecker, Cinereous, Cream-striped, Scaly-breasted, Spot-necked and Red-eyed Bulbuls. Then we decided to head back up the windy road and give the Graceful Pitta one more try. And not even sitting for two minutes, the bird was there and gave us incredible looks. We stayed for a short nocturnal mammal session and were not disappointed, with a couple of sightings of Smooth-toothed Palm Civet and Southern Palm Civet.
It was time to head to Mount Kerinci and explore the base of this impressive active volcano and very popular hiking trail. Two of our main targets would hopefully be seen in a hide, so we did not waste any time getting there and settling in. We were surprised that our first target, the normally tough-to-see Bronze-tailed Peacock-Pheasant, came in pretty quickly, but Schneider’s Pitta made us wait for a while. Eventually, it came in and gave us incredible views. At one point, it came to within a couple of metres of us. Next, we went to a known roosting spot for Sumatran Frogmouth and again had brilliant views. This is a great forest for general birding and for looking for the endemics. Some of the good birds seen in the forest include Sumatran Trogon, Sunda Minivet, White-browed Shrike-Babbler, Pygmy Cupwing, Sunda Warbler, Mountain Leaf Warbler, Mountain Tailorbird, Golden Babbler, Gray-throated Babbler, Rusty-breasted Wren-Babbler, Lesser Shortwing, Blue Nuthatch, Sumatran Robin, Snowy-browed Flycatcher and Shiny Whistling-Thrush. That afternoon, we found Waterfall Swift and Lesser Coucal outside the forest and had good views of Barred Eagle-Owl.
The following morning, we hiked higher up the mountain, but first spent quite a bit of time looking for Red-billed Partridge, which eventually gave us good views. Some of the other new birds seen higher up include Eyebrowed Wren-Babbler, Rufous-vented Niltava, Sumatran Shortwing, Indigo Flycatcher and Sumatran Whistling-Thrush. Unfortunately, we had serious rain interrupt our afternoon and evening plans, and the trails became running rivers, so we made our way out. This was the only time that weather had any influence on our birding on this trip, so I suppose we could not complain too much.
It was time to head south and, after a night in a very comfortable hotel in Jakarta, we had a short flight and drive to get to our final destination, Way Kambas National Park. There is quite a bit of overlap in terms of species with Peninsular Malaysia as well as Borneo, but the birding over the next two days was fantastic. We arrived by late morning, and since we did not have a lot of time, we decided to spend a couple of hours birding the farming areas around the park, where we picked up a roosting Sunda Scops-Owl, Collared Kingfisher, White-breasted Woodswallow, Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker, Rufous-tailed Tailorbird, Orange-bellied and Scarlet-headed Flowerpecker, Brown-throated Sunbird, Pied Triller, Plaintive Cuckoo, Scaly-breasted Munia and Little Spiderhunter.
It was time for our first excursion into the Way Kambas National Park, and we quickly started picking up good birds such as Raffles’s and Red-billed Malkoha, Malaysian Hawk-Cuckoo, Red-naped and Diard’s Trogon, Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher, Red-crowned Barbet, Buff-necked, Buff-rumped, Crimson-winged and White-bellied Woodpecker, Fiery Minivet, Malayan Black Magpie, Lesser Cuckooshrike, Dark-throated Oriole, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Spectacled Bulbul, Fluffy-backed Tit-Babbler, Sooty-capped Babbler, Scaly-crowned Babbler, Malayan Black-capped Babbler, Short-tailed Babbler, White-chested Babbler, Ferruginous Babbler, Malaysian Blue Flycatcher, Grey-chested Jungle Flycatcher and Ruby-cheeked Sunbird. We had a great dinner in the forest and spent a few hours looking for nocturnal wildlife and had a fantastic time with Reddish Scops-Owl, Large-tailed Nightjar and all three possible frogmouths: Large, Gould’s and Sunda. A roosting Malayan Crested Fireback was a good bird to get as well.
This park is great for mammals, and we had both Lesser and Greater Indo-Malayan Chevrotain, Malay Civet, Sambar, Pen-tailed Treeshrew, Malaysian Slow Loris, Siamang, Red Giant Flying Squirrel, Pale Giant Squirrel and missed Asian Elephants by seconds, but most of the group have seen them previously.
The following day was another very successful day in the park, with some of the new birds we saw being Little Green Pigeon, Greater Coucal, Chestnut-breasted Malkoha, Black-bellied Malkoha, Bonaparte’s Nightjar, Scarlet-rumped Trogon, Rufous-collared Kingfisher, Black Hornbill, Small Blue Kingfisher, Sooty Barbet, Rufous Piculet, Rufous and Checker-throated Woodpecker, Black-thighed Falconet, Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrot, Green Broadbill, Malayan Banded-Pitta, Sunda Crow, Hairy-backed and Olive-winged Bulbul, Chestnut-rumped Babbler, Sooty-capped Babbler, Rufous-crowned Babbler, Moustached Babbler, Sumatran Babbler and Purple-naped Spiderhunter.
This park and the great sightings we had were the perfect way to end our Sumatra trip. We have already put dates aside for the next trip and look forward to sharing this incredible destination with you.