Abdul Khalik The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Dozens of Japanese expatriates and foreign bird lovers flocked to Bukit Gantole in Puncak, Bogor, West Java, on Sunday to watch the arrival of thousands of the Oriental Honey-Buzzard, Chinese Goshawks and the Japanese sparrow hawks from the Northern Hemisphere.
"We enjoy watching them arriving, making nests and breeding. The view is very beautiful as we can walk down the mountain to search for these raptors," Yasuo Nakajima, one of 60 Japanese who joined a visit organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture on Sunday.
Nakajima, who works for a printing company in Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post that many Japanese in his group had already decided to return to the area next year to watch the birds.
"This is the second time the event was held. Last year, around 40 Japanese came here to watch the birds, many of them coming from Japan directly," he said.
Some bird lovers from China and India also joined Sunday's visit to Puncak, which is known as a weekend hideout for Jakarta residents.
After watching the birds, the tourists planted trees in the location and went to several villages to give money to charities. Others helped build several public toilets for local villagers.
The event was organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the Raptor Conservation Society (RCS), the Asian Raptor and Research and Conservation Networking (ARRCN), the Jakarta Bird-Watchers Community and National Geographic Indonesia.
Every year, several areas in Indonesia are destinations for dozens of species of birds, including that migrate from Northern to Southern Hemisphere. Beside Puncak, the areas include Merak in Banten, Mount Dieng in East Java and the Sangir Talaud islands in North Sulawesi.
The birds start to arrive in Indonesia at the end of September and leave the country by the end of November.
Director general for tourism and marketing at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Thamrin B. Bachri said that the event was held to add variety to tourism options in Indonesia and to show the international community that Indonesia has a lot to offer.
"The event will become a pilot project for many other nature- based specific tourist industries. We hope that travel agencies can become more creative in designing tourism packages and hence create a larger market," he told the Post.
Thamrin said that Indonesia had many other destinations in Greater Jakarta and throughout the country that could attract foreigners.
He acknowledged, however, that the ministry lacked data about places that could become nature-based tourist sites.
For the purpose of identification, the Asian Raptor Migration Survey Project, which is supported by Japanese government, helps gather data on bird migrations in the country.