Sumba 2014 - Pantai Cemara

Our last two days on Sumba were spent at Pondok Wisata at Pantai Cemara (Cemara Beach). Mainly because we wanted to enjoy the beach and relax a bit. This hotel can be easily reached from Waingapu. The hotel arranges pick-up from Waingapu (or the airport) and drop off. Both are included in the hotel price. We paid IDR 585.000 for a standard room including breakfast which was quite fair as this is a fancy place.

We still did some birding around the hotel, next to relaxing. This turned up some noteworthy things. Of main interest were the two tame Malaysian Plovers that could be observed at close range just in front of the hotel. We also did a bit of sea watching, but this produced little, just some Greater Crested Terns and a Green Turtle. On the hotel grounds itself we found Pied Bush-chat, White-shouldered Triller, Timor Zebra Finch, Scaly-breasted Munia and Lemon-bellied White-eye to be common. Behind the hotel there were some mangroves, in which we found several Sunda Teals, Common Sandpiper, Barred Dove, Common Kingfisher (ssp. floresiana), Rainbow Bee-eater and Indonesian Honeyeater. We also put some time in searching for Tailorbirds, as Birdquest has found some weird looking Tailorbirds (possibly escapees, but who knows...) a bit closer towards Waingapu. Unfortunately we did not find any.

Male Malaysian Plover (Charadrius peronii) just in front of the Pondok Wisata hotel.

We did enjoy this place a lot as the beach is nice, the food is good and the rooms are beautiful and comfy. It is a good place to have a small break from birding, but not completely as some interesting things can be found around the hotel.