Watching Fruit Bats Around the World

Watching Fruit Bat Around the World

We've been enthusiastically watching fruitbats for almost 35 years. We have traveled to many places in Japan and overseas to watch fruit bats. Our ambition is to watch all 186 species of fruit bats in the world.
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OVERSEAS
Africa	Birdwatcher's paradise, the Seychelles (December28th, 2000 to January 4th, 2001)	We heard that there are so many fruitbats in the Seychelles that they are used as ingredients for curry
Australia	Around Cairns(December 25th,1999 to January 4th,2000)	We have been longing for a sky full of fruitbats.
	BAT HOSPITAL(August 15th to 22nd, 2000)	There's a bat hospital near Cairns
	Want to see swimming flying foxes(December 25th, 2001 to January 7th, 2002)	On hot dry days flying foxes jump in rivers and soak their bellys at the start of their evening flight to cool themselves down and drink water in Bellingen in Australia.
Asia	In Singapore, we saw a "furoshiki" (a large square cloth for wrapping and carrying a bundle) -like animal flying. (January 4th to 7th, 2001)	On the way back from the Seychells we stayed in Singapore. We didn't see any fruit bats but instead we saw a flying lemur.
	Lutao (Green Island) in Taiwan(April 29th to May 5th, 1999)	Lutao (Green Island) is a small volcanic island on the southeast coast of Taiwan in the Pacific ocean. A subspecies of the Ryukyu Flying Fox Pteropus dasymallus formosus inhabits this island and we expected to watch the bat but as luck would have it, a Typhoon hit the area and it rained day after day. (Completed on December 23rd,1999)
	Bat Kingdom in the Philippines(December 28th, 2003 to January 6th, 2004)	There is a nature reserve named "Bat Kingdom" in Subic on Luzon Island. About two million Large Flying Fox Pteropus vampyrus which is literally the largest bat in the world and Goden-crowned Fruit Bat Acerodon jubatus roost in a tropical rainforest next to a resort hotel. (Completed on April 2nd, 2004.)
	The sea eagle island, Langkawi　(August 16th to 23rd, 2004)	One day a picture on a travel brochure attracted my attention at a travel agent office, JTB. It was a picture of a myriad of flying foxes flying on the sea but its caption says " A myriad of sea eagles flying on the sea".
	After the Asian Tsunami at the end of 2004(December 26th, 2004 to January 4th, 2005)	On 26th of December in 2004 when a big seisemic sea wave was about to hit the coastal area of Malaysia, we were flying to Kuala Lumpur to spot flying foxes without knowing a thing about the disaster.
	Bat travel in Bali(January 16th to 23rd, 2009)	It started from misunderstanding the there are a flying fox colony near Ubudo. Ubudo is renowned as Balinese fine art and dance but not flying foxes. All's Well That Ends Well
	Sri Lanka, the country of Ancient ruins, milk tea and bat watching(January 7th to 14th, 2012)	The Indian Flying Fox is one of the world's largest bat. We have heard that the Indian Flying Fox is common in Sri Lanka but the country's lengthy civil war make us think twice to go there. It has been two and a half year since the civil war ended on May 18th in 2009. Now it must be time to go to Sri Lanka.
	Watching bats with dogs on Bunaken Island(December 2nd to 10th, 2012)	Sulawesi Island in Indonesia has both Indomalaya and Australasia flora and fauna and supports a great variety of living species. There are 22 species of fruit bats on the island. The island is particularly rich in cave-dwelling fruit bats. Bunaken Island is about a one hour cruise from Manad in north Sulawesi. Cha Cha Nature Resort owner said in her blog that there were fruit bats at the hotel site. That attracted us to Bunaken Island.
Pacific Islands	American Samoa(July 23rd to 28th, 1999)	National park of American Samoa is dedicated to preserving the Samoan Flying Fox. It is not popular among tourists, let alone Japanese tourists. But its tropical rainforest is the home to many fruit bats, frigate birds and boobies. (Completed on October 25th, 1999).
	Rota(February and November in 1996, May, July and October in 1997, October in 1998)	Rota is a small island halfway between Guam and Saipan with population about 3000. We can find Chamoro culture as well as Mariana Fruit Bats and monitor lizards (Completed on December 19th, 1999)
	La　rousette(August 12th to 20th, 2002)	The closest island to heaven, New Caledonia is the home to four species of fruit bats, (Completed November 3rd, 2002).
	Christmas trees in tropics(December 28, 2002 to January 4th, 2003)	There is a book dedicated to only bats in Papua New Guinea which means rich and varied in bat fauna. There must be unusual christmas trees in the jungle full of fruit bats. (Completed in April 2003).
	BULA(August 11th to 18th, 2003)	We expected to see a Fiji Flying Fox which is endemic to Des Voeus Peak on Taveuni Island. It turned out to be extremely rare.(Completed on December 1st, 2003).
South America	Another fruit bats (May 28th to June 12th, 2009)	There is no family Pteropodidae bats in the Americans continent but we saw fruigivorous family Phyllostomidae bats in Costa Rica.

Non-bat watching travels
	Maine state, US. (July 30st to August 4th, 1995, August 10th to 15th, 1998, August 8th to 15th, 2005)	There is no fruit bat in Maine state in the US. But this state is rich in wildlife with lobsters, whales, seals and rugged terrain. (Last updated on December 6th, 1998).
	Hawaii(July 29th to 30th, 1999)	On the way back from American Samoa, we dropped into Maui and Oaf
	New Zealand(April 26th to 28th, 2006)	After the Australasian Bat Society Conference from April 18th, we continued to traveled New Zealand for three more days.

JAPAN	There are two species of flying foxes in Japan in the Ogasawara Islands and Okinawa and Kagoshima area.
	Minami Daito Island(July 20th to 23rd, 2001)	Minamidaito Island is the place we met flying foxes for the first time 20 years ago. Since then we have visited this island many times. But this is the first time to return to the island after 5 years of lapse. (Completed in 2002)
	Hateruma Island(December 30, 1995 to January 4th, 1996)	Hateruma Island is the most southern island that people live in Japan. There is an astronomical observatory and here we can see the Southern Cross. (Completed in 2002)
	Kohama Island(May 1st to 5th, 1998	Most tourists visit this island for only several hours as a day trip. So they don't know after sunset the island is a paradise for flying foxed (Completed in 2002)
	The Ogasawara Islands(May 21st to June 2nd, 2008)	It was just before the Ogasawasa Islands was designated World Heritage site. Extermination of introduced pest animals and plants was implemented .(Completed on October 14th, 2008)