Please read each of the sections below carefully. They provide important information about your Operation Wallacea expedition in Indonesia. Should you require further assistance please do not hesitate to contact your nearest Operation Wallacea office.
Non-packaged groups – Before confirming your flights please email flights@opwall.com to ensure your flights are correct. Also, please ensure when booking your international flights that the cost of your ticket includes 20kgs of hold luggage. Please note, for Indonesia the internal flights limit is 20kg of hold luggage and 7kg of hand luggage.
Indonesia has two main international airport hubs, Jakarta (CGK) and Bali (DPS). You should plan to enter via either of these airports to ensure travel connections to your expedition start point.
The terrestrial & marine expeditions commence in the village of Ereke (North Buton) on a Sunday at 1300hrs. You will therefore need to book your international flight so that it arrives into Jakarta (CGK) anytime on the Friday or Bali (DPS) on the Friday before 1400hrs.
The marine-only expedition commences in Wanci (Wakatobi) on a Sunday at 1300hrs. You will therefore need to book your international flight so that it arrives into either Jakarta (CGK) anytime on the Friday, or Bali (DPS) on Friday before 1400hrs.
The terrestrial & marine and marine-only expeditions end in Wanci on a Saturday at 0700hrs. You should therefore book your homeward international flight to depart no earlier than the Sunday, 1700hrs (for Jakarta departures), or Sunday, 2000hrs (for Bali departures).
Outbound Internal Travel
Terrestrial & Marine Expeditions
For those arriving via Jakarta, the internal travel package will provide an overnight in Jakarta (FM7 Resort Hotel) on the Friday followed by a flight to the provincial capital of Kendari on Saturday afternoon (3-hour flight time). You will then overnight in Kendari (Plaza Inn Hotel) before travelling on to your expedition start point on the Sunday. Travel on the Sunday entails a short car ride to the Kendari Harbour (30 mins), followed by a 5 hour boat ride to the town of Ereke.
For those arriving via Bali, the internal travel package includes a flight to Makassar on Friday evening where you will overnight followed by a flight to Kendari on Saturday morning. You will then overnight in Kendari (Plaza Inn Hotel) before travelling on to your expedition start point on the Sunday. Travel on the Sunday entails a short car ride to the Kendari Harbour (30 mins), followed by a 5 hour boat ride to the town of Ereke. From Ereke you will travel by car and then trek into the forest camp.
Marine-Only Expeditions
For those arriving via Jakarta, the internal travel package will provide an overnight in Jakarta (FM7 Resort Hotel) on the Friday followed by flights to the district capital of Baubau on Saturday. Travel from Jakarta to Baubau requires two flights, with a transit and plane change taking place in Makassar. You will then overnight in Baubau (Nirwana Buton Villa), prior to travelling via car and boat to your expedition start point in Wanci on Sunday
For those arriving via Bali, the internal travel package includes a flight to Makassar on Friday evening where you will overnight (Dalton Hotel) followed by a flight to the district capital of Baubau on Saturday. You will then overnight in Baubau (Nirwana Buton Villa ) prior to travelling via car and boat to your expedition start point in Wanci on Sunday.
Your expedition ends on a Saturday morning in Wanci from where you will travel back to the district capital of Baubau via both boat and car travel. You will then overnight in Baubau (Nirwana Buton Villa ) on the Saturday before flying back to either Jakarta or Bali on the Sunday for connecting international flights that evening (or on the Monday if you plan to overnight again).
At the time that the international flights are being booked, you will be issued a Booking Form which will provide specific details relevant to your internal travel package. Alternatively if you are booking your own international flights, then you will be issued with an Internal Travel Booking Form specific to your needs, after you have provided us with your confirmed international flight details.
As part of the internal travel package it is possible to arrange additional nights in Jakarta before and after your expedition, and the relevant airport transfers. Your internal travel package includes all flights, hotels and transfers as indicated by your Booking Form. Please note however it does not include meals apart from breakfast where there is an overnight stay included.
School groups that have chosen a fully inclusive expedition package do not need to book international flights or internal travel. Operation Wallacea will be in contact with the group leader directly and will provide you with a fully inclusive quote for your international flights, internal travel and expedition costs.
Schools also have the option of having Opwall search for the best flight deal for the group and once the school group leader has approved the purchase, the tickets are then bought by Opwall at cost on behalf of the school. A flight booking fee per person is charged for this approach. Details of the flights for the group will be entered onto the portal by the Opwall staff booking the flights.
Alternatively, if the school has reliable travel partners then they can book the flights themselves and just pay Opwall for the expedition and internal travel costs. Under this scenario, before confirming your flights please email flights@opwall.com to ensure your flights are correct. The group leader needs to enter the flight details through the Opwall portal and email a copy of the itinerary or E-ticket to flights@opwall.com.
Please be aware that your passport must have at least 6 months validity (period before expiry) prior to arrival in Indonesia. Failure to have at least 6 months validity on your passport will ensure denial of entry into Indonesia.
For those staying in Indonesia for 30 days or less (day one is considered the date of your arrival into country) you should obtain a Visa On Arrival, also known as VOA or a B1 Visa. The cost of a VOA is IDR 500,000 (approx. GBP25 or AUD40). You can either obtain a VOA prior to arriving in Indonesia via the government’s e-VISA website or purchase at the airport upon your arrival in Indonesia. We recommend applying online as you will need to bring a copy of your visa to site with you. You will need to create an account and then should select the following options: 1. Purpose: General, Family or Social, 2. Sub-purpose: Tourism, 3. Visa: B1.
You will need the following information to complete your visa application.
For the section “Address in Indonesia”, select Residence Type OTHERS. If you travelling to the forest site (even if travelling to the marine site later), your address is DESA PETETEA with postcode 93672. If you are travelling only to the marine site, your address is HOGA ISLAND with postcode 93792.
You can apply for your Indonesian visa up to 3 months prior to your arrival in Indonesia via the e-VISA website. The online application process will require you to upload a passport photo and your passport main page, both in jpeg format. Uploading of these documents can be problematic so please make sure you follow the instructions carefully as listed on the website. Successfully uploading these documents may take several attempts. If you have any queries regards the visa application process, please contact our Indonesia Travel Coordinator (chris.majors@opwall.com).
Passport holders from Southeast Asian countries are able to enter Indonesia visa-free.
Indonesia requires that you complete an Arrival Card prior to your arrival in Indonesia. You can complete this card either via the All Indonesia app or the website https://allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id/. Please note, the card can only be completed within 3 days from your date of planned arrival into Indonesia.
After clicking on Foreign Visitor, please complete the following steps:
Upon completion of the Arrival Card you will be sent an email confirming your Arrival Card number and a QR code. Make sure you have this QR code ready to present to an Indonesian customs officer at the airport upon arrival (either on your device or in printed form).
By joining an Operation Wallacea expedition you are contributing directly towards the study and protection of threatened biodiversity, bringing significant financial benefits to small local communities, and working towards protecting valuable carbon stocks from deforestation. We are extremely proud of the impact we and our volunteers have had over the past two decades, creating a significant benefit to the environment.
However, we want to do more. Specifically, we want to make Operation Wallacea completely carbon neutral. As an organisation we will now be offsetting our own emissions from staff travel (both road and air) and from running our offices. But we also want to encourage all our participants to offset, at the very least, the carbon emissions from their own international flights – and ideally more. To do this we will be supporting the Wallacea Reforestation Initiative in partnership with our sister charity the Wallacea Trust (UK Charity 1078362), and you can read more about this exciting project here that takes a new approach to tropical reforestation that benefits not only climate, but biodiversity and livelihoods too.
The first step in calculating your donation amount is to work out the total estimated amount of carbon your flights will emit into the atmosphere. To do this you need to take the exact flight routes you are booked on to for your summer expedition, and run these through the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) carbon calculator. This calculator can be found here.
This gives you the Total passengers’ CO2/journey (KG), which you will then need to convert into tonnes. 1 KG is equal to 0.001 ton, so you then need to divide your figure in KG by 1000. We usually assigned a value of $12 USD (or £10 GBP) per ton of carbon, therefore to work out this donation amount, you would need to multiply your ton value by either 12 or 10 depending on your currency.
For some of your flight legs, you may not be able to find your destination airport on the calculator, in this circumstance, we would recommend using the nearest airport (ie. for Croatia using Zagreb airport).
If you’re happy with an estimate rather than calculating the costs yourself, a £15 donation will cover the carbon produced by the flights in more than 95% of cases.
To donate, please visit the Wallacea Trust page and click ‘donate now’ at the top.
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