Camping in the Jungle of Manokwari

From 16 to 19 October 2011, I went hiking through the lowland rainforest of Manokwari with two Dutch tourists, Thomas (father) and Sandra (daughter). Our destination was the rainforest behind Inggramui village. Because I and the hunters had not constructed a permanent house for tourists, we had to stay in a camp built by hunters near Dopi river. This is a nice place for watching birds and observing flowers that grow along the banks of the river. There was a beautiful and fragrant flower plant that I saw. It was a vine called Faradaya Splendida. Terrestrial orchids from genus Spathoglottis also live there.

Two large blue plastic sheets cover the camp to protect our belongings from rain. To reach this camp, we had to walk for more than three hours. Usually the time needed is two hours but  Sandra liked to stop when she saw interesting insects, birds, or flowers. She would turn on her D-SLR camera - a Nikon D40 to shoot these beautiful subjects.
Recommended Place for Birders
The rainforest of Inggramui is home to various species of birds that are endemic to New Guinea - the largest tropical island in the world. It is a must see destination for tourists who are interested in bird watching. Visitors need to bring binoculars, spotting scope or super telephoto camera if they want to watch birds. During our walking tour inside this lowland forest, we saw cockatoos, a lot of hornbills, pigeons. Butterflies flew around us to find nectar in every wild flowers when we were walking through the woods. In the morning, not far from our camp, we could hear the sounds of young birds of paradise dancing on the branches of the trees.

After spending 3 nights in this tropical rainforest of West Papua, we considered this camp as our home. I made the above picture using Nikon Coolpix P500.
Protecting digital camera and other electronic devices
Heavy rain often falls on the rainforest. If you plan to travel to this wet environment, prepare some plastic sheets or plastic tote bag which you can use to cover your electronic equipments. I use plastic bags which are given for free by supermarkets when we buy some food. The lens of the camera can become foggy due to high humidity. Moisture that has collected on the surface of the camera can cause the photographs that you make to be blurred.
What you need to bring for traveling in the rainforest of Inggramui of Manokwari - Indonesia
There are a number of things that you need such as sleeping bag, and raincoat. Because this is a lowland rainforest, the temperature is quite warm around 27 to 29 degrees Celcius. You don't need warm clothing. A pair of trekking shoes or jungle boots is a must to help you walk along the pathway in the forest which sometimes muddy because of the rain.
Please, contact me via email: peace4wp@gmail.com if you are interested in hiking and camping in the rainforest of West Papua by Charles Roring

Paradise bird Cincinnurus magnificus

The bird that you see in the photograph below in English is called the Magnificent Bird of Paradise. Its Latin name is Cincinnurus magnificus. This is one of the species of BOP that you can watch in Vogelkop region of West Papua including Arfak mountains and Tambrauw Mountains. Besides this species, birders can also see western parotia, black sickle bill and most importantly the bower bird. This photograph was made by Gerard Berkhof in the morning of 5 December 2010. Mr. Berkhof was with 8 other tourists at that time. Pandanus Conoideus is in fruiting season between November and January. 

Red fruits are abundant in the tropical rainforest of the Arfak mountains. Magnificent birds of paradise like to eat red fruit whose seeds look like rice grains. To attract this bird, Hans Mandacan - my friend who owns a tourist house in the village put the fruit in front of the bird watching hut (also called blind) just around 5 meters from the watching window.

To watch the paradise bird, all tourists had to be inside the hut before sunrise. So, I asked them to wake up early in the morning. They woke up at 5 a.m. and left the guesthouse at 5.30 after drinking some coffee or tea. Because the number of tourists who did the bird watching that morning was six, and the hut could only accommodate 4 people, I decided to devide them into two groups and placed them in two bird watching huts located at different places. When all of the tourists had been in the huts, I; Hans Mandacan and Hami Mandacan left them. We came back to pick them up again at around 9.30 a.m. One group was able to take a lot of pictures of the magnificent birds of paradise and spotted cat birds whereas the other was not. Hami explained to me that members of the other group were talking staying in the hut. This was the cause why the birds did not come. They were afraid of the noisy sounds from men's voice.

Birds of paradise and all other birds species in the tropical rainforest of New Guinea island are facing extinction due to continues hunting, deforestation. The size of the rainforest is shrinking rapidly day by day.

The bird watching tour package that I offer to tourists is an alternative income generation that I introduce in Papua to help the indigenous people earn money from the natural resources that they have without destroying the environment. Other bird watching sites that I recommend to tourists are Senopi village, Syioubri village, Numfor island, and the Table Mountain.

In addition to hiking and watching the paradise bird, other ecotourism activities that tourists can do in Arfak mountains are watching butterfly, and learning herbal medicine. by Charles Roring

Also read:
Birding Tour in Manokwari Highland and Lowland
Paradise bird from vogelkop region

Watching how a deer was caught by dogs in Senopi Papua

Last March 2010, Paul Warere made a one-week-trip to Senopi. It was a district in Manokwari regency of West Papua province. He and Zeth Wonggor went there by SDSP's hardtop from Manokwari - the capital of West Papua province Pak Jurgen from YAT/ SDSP received them and conducted a tour around the tropical rainforest of the Senopi district. The presence of Zeth Wonggor in Senopi was to help explain to the villagers how important it is to protect the tropical rainforest against any efforts of deforestation. In recent years, hundreds of thousands of rainforest in West Papua have been cleared to make way for mono-culture palm plantation. In addition logging companies have caused extensive damage to large area of Papuan forest with little benefits to the indigenous Papuan people. I lent my PDA that is equipped with built in photosmart camera to Paul.

While hiking in the forest, they saw a deer crossed a river. Seeing it struggling in the water, the villagers' dogs jumped into the water and chased the deer. They bit it on neck, and all other parts of its body. The deer could not move easily anymore. It stuck in the water until it was dragged out of the water by these hikers. It was a rare moment and Paul Warere managed to take these photographs for you.

The photographs that are shown in this post were shot using HP iPAQ rx 3000 series Mobile Media Companion. Before they are uploaded to this blog, they had been re-sized and optimized using Adobe Photoshop CS3.

If you are interested in visiting the Kebar valley for watching deer grazing in the savannah, or just observing birds of paradise dancing in trees in Senopi, we can arrange your trip to the region. For more information, please contact me at my email: lroring@yahoo.com or peace4wp@gmail.com. There are some tour package that we can arrange for you some of them are a three day tour around Manokwari where you can go hiking, bird watching and caving in the Table Mountain. We can bring you to visit islands in the Dorey bay where you can do some snorkeling and see the beautiful coral reef and colorful ornamental fish. If you are interested in traveling deeper into the mountainous region then we can arrange a trip for you to the Arfak mountain where you can see birds of paradise dancing in trees of tropical rainforest. by Charles Roring

Mushrooms in the forest of Table Mountain of Manokwari Papua

One of the tourist attractions in the tropical rainforest of West Papua is mushrooms. Mushrooms in Manokwari have a lot of color combination and unique forms. They are beautiful especially in the morning when the sun has just risen. When I accompanied Mike, Inga and Dima - three Russian eco travelers, we saw some mushrooms which have forms that are similar to men's genital part.

They have white trunk with dark brown helmet like hat. I was told by Paul that there are mushrooms in this forest the emit light at night. During the day, they might look just the same as the other ordinary mushrooms that live on the decaying plant leaves and woods but at night they look like little lamps that light up the forest. I am interested in traveling the forest at night to see them. If I have time, I will walk deeper into the woods to find such exotic plants.

Some species of mushrooms are edible but others are poisonous. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, certain mushrooms are believed to have medicinal functions that can be used to cure diseases.

If you are interested in seeing tropical mushrooms in the tropical rainforest of Papua, I suggest that you go in the morning and during the rainy season. You will definitely see these tiny flowery plants that look beautiful and elegant. by Charles Roring a local tourist guide for forest or eco travelers in Manokwari. If you need my guidance for exploring the beauty of the mushrooms, you can contact my email: peace4wp@gmail.com or my cell phone: +62 81332245180

Satan Leaves in the Table Mountain of Manokwari

Still about the exploration of the rainforest in the Table Mountain of Manokwari which was done yesterday (16 January 2010), while I was walking in the middle of the jungle with three Russian eco-travelers, I came across with a unique plant as shown in the following picture. The Papuan people call it Daun Setan (or Satan Leaves). Its leaves look narrow with slightly rounded tip. The leaves are green. In the Tambrauw region, the local people grow this plant in front of their houses believing that they can expell wicked or bad spirits from entering their houses. Although most of the indigenous Papuan people are now Christians, they still practice certain traditional beliefs such as growing such plants to protect the family members from the satanic spirits.

Mike, one of the Russian biologists, who was carrying a tele-lense digital camera also took some pictures of this green plant. While talking with him, I said that I was interested in buying such camera to take photos of various plants, mushrooms, insects, birds and other ground animals in this jungle of table mountain and write about them in my blog. He told me that it was expensive. So, I have to collect some money before being able to buy this electronic device. Mike used it to shoot King Kakatoe bird which was sitting on a branch of a tall tree. I could not take such picture as my digital camera was not equipped with long distance lenses.
While we were walking to a natural cave located deep in the forest of Table Mountain (Gunung Meja) of Manokwari, we arrived at a place where there was an eucalyptus tree. It was not an endemic plant species of Papua. It had been planted by the Dutch who were working as forest guard between 1950s and 1960s. Paul (the local forest guide) said that his uncle used to live in a house which was built in that place to protect the forest. We could not see that house anymore.
Inga, one of the Russian eco travelers, walked to that eucalyptus tree. Mike and Dima took some pictures of her. I also took some photos of her. Unfortunately, the setting which I made on my digital camera was for short distance photo shoot. I forgot to change it to automatic settings as a result the photo of Inga standing by the eucalytus tree was blurred. But it was OK. These Russians - Mike, Dima and InGa will be staying in Manokwari from 14 to 26 of January 2010. They stay in Penginapan KAGUM - a cheap hotel in Manokwari which is located on Brawijaya Street, behind Xavier Bookstore.

The journey to the cave was still long and we had to continue walking again. Before going, I pulled out one sanseviera. I wanted to plant it in front of my bookstore.

The local government of Manokwari, the Papua Barat province of Indonesia, intends to develop the Table Mountain as forest for tourism (Hutan Wisata). They have widened the road leading to the forest and built a gate with a small wooden house near it. I see that the local government invest a lot of money for building such infrastructure. In my opinion, what they should do is cleaning the forest from garbage dumped by the town dwellers of Manokwari. That's the most important priority which they must do if they want the forest of Gunung Meja to be a tourist attraction. In addition, they must punish those who throw garbage in the area as a shock therapy for anybody who does not respect or appreciate the existance of this important rainforest. by Charles Roring

Traveling Inside the Tropical Rainforest of the Table Mountain of Manokwari

Traveling inside tropical rainforest is a great way to appreciate the natural beauty of Table Mountain in Manokwari of West Papua Indonesia. Today I and my friend Paul accompanied three Russian tourists visiting the Table Mountain that is located several hundred meters from Penginapan Kagum. It is a cheap hotel for tourists who come to this town. In Indonesian language the mountain is called Gunung Meja. It is a protected forest that is located near Manokwari city. Their names are Inga (the girl), Mike and Dima (the young men).

We walked inside this forest from 02.00 p.m and to 6.30 p.m. We saw various kinds of plants, mushrooms, insects and birds and lizards. We also went to Japanese War Memorial which has been badly damaged due to the poor maintenance. We didn't stay there for quite long because we had to continue our trip to a natural cave that is located several kilometers away. The journey to the cave was very interesting because we could take a lot of pictures. There were unique mushrooms, various green plants that are used by the indigenous people to cure malaria. When we were near the cave we saw an owl on the ground. Perhaps, one of its wings was hurt. The bird could not fly. It was sleeping when we took some pictures of the owl. It was raining and all its feather is wet.

Inga showed her interest in insects while Dima was keen to find cave bats. Mike brought a digital camera equipped with long distance lenses. These young Russian eco-travelers who were walking with us did not complain about the mud or the mosquitoes. They just enjoy walking inside this jungle.

It was 05.00 p.m when we arrived at the mouth of the cave. It was a natural one that was covered with trees. Big corals hampered our way into the cave. Slowly we climbed them and crawled into the cave. It was very dark. I forgot to bring the flash light. We had to use the view finder red light from our digital camera to guide us through the chambers of the cave.

Dima was happy because he could find the small bats that were hanging on the walls. There were striped lizards. Inga held one of them and let us take some pictures of it. This time it was Mike who was very busy taking pictures of the bats and the lizards. For me, I was more interested in taking pictures of these Russian tourists who were happy to explore the natural beauty of the tropical rainforest in the Table Mountain or Gunung Meja Manokwari.

After finishing our exploration in this cave, we decided to go back to the Penginapan Kagum because it was getting dark. When we had reached the asphalt road leading to Sarinah, a "taxi" (a minibus that the locals use as public transportation) passed. Paul asked the driver to stop. The "taxi took five of us to the inn. Inga paid Rp. 10,000 for the ride from Table Mountain to Toko Buku Xavier. Mike said that they would continue exploring the jungles of Papua in the Nuni area tomorrow. by Charles Roring

Remains of Giant Clam on Tropical Rainforest of Manokwari West Papua

Could the Table Mountain of Manokwari of West Papua be a coral reef park several thousand or even million years ago? I and my friend Paul Werere, an indigenous Papuan, made a short hiking trip to a tropical rainforest located some five hundred meters at the back of my house. The locals here call it Table Mountain. There we found remains of giant clam shell (Tridacna gigas) and elkhorn shaped corals scattered around the mountain which are at 50 to 70 meters vertically measured above the sea surface. We also saw crabs swimming in the pond of spring water with physical appearances similar to their brothers that live among the mangrove forest. But we were not at the beach. We were on the mountain that is covered with large trees whose diameters range from 50 centimeters to 1.5 meters.

There have to be some explanations for why coral reef thrived in an area of a mountain far and high from the sea. The distance to the current beach is around 1 kilometer.

The first explanation will be that the ancestors of Papuan people might have taken the giant clams from the sea and ate them on the mountain. But this might not be true due to the existance of other corals that were not edible. The remains of hard corals and various large and tiny shells can still be found on this mountain.

The second explanation is that the corals and the giant clams had been swept away to the land by a giant wave or tsunami. While this answer might be possible, there has to be a maximum line where the giant wave had reached and stopped. Usually the line could be indicated by a long row of stones, corals, and other earth materials which had been carried into the land by the waves. So far we have not found such row of coral remains.

Then the third answer is that yes, the region used to be under the sea level. It means today's Manokwari town was under the sea level. Due to tectonic movements, the earth layers along the Table Mountain and the Northern Coastal Region of Papua island has been greatly pressed to emerge from the sea. That was how the mountain range along the northern coast of Papua had been formed. It could happen some several million years ago. Who knows?

Well while we are still guessing why this coral reef park thrived in this Table Mountain, I want to invite you to come to this forest to watch the birds singing and dancing, and to breath in the fresh air it produces while exploring the ancient coral reef without having to wear diving gear. by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua

Also read:
Snorkeling in Arborek of Raja Ampat
Kingdom of Nemo
Snorkeling and Freediving in drop off Reef of Manokwari