Birding Tour in Manokwari Highland and Lowland Forest

Magnificent Bird of Paradise

I have just completed a 1-week birding tour with Bruno, Michelle and Chantal. They were 3 birders who came from France. We visited higher montane forest of Arfak range for 3 days and 3 nights and lowland forest of Manokwari for 3 days/ 2 nights.
During the first leg of our tour in higher elevation forest of Arfak mountains, we watched several species of birds of paradise including Magnificent Birds of Paradise, Western Parotia. For me, I was so happy because I could see Magnificent Birds of Paradise again.
In the second leg of our birding trip, we enjoyed hiking, camping, swimming and birdwatching along a river in Manokwari.

Birding in Lowland Forest of Manokwari

There are tropical birds that we watched including Little Egret, Brahminy Kite, Grey Crow, Great-billed Heron, Pink-spotted Fruit Dove, Lowland Peltop, Pacific Baza and Palm Cockatoo. The tropical rainforest in lowland area of Manokwari is relatively a new birding destination. We haven't built guesthoses in the forest for visitors. So, we use tents if we want to stay for several days.
The birding tour in lowland forest of Manokwari was a more adventurous trip. We spent most of our time, walking along the bank of a river or wading through its knee-depth water to find such birds as Little Ringed Plover, Grey Wagtail and Variable Goshawk.
Our birding experience was greatly enhanced with a Swarovski HD spotting scope brought by one of the tour participants. It was a nice birding adventure and I hope to be back into the jungle again soon.

Trekking and Watching Tree Kangaroo in Arfak Mountains

I went trekking to Arfak mountains last week. I visited a a hamlet located deep in the jungle with a population of only three families. It took around 9 hours walking up and down steep slopes of the mountain range to reach the hamlet whose surrounding environment was still in pristine condition.

Tree Kangaroo in the jungle of Arfak mountains

At an elevation of 1,000 meters above sea level inside pristine rainforest, the mountain range of Arfak mountains is an ideal place for nature lovers who are interested in watching tree kangaroo. So far there are two species that have been photographed by the tourists but the villagers said there are three species in the jungle. To take picture of the kangaroo, visitors need to bring D-SLR camera with telephoto lenses or a bridge camera with super telephoto capabilities such as Nikon P600, Nikon P900 or Canon SX60hs.

Wild Life
Tree kangaroo is not the only animal that we can see in this pristine forest of Arfak range. There are also other animals such as cuscus possum, and various species of birds of paradise and wild pigs.
If you are interested in trekking Arfak mountains of Manokwari regency of West Papua, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or send text message to my cell phone: 006281332245180.

Trip report:
Trekking and watching Tree Kangaroo in Manokwari

Watercolor painting of Black-capped Lory

I am drawing and painting a bird this week. Its name is Black-capped Lory (Lorius lory) with the background of tropical rainforest in Arfak mountains near Warmarway village.
As a matter of fact, this painting is not finished. But I haven't updated my blog for more than a week. So, I decide to upload this painting and write some description.
Yunus Sayori, a local villager from this village always guide me when I go trekking with some tourists. We usually spend one or two nights in the jungle to see paradise birds, cuscus (a nocturnal animal) and tropical plants of the mountains.

Title: Black-capped Lory
Media: watercolor on paper
Size: A4
Painter: Charles Roring
Date: 17 August 2014

The tropical rainforest of Arfak mountains near Manokwari city has often been my art inspiration. When I guided tourists on various trekking trips, I saw beautiful birds such as lory, sulphur crested cockatoo, lesser birds of paradise, Papuan frogmouth, blyth's hornbill and many other birds. I also saw glowing mushrooms, wild flowers, bamboo trees on the slopes of these mountains.
If you are interested in trekking in the jungle of Arfak mountains, please contact me by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com. I can arrange a trekking trip for you where you will be guided by Yunus Sayori and other villagers from Warmarway.

Traveling with aci.detik.com travelers around Manokwari

A few days ago I accompanied 4 Indonesian travelers to Arfak mountains and Angresi beach. They were Suasti, Reggi, Audrey, and Diana. My trips with them were totally different from my previous trips with foreign tourists. I did not have to speak English. We spoke in Indonesian language. These Indonesian "tourists" were sent by detik.com, a popular news website in Indonesia. Detik.com requires that each of the traveler write at least 3 articles and upload 10 photos a day.

Snorkeling in Arfai
During their tours around Manokwari, they were involved in various activities which I and Suasti (the coordinator of Detik.com from Jakarta) had arranged for them in a 3-day itinerary. In the first day, they enjoyed snorkeling in Arfai beach. We went there by Ojek (a motor cycle taxi) at 2 p.m. after eating lunch at Permata-a small eating house in town. The coral reef of Arfai is facing extinction due to the plan from the local government of West Papua province to construct a drainage ditch from the provincial government office buildings in Arfai hill.
Night Ride with Manokwari Cyclists
After that they were invited by cyclists in Manokwari for night riding along the streets of the city. Even though they were very exhausted after the snorkeling activity, they showed their enthusiasm in joining the night riding. Again I had to arrange extra bicycles for these "Indonesian tourists" because I only had two at home. Fortunately, my friend in Bank Mandiri, lended two of his bicycles. I got another mountain bike from Peddy Tangguni, my other friend who lived behind the governor's office. We were a little bit late when we were heading for the meeting point in the hospital of the Indonesian naval base of Manokwari. The whole convoy of the mountain bikers of Manokwari had left the hospital. We could meet them at the harbor of Manokwari. The three girls from Jakarta joined the convoy whereas I and Reggi (the young man who was also one of the traveling partipants from aci.detik.com) had to go to Bank Mandiri first to get two more bikes for us. Because the Bank Mandiri was close to the Naval Base of Manokwari, I and Reggi could only enjoy the NR tour for around 300 meters. After taking some pictures with them, we said good bye to all of the NR participants.

Hiking in Arfak mountains
The next morning, we left the hotel where they had stayed for Arfak mountains. Our first stop point was Wosi market. We bought some vegetables, and fish there. Toyota Hilux G-series carried us to the mountains. The rear seat of the pick up truck was small for them. When we were passing by Lake Kabori, I asked Om Ching, our driver, to stop for while. They took as many pictures as they liked. Then, we continued our trip to Arfak mountains. Usually, it took only two hours to reach our destination, which was the Kwau village. However, because we stop several times for buying rice, and taking pictures and toilets, the time that we needed was 3 hours. Hans Mandacan met us on the street junction of Mokwam. Two porters had been waiting for us ready to carry our food and bags to the tourist house located in the middle of the jungle. When all of the bags had been unloaded from the pick-up truck, we began our hiking trip through the tropical rainforest of the Arfak mountains. We arrived at the tourist house at around 3. I asked Hans to prepare hot water. We ate noodle and drank some tea. That afternoon, we walked again to a birdwatching hut located some ten minutes walk behind the tourist house. I told them to stay in the hut (usually called blind) for waiting the birds to come down to their courting ground before leaving them for two hours. I and Hans waited for them around two hundred meters from the blind. After fifteen minutes waiting, suddenly we heard them screaming. I and Hans immediately ran to the blind to find out whether there was a snake or wild animal attacking them. Several meters from the hut, I could hear them laughing. They were not waiting for the birds of paradise but sharing their personal stories in the dark room of the hut. Drizzle started to fall. I told them that we could not wait for the birds or we would be soaked in heavy rain. We rushed to the guesthouse again. We only spent one night in Arfak mountains. After visiting and taking pictures of the bower of the bowerbird in Soyti slope, we returned to the city by the same pick up truck.

Snorkeling in Angresi
I was not sure whether we still had enough time for snorkeling in Angresi beach. I called Om Kosal to prepare for the boat. We left Arfai beach a little bit more than 3 p.m. Moderate wind blow pushed us from the north. Our destination was Angresi. The sky above the area was dark with thick clouds. The rain was falling in the area when we were heading to our snorkeling destination. We reached our destination at around 3.40 p.m. Miraclously, the dark cloud moved to the south east region, the rain stopped, the wind changed blowing from the north to from the west, the waves slowly died down.

Reggi, one of the ACI participants was snorkeling in Manokwari

Diana, Audrey, Suasti and Reggi really enjoyed their snorkeling activity at the foot of the Arfak mountains that afternoon. When we were heading back to Arfai, it was nearly dark. The coral reef in Angresi shore is still in pristine condition. It has now been listed in the itinerary that I offer to tourists who want to enjoy snorkeling in Manokwari. I hope that this eco-tourism program will encourage local people to protect their marine environment from further destruction. We left Arfai for the town at 19.00. After eating bakso in Sanggeng area, we returned to the hotel again. I said goodbye to them. That's the final activity that I provided for them during their tour in Manokwari. The next morning, they would fly to Sorong for a 1-week trip around Raja Ampat Islands.
If you are interested in visiting Manokwari, and need a tour guide to arrange trips and accompany you both, you can contact me via my e-mail: peace4wp@gmail.com
Related article: Snorkeling trip in Manokwari bay of Indonesia

Snorkeling along the shore off Arfak mountains

After my first snorkeling trip along the shore off the foot of Arfak mountains, I conclude that I will write more articles about the coral reefs there to raise awareness among citizens in Manokwari that they still have pristine marine park. To reach the snorkeling location, we need to go by boat from Arfai to Angresi beach. It takes around 30 minutes. If the weather is good, and the sea is calm, we can easily see various species of corals such as table coral, brain coral and staghorn coral and tropical fish at the depths between 1 to 5 meters below the sea level.

When I was snorkeling with 2 Dutch tourists on 17 August 2011, I brought my new waterproof camera. It's a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT3. With this digital camera, I was able to shoot a lot of nice photographs of corals and the fish although the visibility was not really good. It was raining one day earlier.

The above snorkeling pictures provide strong evidence that Arfak mountains are not only tourist destination for hiking, birding or butterfly watching but also snorkeling. The coral reefs at the foot of Arfak mountains are not as famous as the ones in Kri island of Raja Ampat or in Manado Tua island of Bunaken marine park of North Sulawesi but they are still in pristine condition. They are worth snorkeling and scuba diving. However, there is no diving center in Manokwari. So, the easiest way to explore the beauty of the underwater world of Arfak waters is by snorkeling. Please, bring your own snorkeling gear.
The waters off the coast of Arfak mountains still have world class coral reef. Snorkeling in these waters does not cost you an arm and a leg. So, if you plan to take a snorkeling trip that is affordable for you, then my recommendation will be the Manokwari bay. Don't forget to contact me, via email charlesroring@gmail.com or peace4wp@gmail.com, so that I will be able to arrange the trip for you. by Charles Roring

Wooden House from Arfak Mountains

Below is the traditional wooden house of Arfak tribe. Local people call this house Rumah Kaki Seribu or a thousand-feet house. I took the picture of this house when I was on the way to Mokwam village with Rhett Butler founder of mongabay.com. All the materials, except the roof, are taken from the nature or the rainforest. The metal corrugated roof has replaced the palm leaves due to its better resistance against heavy rain or damp weather. It is not surprising to see that this house looks different from the tropical house in Senopi. The next or second house in this blog post is not a traditional one. It was built by a contractor as part of a free housing project from Dinas Sosial or Social Agency of the local government of Manokwari regency.

The rumah kaki seribu which you see in this post is located around 1,500 meters above sea level. It means the climate of the region in general is always cool. When I spent two nights in Syiobri village that is located some 1,400 meters above sea level, I felt that it was very cold especially after 3 a.m. Perhaps this cold weather is the cause why the Arfak tribe does not create ventilation system or holes in their traditional wooden house of Kaki Seribu. This house has two doors but no windows. I cannot show you the interior of the house because I did not have the chance to enter it. When I took the photograph of the above house, the occupants were not there, perhaps they were working in the garden. Below is a similar house which has been constructed by Zeth Wonggor as a base camp for tourist located at around 2200 meters above sea level in the Arfak Mountains. Two Arfak boys in the photograph worked as birdman and porter.

My other analysis goes to the arrangement of walls. The walls are not made of thick wooden plank. We all know that wood is a good thermal insulation. Thin plank or bark is able to stop heat from flowing out of the house. If we look closely to the wall structure of the Kaki Seribu house, the main materials that compose walls are wooden sticks or beams and tree bark. The structure is enormously rigid. The cross joints of the wooden round beams which strengthen the wall arrangement are able to prevent the house from collapsing when big earthquake hit the region. Strong earthquakes (the last one was up to 7.6 scale richter) hit the bird's head region of West Papua nearly every year. I have never heard that during the earthquakes the traditional wooden houses of Kaki Seribu are destroyed. 

When I ask some of the local Papuans about the complicated wooden bars and barks on the walls of the Arfak tribe's house, they give various different answers. One interesting answer was that the cross-joints wooden bars assembly or construction are meant to stop suanggi from attacking the occupants of the house. The people in Arfak and many other areas in Papua are afraid of suanggi. Suanggi men are thought to have magical power to kill anybody. These wicked or satanic men are believed to be the cause behind most of the deaths in West Papua.Because the main purpose of this post is not for discussing the

The introduction of free housing project in Arfak Mountainous region will gradually reduce the number of kaki seribu wooden house. I think in the next ten years such houses will finally become extinct from their original birthplace.