The Morotai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which has an area of 1,100 hectares on Morotai Island has natural, nautical, cultural and historical tourist attractions. The Morotai SEZ offers underwater panoramas, snorkeling and diving with 28 unique diving spots.
Even so, there is actually still another interesting tour that can be explored in the Morotai SEZ for tourists, namely bird watching. What is bird watching? This is an activity to observe and document rare or endemic birds of certain birds in eastern Indonesia, especially Morotai Island, which cannot be found anywhere else.
Burung Pitta Paok Morotai
So, what’s special about birdwatching in the North Maluku area? Because North Maluku has a wealth of biodiversity and has been included in the Endemic Bird Area, which is an area identified by BirdLife International as an important area for habitat-based bird conservation.
Many endemic bird areas on Morotai Island can be used as shooting spots as well as bird watching. Wewemo Village Forest, in East Morotai District – Morotai Island is one of the spots for tourists who want to see Morotai endemic birds. There is a rare and beautiful bird species that only exists on Morotai Island, namely the Pitta Paok Morotai bird (Pitta Morotaiensis).
“One of the things that many people want to see is the Morotai Pitta Paok bird,” said Susan Wijaya General Manager of Jababeka Morotai, as the developer of the Morotai Special Economic Zone, recently. A distinctive feature of the Pitta Paok Morotai bird is that it has a darker blue wing cover (ultramarine blue). The waist is white and the edges of the inner feathers are blue-green. And has a larger body than other Pitta birds on the island of Maluku (about 25-28 cm)
Pitta Paok Morotai bird, (Photo: By courtesy)
In addition to the Pitta Paok Morotai bird, there is still another endemic bird that is often sought after on Morotai Island, namely the Cikukua Halmahera Bird (Morotai Friarbird). Then other types of birds can be found on Morotai Island, namely Red-eyed Perling, Elok Parrot / Green Cockatoo, Purple Necklace Parrot, Halmahera Crow, Halmahera Cotton, Grey Headed Fruit Dove Pigeon, Papuan Julang Bird and Morotai Alap-Alap Eagle.
The distance from downtown Morotai to Wewemo Village is about 50 km or about 1 hour by land. Access is also fairly easy with a large road width. Interested in going there? Incidentally, Daloha Beach and Dive Resort inn has a bird-watching tour package for travelers, including tours to other tourist attractions on Morotai Island.
Susan Wijaya explained that Jababeka Morotai – one of the subsidiaries of PT Jababeka Tbk, used to bring tourists to visit and hear the melodious sounds of rare birds in Morotai, including the Morotai Pitta Paok bird. In this tour package, Daloha Beach and Dive Resort will pick up and drop tourists home at the airport, providing lodging, food, to guides at pocket-friendly prices. So, tourists don’t need to bother anymore because everything has been taken care of. If you are interested in knowing more about this tour package, you can visit the page on Instagram @jababekamorotai.
