Trip Report

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12 Responses to Trip Report

  1. Louise Murray says:
    March 15, 2017 at 6:13 pm

    A short trek into the park accompanied by the ringing tones of the cicadas at dusk will be rewarded by the cautious emergence of the Spectral Tarsier, impossibly cute, huge-eyed, nocturnal predators from their hollow tree where they have spent the day sleeping.

    Irawan Halir was my excellent and extremely knowledgeable guide who has worked with many film crews, as a research assistant on the macaques, and is a top birdlife guide into the bargain. I certainly employ him again, Irawan really understands the needs of photographers.

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  2. Sean Carter says:
    March 21, 2017 at 6:49 am

    Irawan is the man! He picked my girlfriend & I up from our hotel in the morning(over an hour away) and drove us to Tangkoko for the tour. The lunch provided was so delicious and the tour was awesome.
    During the day Irawan shared his knowledge about the area and was able to answer all our questions. As Irawan’s village (Batu Putih) borders Tangkoko he has a lifetime of knowledge to share gained from growing up playing in and around the area, working in conservation to help international universities conduct research, guiding tv crews and tourist for most of his adult life. We saw all the animals on our wish list and more!
    I have to add its not just Irawans knowledge that makes him a good guide, its his kind personality and good humour that shines through. This was a great day and Irawan was a massive factor in making it so. A special mention and thank you for dropping us in Manado city instead of our hotel, we were unaware at the time but despite Irawan saying it was fine and would be about the same time, I’m sure this added at fair bit of time to his return journey.
    I highly recommend Mr Irawan Halir if you want a great Tangkoko experience.
    With lots of gratitude- Sean Carter from Australia: )

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  3. Barbara Moll says:
    April 11, 2017 at 6:14 pm

    Im November 2016 waren wir 2 Tage lang mit Irawan Halir im Tangkoko Nature Reserve (TNR) unterwegs. Irawan, den ich schon von einer früheren Tour her kenne, hat 8 Jahre lang in einem Makaken-Projekt mitgearbeitet und gilt als exzellenter Kenner der Flora und Fauna in Nord Sulawesi.
    Er ist auch ein sehr guter Naturfotograf und kann sich so bestens in die Situation seiner Gäste, die auch mit einer Kamera unterwegs sind, hineinversetzen und gute Tips geben.
    Er spricht ein gutes Englisch, ist freundlich, hilfsbereit und aufmerksam, keine Mühe und Anstrenung ist ihm zu groß.
    Er hat ein sehr gutes, fundiertes Wissen über die Tier- und Pflanzenwelt im TNR und versucht seinen Gästen, die wunderschöne Natur hautnah und intensiv, in all ihren Facetten zu zeigen und zu erklären.
    Seine Leidenschaft und Ausdauer waren ansteckend und so wurden wir nicht müde, unter fachkundiger Führung durch den Park zu wandern und dabei immer wieder Neues zu sehen und zu entdecken.
    Vielen herzlichen Dank für dieses tolle Erlebnis, wir kommen wieder!

    Iranwan kann man unter seiner Website: https://tangkokowildlife.wordpress.com oder Facebook erreichen.

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  4. Howard Munson says:
    August 17, 2017 at 10:29 pm

    I have to most heartily agree with the many people who sing the praises of Irawan! Let me illustrate by sharing about our recent visit to Tangkoko. My wife is from the Manado area, so, on our most recent visit there in July of 2017, we discovered that we had a day where we could just do what we want. I had always wanted to go to Tangkoko, so I went online to check about tours and a guide. I kept noticing posts about what a great guide irawan was, so I emailed him. Within 10 minutes, he responded, and a short time later, we had an appointment all set up with him. The following week, he came clear across the island to pick us up at our hotel in Manado at 5:30 am. As we drove along, I began to understand why so many people like him. He was very polite and helpful! And, he was an extremely careful driver. We got to the park, and it wasn’t long before he found the crested black macaques-the #1 reason we came to Tangkoko. I gave hime my best camera to see if he could get any photos. It had malfunctioned earlier and I couldn’t do anything with it. Well, the camera’s auto focus was indeed broken, making it a challenge to take any pics, let alone wildlife. Here’s the really amazing part! Not only was he able to use the camera, but he took a ton of incredible photos! And that was the beginning of a truly wonderful day for my wife and I. We were able to see the lively and lovable macaques, and the little flying dragon lizard, the bear couscous, the tarsiers, and, also the knobbed hornbill. Irawan’s knowledge of the area was phenomenal, and that helped us so much throughout the day! When we were finished, he took us over to the lodge for lunch. There we had a wonderful meal, which is included in the tour. I had told him we were vegetarians, so, of course, he arrange for the meal to be vegetarian! Then, he took us all the way back to Manado. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, we plan on coming back and hiring him again, and telling everyone we know what an absolutely superb guide he is!

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  5. Julia says:
    February 5, 2018 at 12:56 am

    I can recommend Irawan a real great guide with very good knowledge! He showed me lots of different animals in the park including Tarsier 😃 and he explained very well and with great patience. You can tell he is interested that his clients have a good trip. Plus he speaks fluent english and shows to be a very good and careful driver, too!

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  6. Garrett says:
    January 8, 2019 at 9:50 pm

    What a wonderful experience! My wife and I just returned from a 2 days trek with Iwan and we loved it. He put us in the best facilities in the area. The rooms were clean and air conditioned. The kitchen provided excellent food whenever we returned from our treks. The staff was friendly. I highly recommend Iwan to anyone who is visiting the area! We always were safe and he is a master of his craft. He knew all the locations for the different animals and was able to tailor our trip to what we were hoping to see. You will be glad you visited Tangkoko with Iwan!

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  7. pash44 says:
    January 12, 2019 at 11:31 pm

    We visited Sulawesi in November 2018 in search of endemic kingfishers and Irawan was our guide for 6 days. We had an amazing time and can thoroughly recommend him. Not only is he a fantastic guide with great knowledge of his home land but he is also a lovely person to spend time with. A very funny, interesting, calm man who does everything he can to deliver a first class experience. You can read more about our trip with Irawan here.

    The Kingfisher Quest

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  8. Cynthia Lobato & Hans Hazebroek says:
    September 26, 2019 at 12:31 pm

    We made a trip for 3 weeks to West Papua that Irawan arranged for us in September 2019.
    The whole trip was very well done and all went smoothly.
    We saw all the star-birds but also because of his sharp eyes some rare ones too.
    We were very impressed how all went and never had any problem anywhere with transport, accommodations etc.
    He is the best guide we had and definitely will do more trips with him and always will recommend him.
    Thanks so much Irawan to make our trip unforgettable.

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  9. Tangkoko Wildlife says:
    October 9, 2019 at 7:30 am

    Petr Bambousek says:
    August 8, 2014 at 9:01 pm (Edit)
    I can highly recommend Iwan as your guide to Tangkoko NP. Great person, lots of knowledge and very flexible. As wildlife photographer I really appreciated his personal attitude. I spent one week in Tangkoko and he helps me to get images which I wished. He arranged all necessary for my stay, I just enjoyed it 🙂 Thanks Iwan! Feel free to browse my growing Sulawesi Gallery on my site http://gallery.sulasula.com

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  10. Tangkoko Wildlife says:
    October 9, 2019 at 7:52 am

    Flurina says:
    November 8, 2016 at 9:35 am (Edit)
    Hi Iwan, thank you for the great 2D 1N trip at Tangkoko National Park. I will recommend you to anybody who will visit the park, as you are a great guide with very good knowledge about the animals and plants in the park and adapt the tour to individual wished. I had a lot of fun there! Take care

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  11. Christian Van Schoote says:
    November 7, 2021 at 8:23 pm

    We had a wonderful half day hike with Irawan and although one doesn’t get to see tarsiers during daytime, we were rewarded with sightings of black Sulawesi macaques, cuscus, huge red knobbed hornbills, pink cheek kingfishers and many more unique local species thanks to Irawan’s knowledge, experience and ability to imitate bird songs.
    We also confirm that he is a really friendly person. Highly recommended!

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  12. Mark says:
    September 12, 2022 at 2:56 pm

    Irawan is amazing. One of the best guides I have ever met and great fun to be in the jungle with. Super dedicated and passionate about wildlife with so many awesome stories and knowlegde to share. We spent just over a week focused on finding Sulawesi broad-banded pit viper. We found the snakes and a whole variety of cool mammals, birds, and reptiles along the way. Irawan orgainzed everything and it couldn’t have beem better. So many great memories. If you go to Sulawesi, use Irawan Halir as your guide.

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