Where to see whale sharks in Indonesia: six documented sites

By Saleh Bay Whale Shark Editorial Desk

Where to see whale sharks in Indonesia comes down to six aggregation sites listed in a 2025 Frontiers paper: Talisayan, Probolinggo, Botubarani, Saleh Bay, Cenderawasih Bay and Kaimana. They differ in season, in their ties to fishing platforms and in how sharks are drawn there. Choose by what each site actually involves.

Where to see whale sharks in Indonesia: which sites have documented aggregations?

A 2025 paper in Frontiers in Marine Science lists Indonesian whale shark aggregations at the six places in the table below. Cells marked "not stated" are gaps in the sources cited here, and they should not be read as "no".

Raja Ampat appears in the same paper with 12 individuals, but it is not among the six aggregations listed. The species behind all these sites is in trouble. The whale shark, the largest known living fish with 18.8 metres the largest reliably recorded length per Wikipedia, is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List with a decreasing population. The BBC reports that global populations have dropped by more than half since the 1980s.

Which are year-round and which seasonal?

The clearest statements cover three sites. A 2026 Frontiers tracking paper identifies Cenderawasih Bay and Saleh Bay as the persistent year-round habitats. The 2025 Frontiers paper says Saleh Bay aggregations appear year-round while Talisayan's are seasonal. A 2024 study of Botubarani describes a sporadic pattern there, mainly in the eastern season.

Year-round is a statement about a habitat, and it does not describe weather or boat access in a given month. The 2026 paper also ranks how long sharks tend to stay: residency is lowest in Kaimana, intermediate in Saleh Bay and highest in Cenderawasih Bay. Lower residency means individual animals turn over faster, though that does not convert into your odds on a morning out.

For Probolinggo and Kaimana, the sources cited here do not give a month-by-month pattern. If you are weighing either, get the season from whoever will take you and ask what the answer is based on.

Which depend on bagans?

On this question the sites fall into three groups, and for many travellers it matters more than the count.

• Bagan sites. In the Bird's Head Seascape, the 2025 Frontiers paper logged 1,118 sightings of 268 individuals between September 2010 and October 2023, nearly all around bagans. In Saleh Bay, the IUCN factsheet says sharks are regularly seen sucking baitfish from outside these nets.
• A feeding site without bagans. Frontiers 2025 says Botubarani sightings are not bagan-related, and are associated with baitfish and shrimp-carapace feeding by small boats.
• A site without the bagan link. The same paper says Probolinggo's aggregations are not associated with bagans.

No source here says which pattern is better for the sharks across all these sites, so the question of ethics needs asking site by site. If you are weighing a direct feeding operation against a fishery-based one, the Saleh Bay and Oslob comparison covers that contrast with a well-known site outside Indonesia.

What do counts show across sites?

Less than they seem to. Each figure is a cumulative tally of individuals recognised from photographs over some period. None tells you how many sharks are present on a given day. The windows also differ: the Bird's Head data ends in October 2023, Konservasi Indonesia's 2025 report runs up to 2025, and its earlier assessment covers 2017 to 2022.

Saleh Bay shows how quickly a count moves. Konservasi Indonesia's earlier assessment supported at least about 108 individuals, and the 2025 Frontiers paper cites 105 for the bay. The difference between those two is small and unexplained. The later report's 174 reflects more years of photo-identification and citizen science. Any comparison between sites should say which count and which years it uses, and a more intensively photographed site will tend to look larger.

Cenderawasih Bay's 159, Kaimana's 95 and Botubarani's 38 are not directly comparable with one another for the same reason. They do show that Botubarani's documented group is smaller and narrower. The 2024 study there found animals of 2.3 to 7.3 metres, all juvenile males.

Where does Saleh Bay fit?

On current sources it is one of two persistent year-round habitats, its photo-identified count has risen across Konservasi Indonesia's reports, and it carries an Important Shark and Ray Area listing for threatened species and feeding under Criterion A and Sub-criterion C2. Antara reports it as the second-largest whale shark habitat after Cenderawasih Bay, based on the 2017 to 2022 count. That order rests on Antara's 2017 to 2022 count, and later counts, from other windows and teams, cannot rank the bays.

Access is the other way the sites differ. Neptune Scuba Diving, an operator, calls Saleh Bay the option most people can actually reach, usually as a liveaboard stop. It sells dive travel, so read this as a company's view. AFP reports that Cenderawasih Bay is a protected national park and that its remote location has helped temper mass tourism. Those two descriptions pull in opposite directions, and the Saleh Bay and Cenderawasih comparison goes through the difference in detail.

Where can you swim with whale sharks in Indonesia? The sources cited here do not set out access or rules for each of the six sites. Treat any such claim as the seller's until you see it in writing. For this bay alone, the guide to swimming with whale sharks in Saleh Bay covers what is on record.

Sites are also less separate than a list suggests. AFP says sharks tracked from Indonesian sites moved through the waters of 13 countries and the high seas, so these are stops within a wider range and not sealed populations. This page declares no best site, because no source supports that claim. For most readers the decision turns on four things: how long you can travel, whether you accept fishery-linked or fed encounters, what month you can go, and what you will do if the sharks do not appear.

What do people ask about whale sharks in Indonesia?

Where can you see whale sharks in Indonesia?

A 2025 Frontiers paper lists aggregations at Talisayan, Probolinggo, Botubarani, Saleh Bay, Cenderawasih Bay and Kaimana. Raja Ampat also has identified individuals, 12 in that paper, but is not on the list of aggregations.

Which Indonesian whale shark sites are year-round?

A 2026 Frontiers tracking paper identifies Cenderawasih Bay and Saleh Bay as the persistent year-round habitats. It adds that individual sharks often stay only briefly. Talisayan is described as seasonal, and Botubarani as sporadic, mainly in the eastern season.

Are whale sharks at Botubarani fed?

A 2025 Frontiers paper says Botubarani sightings are not bagan-related and are associated with baitfish and shrimp-carapace feeding by small boats. A 2024 study identified 38 individuals there, all juvenile males of 2.3 to 7.3 metres.

Is Saleh Bay the largest site in Indonesia?

No source establishes that. Antara reports it as second after Cenderawasih Bay, based on the 2017 to 2022 count. Konservasi Indonesia counts 174 in Saleh Bay up to 2025, and Cenderawasih's published 159 runs to October 2023, so neither settles the order.

Which sources support this page?

• Frontiers in Marine Science 2025: Bird's Head and Indonesian aggregations
• Frontiers in Marine Science 2026: tracking paper
• 2024 study of Botubarani whale sharks
• IUCN shark specialist group factsheet: Saleh Bay
• Konservasi Indonesia: 2025 Saleh Bay report
• Konservasi Indonesia: 2017 to 2022 assessment
• Antara: whale sharks and people in Saleh Bay
• AFP in The Jakarta Post: decade-long study
• Neptune Scuba Diving: whale sharks in Indonesia (operator)
• IUCN Red List: whale shark
• BBC Future: the giant shark that seems to appear from nowhere
• Wikipedia: whale shark

How do I reach the desk?

This guide covers Saleh Bay and can only speak to the other sites through the published sources above. To ask about a Saleh Bay trip, tell the desk your month and how many days you have. Because a request can end in a paid booking, we have a commercial interest. You should treat nothing as arranged until a written offer states the terms. WhatsApp +62 811-3941-4563 or email bd@juaraholding.com.