Photographing bat in a cave

Yesterday (7 February 2010) I went to the Table Mountain of Manokwari accompanying Tan, a Norwegian student who is doing some field research on the implementation of UNREDD. She looked happy when we finally arrived in a big cave that was the home of bats. She took a lot of pictures of this cave from the front mouth to its interior that is full of stalactites.

The surface of the ground was wet, uneven, and slippy. I fell once and cut my hand. Well, it's the souvenir that I got from exploring this cave. We brought two big lamps to lighten the cave. I used an old digital camera Sony Cyber-shot 6.0 mega pixels to take some pictures of this cave but because its flash light was not strong enough, I had to move closer to the objects to shoot them well.

The bats that live in the cave are from small species. The same as the bigger ones they sleep during the day and look for food at night. The indigenous Papuan told us that they eat insects, sweet fruit (like kersen) and nectar of certain flowers. Also read: Caving in the Table Mountain with Grietje

Tourist Attractions in Manokwari

In recent months, the number of foreign tourists or travelers who come to Manokwari, the capital town of West Papua province in Indonesia is increasing. They fly with domestic airlines such as Batavia Air, and Merpati from Jakarta to this town. There are various tourist attractions which they can visit when staying in Manokwari.

Cheap Hotel in Manokwari

First, before I explain about the interesting places which you can see, I have to recommend a cheap hotel which is an affordable accommodation with good facilities. The name of the hotel is Penginapan Kagum. The cost per room is around 18 US dollars per night. It is located on Brawijaya Street behind Xavier bookstore. If you are one of the tourists who wants to come to Manokwari, when you have arrived at Rendani airport, ask the taxi driver to bring you to the hotel. The manager's name is Miss Ivanna Roring. Her mobile phone number is 081 28307331. You had better call or send an SMS to her to arrange for a room and the duration of your stay in this town. After you have put or bags in Penginapan Kagum, you will begin to explore the town and its surrounding places. If you want to visit the following places, as a guide I can accompany you. My cell phone number is Charles Roring: 081332245180. Here are the places which I recommend:

Table Mountain of Manokwari
This is the place near the town where there is a well protected tropical rainforest. Inside the forest a lot of species of trees grow. The trees are big and tall, many with diameters of more than 1 meter. Various species of orchids and tropical flowers can also be found thriving on the branches of the trees and on the ground. When we walk deeper into the forest, we will be able to see birds such as Kakatoe, Hornbill, KumKum and Lory playing and singing. If we are lucky, we will be able to see Kuskus, Soa Soa and Snakes. The beauty of the forest is not only seen at the tree but also on the ground. Various tropical mushrooms with beautiful colors and forms live in this jungle. The journey into this forest is not complete if you have not visited the caves.

The Caves of of Table Mountain

The caves in Manokwari are devided into two types, the man-made ones (which were built during the World War II) and the natural caves. There are four natural caves in this mountain. I can guide you to find them and explore the interior. Inside the caves you can see bats, lizards and various colour of crystal stones. The caves in the table mountain is wet and slippery so, when we go in there, we will need lamps. P

Bats Hanging on Trees

Some tourists like to explore the forest of Table Mountain at night because they will have a chance to see more animals, one of the types is bat. Bats in tropical region live in caves and in trees. The small bats live in caves whereas the bigger ones live hanging on brances of trees. To take photos of the bats you will need digital photo camera or video recorder that is equipped with flash lights or infra red light.

Islands in the Dorey Bay and off the northern coast

Mansinam and Lemon islands are visited by most of the tourists who come to Manokwari of West Papua Indonesia. But I will guide or accompany you to other islands such as Raimuti island and Kaki island. This Raimuti island provides interesting underwater coral reef environment with colorful fish which you can see when snorkling around it. Kaki island is the place where Turtles like to come up to the beach to lay their eggs there. You will need special watertight digital camera if you want to snorkle and take photos of its beautiful coral reef.

Manokwari artists

Inside the Manokwari town, there are a number of artists which you can visit. I can accompany you to see artists who make beautiful paintings of Papua's nature and animals such as the paradise birds and the Kasuari. Or if you are interested more in wood carvings, then the house of Mr. Awom or Mr. Yenno should be visited. An old woman Ms. Fonataba is my recommendation for you if you want to see beautiful hand made woven clothes.

There are still many other interesting places which I can guide you to visit. I will write more about them later. If you want to contact me, this is my email: peace4wp@gmail.com and my cell phone number: 081332245180. Manokwari is a beautiful place worthy of your visit.

Cave Exploration inside the Rainforest of Manokwari Papua.

Finally we arrived at one of the caves in Table Mountain of Manokwari West Papua. I was not sure whether it was safe to explore the interior of the cave as we had just experienced an earthquake several days ago. If there was an earthquake again while we were still inside it, the cave might collapse and we might be buried alive. No, that's not how my story goes in this post. Yes, we eagerly entered it trying to explore anything that we wanted to know. It was very dark, wet and slippery. Besides the floor was not flat. I fell several times while trying to walk deeper into the cave.

Mike, Inga, and Dima - the three Russian eco travelers, accompanied by Paul Warere and I (as local guides) spent around 30 minutes inside the cave. There were lizards, small bats and millions of mosquitoes buzzing around our ears. I regretted not carrying two big LED lamps from home. If I had brought them here our exploration inside this cave would have been easier. Next time, I would bring at least one LED lamp that could light up our surroundings for around 18 hours. I bought the LED lamps from a friend of mine for Rp. 200,000 each. At first, I thought that I would only use them when we experience black out in my bookstore but now I realize that such lamps are also important when I want to travel along this pristine tropical rainforest of West Papua.

Back to the story of the cave exploration, while InGa was holding the small flash light and directing its light to the walls of the cave, Dima caught a lizard. He brought it closer to us and gave it to Inga. I and Mike took some pictures of this exotic animal. Inga asked whether she could hold a bat that was hanging on the wall. Paul (the local forest guide) in Manokwari said that she had to be careful with its teeth which might contain bacteria. So, InGa did not catch the bat. But she looked happy after holding the lizard. Then she placed it back on a stone to let it go. Mike also looked happy because he could take a lot of pictures from this cave exploration. We wanted to go deeper but Paul warned us that the amount of oxygen inside the cave was getting less in the deeper region.

When we came out of the cave, we realized that it was nearly dark. We had to walk fast if if wanted to arrive at the Penginapan Kagum (a hostel in Manokwari which is behind Xavier bookstore in Komplex Missi region of Brawijaya street) before sunset. This long journey to the cave inside the tropical rainforest of Table Mountain (Gunung Meja) of Manokwari is worthy of our visitation. It was a new experience for the Russian travelers as well as for me.

There is another cave that is bigger than the one which we had just visited. Paul said it is located some one hundred meters from this cave but he had not been able to locate it again. Next time when he has re-found it, we will visit it and conduct another exploration with better equipment. Today these Russian eco-travelers had gone to Nuni that is located in the northern coastal area of Manokwari regency to conduct another exploration inside the vast and pristine tropical rainforest of Papua. by Charles Roring - contact email: lroring@yahoo.com and this is my cell phone number: +62 81 332245180.
Also read: Caving in the Table Mountain with Grietje

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