Western half of New Guinea is belong to Indonesia country as we called Papua province (formerly Irian Jaya) with about 75 percent is covered with tropical forests. In February of 2003 Government created new Province namely West Irian Jaya and was renamed West Papua in February 2007. Papua province has capital city of Jayapura and West Papua is Manokwari. Since Government made to be two provinces, it makes more development of business and economy while for our cultures and community life nothing changed. Papua and West Papua is a last frontier for travel among unique cultures that have had a little influenced by western people. The indigenous people of Irian Jaya are Melanesians with black skins and curly hair. They generally have a root crop subsistence agriculture based on sweet potatoes and taro, while people in the lowlands and swamps obtain their starch from sago palm which gives an extremely generous yield for remarkably little effort. While many other people of the world were still hunter and gatherers, local people had begun to garden. After fairly recently, many of the people lived within simple stone age culture wearing little clothing and decorating their bodies with paintings, shells, pig tusks, feathers and skins. Some places and tribes are interest to visiting in highland and lowland.
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Last edited Dec 14, 09 8:23 PM.
Contributors: Papua M.
Visit Merauke's clean beaches for free, they don't ask for retribution fee or anything. But the gazebos on the beach usually belong to someone and they'll charge you for using it. There is no specific rate for this, so use your bargaining skill.
They sell shrimps, crabs, and fishes along the way to the beach. They don't use scales, the shrimps/crabs/fishes are packed inside rugs, n they sell it per rug. Just ask for the price and use your bargaining skill if needed.
There are a lot of beach: Lampu Satu, Urumb, Nasai, Payum
In the centre of the town, you can find Pepera Statue (Penentuan Pendapat Rakyat / People Free Act of Choice).
You can also visit Wasur National Park, about 2 hours from the central district. Here you can go fishing and swimming. You can also find unique plants like Papua orchids and Kantung Semar. Don't forget to take pictures beside the enormous Ants' Nests (but please don't damage it or carve anything on it).
Merauke is famous because it is the borderline of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. So visit Sota District, where the borderline lies. It is about 1 hour from Wasur. For your safety, it is recommended to go in a group of cars when you go to Sota, because there is no mobile phone signal, the road is long, and other cars rarely pass by. If there's a trouble with your car, people in the other car in the group can go and seek for help.
Try exotic foods while you're in Merauke. There are shops which sell deer dendeng (dendeng means dried meat). Ask the seller how to prepare it. Kangaroo's tail is also recommended. Look for buntut saham (buntut = tail, saham = kangaroo) in the traditional market.
When you decided to visit Merauke (and any other cities/towns in Papua), be sure to take malaria prophylaxis. Many areas in Papua have Chloroquine-resistant malarias, so inform your doctor about your destination well. Don't forget to bring mosquito repellant too.
Gw ke Wamena udah lama bgt, klo ga salah bulan Juni 2004. Wamena itu klo ga salah satu2nya tempat di papua yang masyarakatnya masih pake koteka (utk yg cowo), untuk yg cewe telanjang dada aja,, sama pake rok dr daun2...Tempatnya dingiiinn soalnya emang di dataran tinggi. Waktu itu kita ke rumah penduduk asli sana. Nama rumahnya tuh Honai. Rumahnya dari jerami2 gitu, bentuknya agak bulet. Disitu ada beberapa honai yang berdekatan. menuju ksitu kita sempet jalan dulu, jadi agak ditengah2 gitu deh. Tempat yang gw kunjungi itu bukan komunitas kayak RT atau RW tapi semacam sebuah kluarga besar. Jadi yang suami bisa punya 20 istri!!! Nah yang rajin kerja tuh istri2nya. Jadi bisa kebayang kan kalo dr satu istri ada dua ato tiga anak ramenya gimana kalo dikaliin 20 istri!!! Trus disana babi tuh berharga bgt deh...apalagi anak babi....ampe dikasih ASI manusia segala.. yang anak manusia beneran aja ga di-treat segitunya. Saran gw adalah,,, siap2 nahan bau krn mereka itu jarang mandi. Trus siapin duit buat dikasih ke mereka krn mereka matre juga loh, suka minta duit. dan tau aja lagi klo rupiah yg nominalnya tinggi itu yang biru2... wkt itu bokap gw ngasih 50ribu ke mrk(klo ga salah wkt itu blum ada 100ribu yg merah deh). Trus mereka suka nawarin barang bikinan mereka sendiri kayak gelang, kalung, kipas, tas, mahkota dr bulu ayam yg smuanya angat2 etnik tp dijualnya mahal bgt! jd klo lo emang ga tertarik utk beli mendingan tolak halus tp tegas drpada mrk kecewa..
You can reach Babo from Sorong by air or by sea. First option, fly with Deraya Air on Monday, Thursday and Friday. Ticket fare is Rp. 1.200.000,- It takes abour 1 hour flight. Second option is not recomended as it takes about 18 hours on sea. Although the cost is cheap, only Rp. 200.000,- from Sorong to Babo, and additional Rp. 400.000,- for room on ship deck.
