Leo S.
Google
Baluran is a great park for wildlife watching or birding with many beautiful landscapes.
I do a lot of wildlife watching and photography around the world, and I thought overall this park is top notch, it might just require a little more effort and careful timing if wildlife is your goal.
I visited for 4 days in early Oct 2025. I stayed near the park and drove a rented scooter in every day.
Here are some things the park is great for, and some drawbacks:
Landscapes: There is a good diversity of landscapes within the park, on the drive in, you see a lot of tropical dry forest with some wetter/greener forests deeper within the park. There is also the very dry and open savannah region and a lot of mangroves and forest near the beach. There is really just one road through the park to the beach, and not much opportunity for hiking, so if your primary focus is seeing the landscape, you could see everything in one day.
Wildlife: You can see lots of green peacocks, wild buffalo, deer, langur monkeys, wild pigs and hornbills (near Bama beach), but timing matters a lot. If you are interested in seeing wildlife, you should either go by yourself, like I did, or do a tour that visits the park in the evening. I spent all day in the park, and I can tell you that if you are on a tour that goes through the park any time from 9AM-3PM, you aren't going to see much in terms of wildlife because it's too hot, and the animals are in the forests where it's cooler.
As soon as it starts to cool down, you will see loads of deer, peacocks and other animals emerge onto the savannah and start crossing the roads in other areas.
My biggest complaint about this park is that it opens too late in the morning. Unfortunately the park doesn't open until 7:30AM, which means by the time you get your entry ticket and drive into the park, it's already getting hot, and you've really missed the best wildlife watching period of the day. You will still be able to catch the tail end of the morning period, and you can see a lot in the evening, but for a wildlife-focused park, it's frustrating that they don't let people into the park earlier. Most of the wildlife-focused parks I've visited in North America or Africa open much earlier, because they understand that this is prime-time for wildlife. Again, you can see a lot of great wildlife in the park, but if you want to see wildlife, and you are taking a tour from Banyuwangi, make sure the tour doesn't leave the park too early in the day, otherwise you will likely be disappointed.
I expected to see a lot of Banteng in the park based on the photos and reviews I saw online but I did not see any despite being in the park all day for 4 days. This may be a seasonal thing, but just be aware they aren't easy to see, unlike the wild buffalo which always seem to be around.
I never really expect to see big cats like leopards in any park, but I talked to some of the workers in the park and they said they do see them quite frequently. Unfortunately they only see them at night crossing the road, and as a tourist you can't be in the park at night. Nice to know the leopards are there though even if your chances of actually seeing them is very small.
I also feel the park could use some investment. The mangrove trail is closed, the observation tower at the savannah is closed, and overall, there aren't a lot of hiking opportunities. There used to be lodging inside the park, but this is also closed.
Bama beach is the center of activity. It's much cooler during the day, and very pretty. The facilities are also much better there, with some small restaurants and decent bathrooms.
Overall, Baluran was one of my favorite spots in Indonesia. There is amazing wildlife if you visit at the right time, and the open savannah with Baluran mountain in the background is beautiful.
