Eco-tourism and Forest Preservation in Manokwari

Ecotourism is one of the ways that I try to promote to improve the standard of living of Papuan people and at the same time protect the rainforest or the marine environment in Manokwari city. The money which tourists spend to buy fruits, souvenirs and pay local guides will propagate the local economy and attract the local people to develop alternative businesses that are not related to timber extraction from the rainforest. Instead of hunting animals and cutting trees, the Papuan – after escorting foreign tourists and getting the payment for being travel guides, or selling environmentally friendly souvenirs will feel that their forest is highly valuable for tourism and will preserve it voluntarily to attract more visitors.

Arfak Mountains in Manokwari

Papua is very rich of natural resources. Everybody who knows Papua agrees about it. Yet, the living quality of many indigenous Papuan is still low. Many in remote mountainous region are lack of education, and health services. They live in very simple houses which most of them without electricity and clean water. In contrast, Papuans who work as government workers have much better standard of living than their fellow brothers and sisters who are not state employees.
It is not surprising to see that most Papuan youth particularly fresh graduate are dreaming of becoming Pegawai Negeri (state employees). They believe that by being state employees, they will be able to make a lot of money through “cooperation with contractors and businessman as well as investors in various projects and provisioning works (read: collusion, corruption and nepotism).” If we see from the Indonesia’s corruption index, the provinces of Papua and West Papua are among the worst in Indonesia.
At the same time, the number of migrants, coming from other parts of Indonesian islands, is rising rapidly. Transmigration program has destroyed huge areas of Papua’s tropical rainforest. Although a lot of “farmers” have been imported from outside Papua, this region is still far from self sufficient in rice. Every month thousands of tons of rice is still imported from outside Papua. It is clear that the main reason behind the transmigration program is not purely agriculture but something else.
The irresponsible extraction of Papua’s natural resources threatens the existence of rainforest and harms the coral reef environment.

The promotion of eco-tourism, that I am talking about here, must address public education about the importance of preserving the environment through schools and mass media. The education about the responsible extraction of natural resources and the promotion of responsible tourism is not aimed at foreign tourists alone but also the whole population of Papua and Indonesia.

Reading REDD-Monitor’s website, I am shocked to find out that Indonesia has entered the Guinness Book of Records 2009 for clearing 1.8 million hectares per year between 2000 and 2005.

To eliminate Indonesia’s name from the book, and regain our “honor” and most importantly restore our “forest”, all the people in this country must participate. Those who do not live near the forest can reduce their CO2 emission by reducing the consumption of fossil fuel, by riding bicycles, by not using plastic tote bags and by participating in beach clean up activities, and etc. Those who live near the forest must stop cutting the trees and begin conducting reboisation that is important for restoring the already destructed forest.

As the citizen of Manokwari city, I have seen directly how the businesses and the citizens abuse the rainforest around our regency. When logging companies cut the trees, city dwellers dump their domestic wastes into the nearby forest. Tens of thousands of Papuan pristine tropical rainforest is being cleared to make way for palm oil plantation. Hunters go into the forest at night to shoot bats and kuskus not for their meat but more as a hobby. They are not starving! They have good house, and they ride hardtops or expensive motorcyles. It is sad to see that little has been done to stop the killing of wild animals in the protected forest in Table Mountain and Arfak Mountain that are located close to Manokwari city.

I hope that by writing stories about my activities in promoting responsible tourism and forest preservation in my website and blogs, more and more people will participate in fighting deforestation and preserving our environment. This was written by Charles Roring

View of Manokwari city in West Papua

The following photograph was taken by Mikhail Trokhimenko, a Russian tourist who came to Manokwari city, the capital of Papua Barat province in January 2010. The photograph was shot from Jati Area

The view of Manokwari city as seen from Panoramaweg (Brawijaya street)

Arfak tribe from Manokwari carried a house miniature

The following pictures are the miniature of Papuan traditional wooden house which they usually called "Rumah Kaki Seribu". This house miniature was being carried by the Arfak tribe from Manokwari of Papua during the Cultural Carnival on 6 February 2010

A Street Parade in Manokwari by a tribe from Arfak mountains wearing traditional clothing

Also read: The Traditional House Competition in Manokwari Papua

Traditional House Competition in Manokwari Papua

There is Papuan traditional house competition which is carried out in Manokwari town every year. The houses that the local Papuan build are called Rumah Kaki Seribu (meaning A Thousand Feet Houses). The city dwellers build these Papuan wooden houses at empty yards in front of their houses all over the town. The competition is carried out to celebrate the Gospel Landing Day on 5 February. The construction materials which are used for building such houses are from the nearby forest, mostly in the Table Mountain. 

Rumah Kaki Seribu (A Thousand Fee House)

Recently, some nature lovers have expressed their concerns over the exploitation of woods from the forest for the competition. Every year hundreds of cubic meters of woods, tree barks, and plants, leaves are taken from the forest for the traditional home building competition. Until now, local authorities are not aware that such competition has caused more damage to the tropical rainforest in the Table Mountain and the Afrak Mountain of Manokwari regency. Unless they stop such competition, more woods will continue to be cut from surrounding forest of the Manokwari town every year. 
Arfak mountains - A Popular Hiking Destination
Arfak mountains of Manokwari is a world class hiking and trekking destination which attract backpackers from all around the world every month. The tropical rainforest that covers the mountains is the natural habitat of various species of animals that are endemic to New Guinea island such as the magnificent birds of paradise, the vogelkop bower bird, cuscus possum, tree kangaroo and giant lizards called soa-soa. To watch the birds of paradise, travelers can go hiking in Kwau village (high elevation forest) and Warkapi village (low elevation forest). 
For those who are more interested in meeting the indigenous Papuan people who live in the Arfak mountains can take a hiking trip from Mokwam to Anggi. It takes around 2 days to complete the walk and hikers need to bring their several backpacking tools such as Swiss knife and machete with them. These tools are needed to cut twigs of woods, make fire and cook food. In addition to bringing the above tools, hikers also need to have a water resistant tent with them as a comfortable shelter at night. Because heavy rain frequently occurs in the tropical rainforest of Arfak, a special water resistant tent should be carried while hiking in the mountains. If possible, buy a tent that will keep you dry from the muddy soil and safe from snakes and bugs while sleeping at night.
The above tent has been specially designed and manufactured for those who want to go hiking in the tropical region. It is light and more resistant to moisture, mildew and rain. by Charles Roring
Also read: 

• Birdwatching in the Farmland of Sonder Town in Minahasa Highland
• Birdwatching in Minahasa
• Manado City Birdwatching and Sightseeing Tour
• Birding in North Sulawesi
• Birding in Sonder of Minahasa
• Birdwatching in Sulawesi
• Birdwatching and butterflywatching in Sonder

Any cruise ship sailing to Manokwari Papua?

There were cruise ships sailing to Manokwari in 1980s from abroad. Now I haven't seen any. As cruise ships routes change according to the tour packages that they offer to tourists, Manokwari will not be in a fixed port of calls for them. If you prefer traveling to Manokwari by ship instead of by airplane, there are passenger ships that serve sailing route from Jakarta, Surabaya, Makassar, Sorong to Manokwari and finally Jayapura operated by PELNI, an Indonesian state owned sea liner. These passenger ships cost much cheaper for economy class compared to the rates offered by most airline companies that provide flight to Manokwari from Jakarta. For first class ticket of passenger ships, its price is not too different from the airplane ticket, in fact, it sometimes more expensive.

PELNI's Passenger Ship Motor Vessel Nggapulu

Sailing to Manokwari on passenger ships may take several days up to one week depending on which port you embark from. PELNI ships provide cheap or affordable sea transportation in regular schedule.