Snorkeling and Birdwatching Vacation in Numfor

Have you decided where you want to spend your time this Christmas? I recommend that you go to Numfor island in the Geelvink bay of New Guinea. Fly to Jakarta or Denpasar of the Republic of Indonesia and then take a domestic flight to Manokwari - the capital of West Papua province. From this city, you can go to Numfor by airplane (20 minutes) or by ferry boat (5 hours).

Coral reef in Numfor is a marine environment that is high in bio-diversity. If you go snorkeling off the coastal area of this island, you will be able to see various species of fish, sea star and corals. Don't forget to bring your own snorkeling mask, fins, weights, and underwater camera if you want to explore the beauty of the underwater world of Numfor.
Another snorkeling spot near Numfor is the Manem islet. This tiny coral island is just one hour boat ride from Numfor. When the sea is calm and the weather is good, traveling to Manem islet is highly recommended.

If you are a person who likes land and forest more than the sea, then you will be able to watch various species of tropical birds in this island. From kingfisher to parrots and from blyth's hornbill to sea eagles, you can see them flying over you in the morning and in the afternoons.
Private Guided Tour
As a tour guide, I provide private guided tour services for you to explore the Numfor island that has got beautiful nature, and meet the indigenous Papuan people who have unique culture.
I also can escort you on a hiking trip to Arfak mountains of Manokwari regency where you can spend one or two nights camping in the jungle that is the natural habitat of the birds of paradise and cuscus possum. I will make sure that you will enjoy your trip with me in a more affordable cost. If you are interested, please contact me via email: peace4wp@gmail.com by Charles Roring
Related articles:
Mangrove Forest of Numfor island
Traveling to Numfor island

Pretty Rainforest Flowers

Here are some pretty flowers that I found in the rainforest while hiking with tourists. Unfortunately, I don't know their English and Latin names. If you know, please e-mail me. As a matter of fact, the main attraction that I offer to tourists who travel with me around the tropical rainforest in West Papua is not flower watching but bird and wildlife watching. There are a lot of birds and wild animals that are endemic to New Guinea that tourists like to see. Most often, when the tourists see beautiful flowers in the jungle, they will stop for a while to take some close up pictures using the macro setting of their cameras.
I shot the following rainforest flowers using Nikon Coolpix P500. The tropical rainforest in West Papua is rich of colorful flowers including orchids.

Saturday 12 May 2012 Update

Today I am able to identify the above flowers. After searching in Google for a few hours on the internet using such keywords as rainforest tree flowers, or tree flower from tropical rainforest, finally, I got several web-pages that provide its name. In Latin, it is called Spathodea campanulata whereas in English, it is called Fountain Tree, African Tulip Tree and Flame of the Forest. This flower tree can easily be seen when we go hiking in the low elevation forest around Manokwari. The height of this tree can reach up to 25 meters. I still have to find the names of the flowers below. 

Most of the flowers that I shot were not far from me but the pink ones on the third picture above were  hanging on a vine some 5 meters above my head on a slope under a big tree. I had to walk through shrubs, and thorny vines to shoot them. After nearly 15 minutes shooting those trumpet like flowers, I finally was able to shoot them using the super zoom feature of my Nikon P500 camera. The result was a little bit blurred because I was shooting them in low light condition. Nikon has improved the capability of its point and shoot camera by increasing the super telephoto capability to 42 x in its newest product the Nikon Coolpix P510. This bridge camera is suitable for anybody who is interested in taking pictures of distant subjects. I recommend the Nikon Coolpix P510 to you if you need compact superzoom camera. With its 42x optical zoom (equivalent to 1,000 mm in 35 mm lens format), the Nikon Coolpix P510 now is a bridge camera with the highest super zoom capability.  

If you are interested in seeing flowers in the tropical rainforest of West Papua, and need a guide to accompany you around, please, contact me via my email: peace4wp@gmail.com.

Related articles: 

• Flower Tour in Minahasa Highland
• Water Lily from Merauke's Swamp 
• Passion Flower

Snorkeling in Manokwari with ACI 2011 participants

A few days ago, I went snorkeling with some participants of ACI 2011 of Detik.com near Anggresi beach. They were Audrey, Diana, Suasti (trip coordinator), and Regi.

We went there at around 3 p.m. Manokwari time. The weather was not really good in Anggresi when we were going there by boat. Fortunately, it suddenly changed. The wind blew the clouds and the rain to the south. According to them the coral reef of Anggresi beach at the foot of Arfak mountains is not only worth snorkeling but scuba diving. They made a lot of pictures about this precious marine environment. Because each of the participants was required by detik.com to write at least 3 articles per day during their trip in West Papua, I think Manokwari and Raja Ampat will become more familiar in front of Indonesian people who know little about tourist destination in New Guinea.

Most of the tourists who visit Manokwari are from Europe, Australia and North America. Very few Indonesian tourists have come to enjoy snorkeling here. I hope that Regi, Audrey and Diana, through their articles that are posted in aci.detik.com, will be able to promote eco-tourism destination in Manokwari and Raja Ampat to readers of detik.com who are mostly Indonesian so that more domestic tourists will visit this tropical paradise. by Charles Roring
Related article:
Snorkeling along the shore off Arfak mountains
Snorkeling picture of marine fish from Manokwari bay

Traditional Dancers and Musicians from Numfor island of West Papua

I have just reviewed the photographs that I made in the past about my trip in Numfor island. I find some that look interesting.  The first one is the Papuan musicians who play their instruments to accompany the dancers. The second picture shows how the Papuan boys and girls were performing their traditional dance called Yospan. I made these pictures using Sony Cybershot DSC-W310, a pocket camera that tourists like to bring while traveling in foreign countries. This performance can be seen by tourists upon special arrangement with local dance club in Numfor island. The cost of one hour show is Rp. 500,000. Besides watching the traditional dance, tourists who go to Numfor island can enjoy swimming at many of the island's white sandy beaches and snorkeling over the coral reef that thrive around the island.

Flying from Manokwari city to Numfor island takes around 20 minutes. The passenger airplane operated by Susi air that takes you to this tropical island will land on a small airport in Yemburwo village. The price of the ticket is Rp. 260,000 not including the airport tax (Rp. 11,000), and the cost of transportation to airport which is Rp. 100,000. It is quite cheap if you compare to the rupiah - US dollars exchange rate that is around Rp. 8,600 for 1 US dollars. However, the cheapest way to go to Numfor is by ferry boat. You will have the chance to chat with local people, see their daily activities selling and buying fish and vegetables at Numfor harbor or even watching dolphins in the middle of the blue sea of Geelvink bay.
Numfor has been a favorite destination for tourists who are interested in bird watching. If you plan to make some birdwatching trips inside the tropical rainforest of the island, you need to bring a good telephoto digital camera. I recommend Nikon Coolpix P500, Canon Powershot SX30 IS or SX40 Is and Panasonic Lumix FZ100 and FZ150. Bringing digiscoping system devices and binoculars will make your birding trips more enjoyful because you can see such birds as kingfisher, dove, cockatoo, and lorry in close up look and with greater details. Fishermen catching fish along the shore of the island is also a nice attraction and worth watching.
While in Numfor, you can stay at a small "hotel"  called Losmen Indaismurem. The rate per person per night is Rp. 75,000. Before flying to Numfor island, you need to get a "surat jalan" or travel permit from the local police station in Manokwari city. Bring photocopy of your passport, visa and 2 pieces of face photographs. Numfor is a small tropical island located between Manokwari and Biak of West Papua.
If you need an interpreter to help you communicate with local people and guide you along your trip both in Manokwari and Numfor island, you can hire me. Please, contact me via my email peace4wp@gmail.com
Related posts:
Birdwatching in the tropical rainforest of Numfor island
Traveling to Numfor island and snorkeling in Manem islet
Mangrove forest in Numfor island
Tropical rainforest of Numfor island

Beautiful Fruit Dove from the rainforest of Manokwari

The lowland rainforest in Inggramui is a must see destination for anybody who is interested in bird watching. It is a three hour walk from Inggramui village in the sub-urban area of Manokwari city. When I guided Thomas and her daughter Sandra (two tourists from the Netherlands) to this forest area from 16 to 19 October 2011, we had a chance of seeing a dove from very close distance. I even held it in my hands. A trap made by Papuan hunters near a fruit tree had caught it. When the hunters told us that they had just got this dove, we had just returned to Camp 1 after walking for a few hours from Camp 2 that was located deep in the jungle of the north coast region of Manokwari.

Beautiful Fruit Dove

I immediately called Sandra if she was interested in taking some pictures of this beautiful bird. She came with her Nikon D4 - a small D-SLR camera that was light - suitable for travelers who like walking in the jungle and do not want to carry heavy photographic devices. I shot the bird using my Nikon Coolpix P500.

During our tours in the rainforest of Arfak mountains and the North Coast of Manokwari, I brought with me a copy of Birds of New Guinea - a very good book written by Beehler and Zimmerman. We opened the book and got some information about this fruit dove. Its name was Beautiful Fruit Dove. In Latin, it was called Ptilinopus pulchellus. The bird had pink cap on her head. Sandra released the bird at a river near our Camp. Fruit doves, birds of paradise, cockatoos, hornbills and various other birds in this mountain range help trees by dispersing their seeds thus expanding their growth coverage area in the rainforest.

The eco-tour to rainforest of Inggramui village in Manokwari that I am now promoting will help provide alternative jobs to hunters that are more friendly to the environment. If more tourists visit this rainforest, we can effectively preserve this precious environment and raise the awareness of the Papuan people that they can still survive in this modern world without having to irresponsibly exploit the wood from their rainforest or catch wild animals for trading.

Basecamp in the forest of West Papua

Recommended Bird Watching Destinations in Manokwari
In addition to the rainforest of Inggramui, other wildlife watching destinations that I recommend to tourists are District Senopi, lowland rainforest of Arfak mountains and Numfor island.
Optical Devices that you need for bird watching
If you want to travel to Manokwari for watching birds, don't forget to bring binoculars, telephoto camera or if possible a powerful digiscoping device. Also prepare some plastic sheets or bags to cover your equipment during rainy days.
Why rainforest in Inggramui is highly recommended for birding
I can say that when you travel to the rainforest of Inggramui, you will see a lot of birds that are endemic to New Guinea island - the largest tropical island in the world. I have been trying to convert local hunters to become wildlife guide. Since they are expert in catching animals, they can still set up traps to catch the animals but after shooting them with digital cameras and making scientific identification of the wild animals, tourists can have them released to their natural habitat again. We all know that tropical rainforest is a very important ecosystem that effectively absorbs CO2 gases that we emit every day. Thus the preservation of the rainforest through eco-tour program that I am now promoting in Manokwari regency of West Papua will give positive contribution in fighting global warming. Because this eco-tourism program heavily depends on the visitation of tourists, anyone who is willing to visit our rainforest and gives some financial contribution to the creation of jobs for these hunters will always be welcomed. For further information about traveling in Manokwari, please contact me via my email: peace4wp@gmail.com. by Charles Roring

Post Update 25 Nov 2019
I don't offer camping and birding tours to this forest anymore.
Also read:
Beautiful Fruit Dove in Raja Ampat
Converting hunters to birding and wildlife guides
Rainforest flowers in Inggramui village of Manokwari
Rainforest insects in Inggramui village of Manokwari