Manokwari City Tour

Traveling around the city of Manokwari can be fun and fascinating if you know some interesting places that you'd like to visit. To give you an idea of how we conduct this tour,  we will give you some explanations about some vocal points of this city. Depending on the hotel or guesthouse where you stay, we will pick you up with a car and bring you around the city.

Sarinah Hill
The first place that we will go is a slope near the residential area of Bupati of Manokwari. It is also called Bukit Sarinah (meaning Sarinah Hill). From this place, we can see the wonderful scenery of Manokwari city that stretches along the coastal areas and hills around Dore bay.
Kampung Ambon and Kwawi Area
Also, we can see the main harbor of Manokwari with cargo and passenger vessels mooring at its jetty, Sanggeng Market and Rendani Hill.

We will go down the slope to pass through Kampung Ambon with a lot of old houses built by Dutch government in 1950s are still used by employees of local government.
We can stop for a while at Gereja Elim Kwawi to see the old church and the cemetery of C.W. Ottow (who was the first European missionary) who landed in New Guinea to preach Good News and built schools for the indigenous people.

Traditional Market
There are two traditional markets in town which you could visit. The first one is Sanggeng Market. It is the place where town dwellers come to buy vegetables, rice, fish and other agricultural produce. The fish market is located approximatly 100 meters from the main market. Visitors can also see the view of the city at the nearby Fishing Harbor located next to the fish market.
Another market in town is Wosi. Here, visitors can see what goods that are bought by local people.

Before continuing your trip to Bumi Marina, Amban and Abasi Beach, you could have lunch for a while at one of the many stores in the city.
Be sure to bring sunglasses if you start at around 2 or 3 p.m. The weather of this coastal city is quite hot particularly during dry season. We will be in the area for around five to seven minutes before continuing our trip to Amban. We will drive through such areas as Susweni, Bakaro beach, Abasi, and Pasir Putih beach and then back to Manokwari city again.
If there is still time for more exploration of the city, we will go to Borarsi where we will be able to see traditional wooden boats parking along the Anggrem harbor.

Visiting Papuan Artists 
We can visit some artists in the region, Mr. Nico Asaribab - a carving artist, Ms. Ester Kereway who likes to create handicrafts from seashells. You can buy some souvernirs here. There is another artist whose wooden carvigs are one of the finest quality in town. His name is Yosep Awom. He lives across from Hotel Ariestom. Try to bargain to get the best price.
Not far from Anggrem is the residences of Ms. Ester Kereway and Mr. Yosep Awom. They live on Merdeka street near Suri bakery a breadstore that is now more focusing on providing photocopy service to its customers. Ms. Kereways makes beautiful earings and other souvenirs made of seashells while Mr. Awom makes beautiful wooden carvings.

According to our personal experience, if we start our city tour at 4 p.m., we will be at these artists' house at around 7 p.m.
We can go up to the slope of Komplex Missi where we can see some Papuan artists living behind the buildings of SMP Katolik Manokwari at the foot of the Table Mountain. We will meet an experienced oil painting artist, Mr. Lucky Kaikatui and a multi talented artist Paul Warere.

Another women artist in the vicinity is Mrs. Marice Fonataba who makes woven clothes and other artworks from pandanus leaves and seashells. Her house is located behind the Catholic Church of Santo Agustinus in Komplex Missi of Manokwari.
When we have accomplished this trip, we can bring you to Cinnamon cafetaria in Orchid supermarket where you will have your dinner there. If you choose to have dinner at one of the many restaurants in town, we can bring you there too. After that, we could bring you back to your hotel.
Well, don't forget to bring your digital camera when you go around this city.

Your tour guide

Photographs about the city and the people as well as the natural scenery that you shoot along the way will be a nice memory for you when you have returned home.

Booking:
If you are interested in taking this city tour, please, contact Arianta by sending text or whatsapp message to her number: +6285373765191.
She works as a Medical Practitioner and can organize your city tour in Manokwari with her own cars.
The above itinerary can be customized according to your duration of stay in Manokwari and budget.

Buying Souvenir in Manokwari from Artist Mr. Asaribab

Tourists who come to Manokwari, after traveling around, usually ask me where they can buy souvenirs. As a tour guide, I know some artists who make high quality carvings, paintings and drawings, and woven cloth. When I accompanied Katja Zimmermann, a German tourist, around Manokwari city, she asked where she could buy souvenir. I mentioned the name of Mr. Nico Asaribab. He is a senior wood carving artist who lives in the Anggrem area. His house is only a stone throw away from the beach. We went there at 3 p.m. His son, John looked happy to receive us. At that time they were carving the wooden door of their house. Mr. Asaribab was not at home. John called him via his mobile phone and several minutes later, his father arrived at home still wearing his black jacket.

I took a photograph of John and his father, together with the other family members. The door would be decorated with beautiful ornaments carved on its surface.
Katja bought a beautiful wooden carving. As part of my campaign in promoting the art and artists of Papua, I asked Katja and Mr. Nico Asaribab to be photographed together. The interior of the house looked bright that day and I was able to get a good pose of them while Katja was holding a wooden carving. She didn't buy the one that she was holding. Instead, she bought one that could be carried in for her travel bag. Katja looked beautiful holding the Papuan artworks next to Mr. Nico Asaribab who was smiling in front of the camera.

I hope that if you (readers) also come to Manokwari of West Papua, you could buy some souvenirs which the Papuan artists have created. Your money is very useful in supporting the economic livelihood of the artists and in encouraging the development of eco-tourism. Papuan will not sell their timber for cheap price to logging companies. Instead, they will be more creative in producing high quality artworks that only spend little amount of wood as the raw material for the souvenirs that they produce. Artists in Manokwari make their houses as their working studio and also as souvenir shops.
I also hope that by writing articles about eco-tourism in Manokwari, more tourists will come.
One of the ways that we can do to protect the tropical rainforest in West Papua is through the promotion of eco-tourism and through finding alternative jobs to Papuan so that they can earn a living through selling artworks, being tour guide or providing other services to tourists and not cutting trees and selling the logs in cheaper price to logging companies. by Charles Roring

Also read: Korwar Art Style from Geelvink bay by Mr. Asaribab

Watching Butterfly in the Table Mountain of Manokwari of West Papua

I, Katja and Paul went to Table Mountain on 26 May 2010. Because we wanted to watch butterfly, we woke up early. At around 6 a.m we were on top of the mountain hiking along the road. The air was fresh and the view of Manokwari city looked calm. When the sun light hit the surface of the green leaves and the flowers, various colors of ornamental butterflies came out of their hiding places and began flying around. It was wonderful to see a lot of butterflies.  One even landed on the tip of my shorts. We did not need binoculars to watch them. Butterfly watching in Manokwari's Table Mountain is my favorite activity. Butterflies were just everywhere, big and small, black, white, yellow, and brown.

We walked to Japanese war memorial. It has a little open area provided by local government to Japanese government to build a monument for honoring the Japanese soldiers who died during the the Pacific War. There, I and Paul picked up some garbage scattered around the monument which had been thrown by people who visited place. That's what we usually do to keep the surroundings of the monument clean. Katja (the German tourist) also helped us. We put all the wastes at the left side of the gate and Paul burnt them.

 We took a rest for around 30 minutes there before continuing our trip to see more butterflies and other unique vegetation of tropical rainforest. Because Table Mountain is located near the Manokwari city and not too high from the sea surface, we can see a lot of insects and birds in it.

 As we were descending the mountain Kompleks Missi where my house was, Katja stopped for a while and picked up a large dry leaf of Sukun tree (bread tree). She asked me to take a picture of her standing with the leaf. She said that in Europe, there are no leaves with such size. She was amazed by the leave. In the tropical rainforest of Papua, we can see a lot of unique plants that always attract tourists' attention.

The best time for bird watching and butterfly watching is from 6 a.m and 11 a.m. We can actually do it all day but I think morning and before sunset are the best times for admiring and appreciating the nature. If you are interested in hiking in the Table Mountain of Manokwari, you can contact me - Charles Roring - by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com

Also read: A Visit to Mansinam Island and A Meeting with Peter Rumbruren

A visit to Mansinam Island and A meeting with Peter Rumbruren

Yesterday (20 May 2010), I went with Katja Zimmermann, a German tourist, to Mansinam island. It is located in the Dorey bay of Manokwari. Mansinam is an important island for Christians in West Papua. In 1855 German missionaries Ottow, his wife and Geisler landed on 5 February to preach Gospel to the indigenous people of Papua. Now most of the native population of Papua island are Christians. Katja and I did some snorkeling at the back of the island and then we went hiking along the coast to reach the Mansinam village that is located at the north of the island. After making mistakes in walking around in the forest back to the Manggewa - the starting point where we enjoyed snorkeling, we decided to walk along the beach to make sure that we would not get lost in the jungle for the second time.

Butterflies, birds, and wild flowers of the Mansinam island were very beautiful. Mansinam also has beautiful coral reef park at the southwestern region of the island and several shipwrecks that are potential to be the diving sites. It was nearly 3 p.m. when we arrived at the village. I asked a little boy named Leo to show me where the residence of Peter Rumbruren was. He is a Papuan artist whose carvings have become favorite souvenirs among tourists. Finally, we arrived in front of his house. I decided to take my wallet to give some money to the boy.

But Katja insisted that I must not give money to the boy. It would be considered as encouraging capitalism and damaging the spirit of eco-tourism. She said that Balinese children like to ask money from tourists. Instead of being creative children, they become beggars. I like Katja's idea. Based on her advice, we went to a kiosk around one hundred meters from Peter Rumbruren's house to buy some drinks. I gave Leo a bottle of orange juice. This boy supports the Netherlands for the World Cup football that is going to be held in South Africa.

We met Peter's daughter and asked if his father was around. She went to the back of the house calling his father. Peter was very happy to meet us. We had a one-hour conversation with topics about art, culture,  reactions from the church concerning his activities in making Korwar carvings. He also showed us his carvings and the interior of his traditional house that was full of various artworks. We took some photographs and drank fresh coconut juice. 

Peter is a prolific artist, his traditional Dorey hut is his art gallery. When I and Katja wrote our names on his guestbook, we could see that many tourists had visited this hut.
If you are interested in meeting him personally, you could find his house that is located at the back of the Lahai Roi church. It is not difficult to find it. You may ask the villagers and they will help you.
It was nice talking with Peter Rumbruren. It was around 4 p.m. when we left Mansinam island by Peter's boat. I hope this short story will give you an idea of how beautiful this tropical island for people who like Papua's nature. by Charles Roring

Also read: Watching Butterfly in the Table Mountain of Manokwari of West Papua