Monday, November 29, 2010

Rainforest Flowers

There are several species of flowers in the rainforest of Arfak mountains that have attracted the attention of visitors from around the world. Some of them are orchids and Rhododendron. Orchids can be seen growing on the branches of big trees when I guide some tourists on a hiking tour in the jungle. Some villagers like to climb the trees and take the orchids. They sell the flowers in Manokwari city or just planted them around their houses. Because the temperature and humidity in the city and in the rainforest are different, most of the orchids die. To help the indigenous people in Arfak mountains and along the coastal areas, I develop an ecotourism program. I promote the mountain range of Arfak in Manokwari regency, Klasow valley in Sorong regency and Tambrauw mountains as tour destinations for anybody who is interested in traveling inside the tropical rainforest. Because the rainforest environment is high in biodiversity, tourists can see plants and flowers, birds, mammals, reptiles and insects.
Light yellow orchid flowers from tropical jungle of New Guinea
Orchid in the rainforest of West Papua
In the lowland forest of Manokwari, we can see Terrestrial Orchids (Spathoglottis plicata), Glory Vine (Faradaya splendida) and New Guinea Tuliptree (Spathodea campanulata) and a lot more flowers which I cannot mention one by one.
In addition to Arfak mountains in Manokwari regency, another destination that visitors can see is Numfor island. When I did a morning walk near the tropical rainforest of the Numfor island a few days ago, I saw various species of rainforest flowers. One of them is plumeria. Actually it is a tree that regularly produce flowers all year round. Its wood is soft. Plumeria has very strong fragrant. Usually planted by people in the cemetery area. In Bali, girls like to put the flower on their ears. Plumeria or frangipani flowers are also used in daily offerings to the gods by Balinese people. But these tropical flower plants can also be found growing at the front yards of the villagers homes in Numfor island. The main color of plumeria is white but most often we can see red or pink colors at the edges of its petals and yellow in the middle of each flower. The height of an adult plumeria can reach up to 3 meters.
Plumeria flowers
If you are interested in seeing tropical wildflowers in its natural habitat in West Papua province of the Indonesia, please, send text message to me - Charles Roring - (cell phone: +6281332245180). I can guide you to explore the tropical jungle and its colorful flower plants.
Tropical rainforest of Numfor island has another interesting flower which grows as grass . It has seven purple petals as you can see on the photograph above. When I took the picture of this flower, it was still covered with morning dew. It looked fresh and very beautiful. As a matter of fact this is a kind of grass flower usually blooms in the morning along the grassy area of tropical rainforest.
When I saw the flower, I could not identify it. I wrote this blog post and several months later someone named Cindy Taing emailed me and said that she was also curious about this purple flower. After searching for information about it on the internet, she finally found its name. The name of the flower was Rain Lily.
Based on her information, I did several searches in Google for keywords rain lily. Finally I could find the name of the flower in Latin. According to Wikipedia, it was called Zephyranthes rosea. This was only a small flower plant. I was happy with this finding.
The tropical rainforest of New Guinea is a nice destination for travelers who want to enjoy hiking tours both in the mountains and lowland coastal areas. Beside orchid flowers, hikers can see wildlife and meet with the indigenous Papuan people who are friendly.
Zephyranthes rosea flower in Numfor island
People in Numfor island have not realized that their beautiful tropical flowers are potential to be developed as an environmentally friendly agricultural commodity. During this time tourists can enjoy the beauty of the flowers without having to pay anything.
Also read:
  • Tropical rainforest flowers
  • Pretty rainforest flowers
Coral reef environment in Raja Ampat of West Papua
Snorkeling Picture from Raja Ampat
Snorkeling and Sightseeing Tour in Raja Ampat
In addition to offering rainforest tour, I also offer snorkeling tour in Raja Ampat islands of West Papua. During the tour, you will be able to see the beautiful underwater world that is full of colorful coral reef and tropical fish.
Piaynemo karst islets in Raja Ampat
Piaynemo karst
Coral reefs can be considered as flowers of the sea. The average duration of the tour is 5 days/ 4 nights. When taking the tour, visitors will be able to enjoy snorkeling in various coral reef areas of the region such as Five Rocks (Batu Lima), Karst islets of Kabui bay, Friwen, North-West Mansuar, South-West Mansuar, Yenbuba strait, Sawondarek, Pianemo post, and Arborek and more.
Depending on the weather, I will also arrange a sightseeing trip to Pianemo/ Fam islands where participants will be able to see the beautiful scenery of Karst islets which has become the promotional icon of Raja Ampat.
For prices and customized itinerary, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by E-mail to: peace4wp@gmail.com or whatsapp to: +6281332245180.

Merchandise

Please, support this blog by buying art drawings and illustrations of wild animals and plants in the form of prints on various products as follows:

Watercolour Sketch of Bird

Watercolour Sketch of Bird
Fruit Dove from Tropical Rainforest

Vector Art Drawing in Inkscape

Vector Art Drawing in Inkscape
Swimming with Whaleshark

Vector art illustration in Inkscape

Vector art illustration in Inkscape
Baby leatherback turtle was reaching for the sea

Drawing of Paradise Bird

Drawing of Paradise Bird
Lesser Birds of Paradise art print on classic T-shirt

Digital Drawing in Autodesk Sketchbook

Digital Drawing in Autodesk Sketchbook
A Couple of Red Bird of Paradise