Rainforest Insects in Inggramui village of Manokwari

When hiking through the jungle of Inggramui village, I saw beetles, butterflies, grasshoppers, and various other rainforest insects near the bank of a river. They have got unique colors. One of them is a beetle whose skin consists of black, yellow and striped red colors.

 According to some experts, insects whose colors are bright are usually poisonous. I personally do not know whether the above beetle is poisonous or not. Insects are nice subjects in photography. I shot this beetle using the macro feature of my pocket camera Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT3. by Charles Roring

Beetles from Tropical Rainforest in Numfor island

The beetles that I am going to discuss here are not the types of cars that are manufactured by volkswagen but the insects that we can see in New Guinea - the second largest island in the world after Greenland. Because of its location in tropical region, New Guinea is rich in natural biodiversity Tropical Rainforest of Numfor island is rich of insects including beetles. Beetles that are common include the ones, I guess, from tricondyla aptera species. Another species of beetle that is very famous in the world is the eupholus magnificus. I personally am not an expert in the study of rainforest insects but when I see the eupholus beetle or weevil, I am amazed by the beautiful colors that it has. The insect looks like a mechanical, or robotic  plastic toy. When we look closer to the insect, we will realize that it is really an insect from the rainforest of West Papua. To see or watch it, we need to come early in the morning or before the sunset. It usually comes out from its hiding place and takes a rest on the leaves of bush plants.

Yesterday, I watched a program on DWTV - a German state television that is broadcasted throughout the world using satellites about a research in the country on the development of powerful tape that applies the principles of how a reptile called gecko sticks its feet on smooth surface such as glass window.
Another research on insects can also bring new inventions in the human world that will improve our living condition at least we can understand the roles of insects in equilibrium of rainforest ecosystem and world environment as a whole.

If you are interested in visiting Arfak mountains or Numfor island for studying tropical insects of West Papua, and if you need an interpreter or guide to help you arrange your trip and communicate with local people, please, contact me via my email: charlesroring@gmail.com.
Also read: Watching beetles in tropical rainforest

Rainforest Insects Millipede

When I go hiking or mountain in the tropical rainforest of the Table Mountain, I often see insects. One species that is mostly found walking on the ground is millipede. An adult black millipede can reach a size of 15 cm. When it is young this insect has red color. When you accidentily step on it, its body will brake. This rainforest insect climbs a small plant at night. It will sleep there until morning time. Millipede is not an endangered species in the rainforest. There are a lot of species of insects in the tropical rainforest of West Papua. Some are facing extinction due to continuous hunting by butterfly and beetle collectors.

The photograph of the millipede above was made by a Mikhail Trokhimenko a Russian tourist who came with his wife and friend Dima to Manokwari in January 2010. Insects play a very important role in the ecosystem and food chain of rainforest. They assist the pollination of flowers and are prey to birds and reptiles particularly reptiles. by Charles Roring
Also read: Rainforest insects

Rainforest insects

Last November I and Monique (a volunteer from SDSP foundation) went hiking in the tropical rainforest of the Table Mountain near Manokwari city, the capital of West Papua province. We walked along the road that divides the jungle into two parts. Table Mountain with its forest is the closest natural environment that still exists in the city. The tropical rainforest that covers that mountain is rich of insects such as beetles, butterflies and wasps. Butterflies like to feed on nectars of rainforest flowers. During the morning walk with Monique, we could see various kinds of grasshoppers that like to eat young green leaves of plants and trees that grow in the forest. When the rainy season comes, trees and small vegetation grow faster. This creates competition between small plants and big trees. The presence of grasshopper can balance such competition by feeding on young leaves of the trees and plants that grow faster than others. In the food chain, insects such as the grasshopper are delicious food for lizards and soa-soa whereas these reptiles are prey to snakes and big birds.

When I write this post, I remember reading a book entitled the Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russel Wallace. In a chapter about the Netherlands New Guinea, he said that this Table Mountain is rich of insects. Yes, I can confirm his report here that there are still a lot of species of insects in this tropical rainforest.

European researchers have visited the Table Mountain of Manokwari since two centuries ago. One of them was Prince Leopold and Princess Astrid from Belgium in 1929. Prince Leopold collected a lot of animals, including insects in Manokwari. His collections can still be seen in ISNB Brussels.

I write this post to promote ecotourism and attract tourists from around the world to visit this forest. If you are interested in watching beetles, butterflies, and various other insects in this tropical rainforest, you can contact me via my email: peace4wp@gmail.com. I will be happy to arrange your trip around Manokwari and guide you to see the beauty of Papua's nature. by Charles Roring

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Watching Beetles in the Tropical Rainforest of Manokwari

Every time I go to the Table Mountain, I will always find new and interesting things. They can be birds, plants, mushroom, flowers and etc. One of them is the wonderful world of insects. Along the asphalt paved road that divides the forest, we can see various butterfly, beetle, grasshopper, weevil and crickets. I am not an entomologist or insect expert so I cannot identify the species name of all the insects that I see in the jungle. One day, I walked with two tourists from Belgium. They were Wim and Vicky Boyden. We did some bird watching and Vicky managed to shoot some photographs of hornbills eating the nutmeg fruits in the tropical rainforest. It was morning time and we decided to continue our walk deeper into the pathway that led us to a large cave at the north of the Table Mountain.

At around 500 meters from the cave, we saw two insects. They were mating. I think they were beetles. Because their colour was dark brown, similar to the tree bark where they were attached to, I didn't see them. Vicky shouted, "Hey, look at this!" I stopped and turned to see what she had been trying to show. I moved closer and saw the two beautiful beetles that were mating. I took out my digital camera. It was a Sony Cybershot and shoot them. I didn't aware that there were beetles on my right side when I passed by a small tree whose trunk had been broken.

One month before that I was also hiking through the forest of the Table Mountain with Rhett Butler. He was looking for a beetle named eupholus magnificus. He had sent me an email about his intention but I was not sure if we could find it in the tropical rainforest of this small flat mountain. It was nearly dark when we decided to leave the forest and walked back to my Losmen Kagum. Rhett Butler, the founder of mongabay.com - the website that promotes efforts and policies on rainforest preservation said that if he was not able to find the beetle in this mountain, he would go to Biak. When we were about to reach the asphalt road, suddenly Rhett shouted, "Hey, look at this!" I stopped and looked back. There it was, the eupholus magnificus a very exotic beetle, the living jewel of the tropical rainforest of the New Guinea island. Rhett was very happy to see it. He took it with him back to the Losmen Kagum. After taking some pictures of it, he and I walked by to the foot of the Table Mountain to return it to its original habitat.

Besides taking pictures of these wonderful insects, I shot some nice flowers that I saw along the way to the cave. There are a lot of species of flowers in the forest. Their colors can be yellow, red, white, blue, purple and various other combination of colors which you can mention. These flowers provide nectar both to the insects and birds that will usually come in the morning.

The tropical rainforest in West Papua is an important ecosystem in the world. Its high biodiversity should be protected and preserved for future human generations and for the whole ecosystem of the rainforest itself. With more tourists coming to Manokwari, I hope that we can help the Papuan indigenous people earn some reasonable income the the goods and services that they provide so that they will not give up their land and forest to greedy investors who are only interested in eliminating thousand years old tropical rainforest with their 35 year old palm oil plantation that gives little or no benefit to the Papuan people. by Charles Roring
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Night Walk in the Tropical Rainforest of the Table Mountain

by Charles Roring

I and Rhett Butler - the founder of mongabay.com had decided to do night walk in the Table Mountain of Manokwari before he left this town for Jakarta the next morning. Accompanied by Nico Nauw, we hiked into the tropical rainforest of the Table Mountain again to see hornbills and insects. During the afternoon walk, Rhett managed to take some pictures of Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita- Latin). I was not a birder so I could not mention the English or latin names of all the birds in this forest. The tropical rainforest of the Table Mountain was a protected forest owned by the local government of Manokwari regency. We started climbing the forest at 4.30 p.m. on the 1 of August 2010. 

Tropical rainforest in this mountain has been categorized by Indonesian department of forestry as Taman Wisata Alam (TWA) meaning literally the Natural Tourism Park. We walked into the woods where Rhett photographed hornbills eating fruits of ficus tree, ficus benjamina (pohon beringin). When we arrived under the tree, the birds had finished eating and silently rested on the branches of the tree. Hearing the cracking sounds of the breaking dry twigs on the ground that we stepped on, the hornbill birds flew in a rush to another benjamin fig tree some 200 hundred meters away from us. We decided not to chase them and began concentrating on taking pictures of insects along the paved road that passed through the rainforest.

When the sun had set in the west, and when the canopy of the forest left abandoned in the dark,  with the help of two LED flashlights, we could see various colorful insects on the leaves of green vegetation on both sides of the road. I did not know whether they were nocturnal insects or not. But they had wonderful colors. There were grasshopper, crickets, and flies. I also saw lizards, snails and frogs. With my Sony cybershot pocket camera, I tried to take pictures of some insects that look red.  I was not really sure whether the insects which are presented in this blog post were grasshopper or cricket.

It was a fascinating experience walking in the dark forest and taking photographs of various tiny creatures that part of rainforest ecosystem. I was sad to see that this green forest of the Table Mountain of Manokwari has now been used as dumping ground for city wastes and garbage. I hope that the city dwellers of Manokwari would stop dumping their domestic and store garbage into this wonderful forest.

Tropical rainforest in the Table Mountain of Manokwari city plays an important role in absorbing the CO2 gases emitted by the city dwellers as well as storing large amount of water that is consumed the citizens every day. The existence of the forest also cools down the temperature of the surrounding area near the forest. With my current focus is now promoting eco-tourism for helping the local Papuans get more benefits from their natural environment without destroying it, the rainforest near this city will always within the range of my everyday attention.
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• Watching Cuscus Possum in Manokwari