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Many people were asking at e.g. Lonely Planet forum how to organise
boat for cruising around Raja Ampat independently and whether that is
possible at all, so I
will write about our experience here.
The boats that can be hired in Sorong are esentially fishing boats.
They do not wait there for tourist passanger, they are used for
fishing. There usually have some covered sleeping area for usual
crew
of 4-8 people, but of very different sizes and comfort. Sorong probably
has not 1 central port. There are several small fishing ports and then
river where many boats are parked near owners houses. After we visited
the port where public boat leaves for Waisai and 2 other fishing ports
without much success, during maybe 5 hours, we were eventually
very
lucky to find very suitable fishing boat along the river. Rifai,
the
owner even spoke very good English. Rifai is reliable, flexible and
keeps his word.
You will probably want to go to Wayag archipelago and be able to sleep
on the boat as well. For this you need boat at least about 15 meters
long. At the time we were there, such boats could be found in Sorong,
but not in Waisai. These bigger boats usually have built in diesel
engines and diesel is more economical than gas used for outboards
(lower rotation speed, consumes less fuel). All diesel needs to be
brought from Sorong as people in small villages in Raja Ampat own and
use outboards for gas, so only gas can be bought there. It is better to
buy much more than necessary needed and fair boat owner should deduct
price for not used fuel after trip ends.It is very good to take small
wooden canoe with gas outboard for approaching beaches conveniently and
for going around small islands and channels. We had such boat (maybe 5m
long) that was tied on the rope all the time behind our big boat, no
problem with that.
We agreed one day in the evening about price etc., there was one day
whole for shopping, getting fuel and boat preparatin and next day
before noon we were leaving Sorong. During the preparation day, when we
went shopping for food for 17 days for 6 of us and 4 of crew, RifaI
managed to arrange wooden deck to be made on the originally fishing
boat, so that we had superb place maybe 3.5x3.5m where to lie and
sleep. This place was covered strong plastic tarp to protect again sun
and rain. The only orignal covered place located above the engine room
was left to store our backpacks and for the crew to sleep. We even had
even fridge on the boat, powed by electricity from separate small gas
engine for maybe 3 hours a day.
So this fishing boat was a bit upgraded towards boat for people and
Rifai wants to use the boat for tourist trips in future. The only
thing the boat was missing was decent ladder in order to climb to the
boat right from water. We somehow forgot this before we started and the
crew later adjusted some other ladder on the boat, but it was still
very difficult to climb up. But climbing up from or over the wooden
canoe was easy. Next time we would recommend that the cook will be
present for shopping, so he has what he needs. Most of the time we had
just plain rice, fried rice or rice with noodles, often with some chili
sauce and often fresh grilled fish ??? when crew caught it, we or crew
speared it or we bought it. The cook was not bad but I think he could
do more if he had been shopping with us.
Our crew consisted of captain, cook, engine man and cook/general
asistant. Rifai was not coming with us. The crew speaks Indonesian
only. I mention our setup for our boat here, as I expect similar setup
could be used for many similar fishing boats. And as Rifai and his boat
and crew were very good in Papuan standards, I expect some people to
take the same boat in near future.
Indonesian is easy language and one can learn enough for daily
communication on the boat e.g. from Pimsleur Indonesian Audio Course or
Learning Indonesian audio course as me. We were surprised how friendly
both Indonesians and Papuan were. We as tourists were point of
attention in good sense constantly and even more modern Indonesians and
Papuans often took photos of us with them, usually using their
smartphones. And even in Sorong.
For our 17 days stay, we paid approximatly 20 milion IDR for boat with
crew plus about 4.8 milion IDR for 3x200 liter of diesel (1 liter cost
about 8000 IDR, we started with 4x200 liters but consumed and paid only
600 liters). Plus we consumed a lot of gas for the small 15hp outboard
and electricity generator (price of gas was I think 12 000 IDR per
liter in Sorong and a bit more in shops and villages around Raja
Ampat), so maybe 1.5-2 milon IDR for gas. We spent maybe 8 milion IDR
for food for us and crew (but maybe half of that was for not necessary
stuff like beer and coke as we had the fridge ...). The total was
about 3300 usd, so about 550 usd per person. Given the prices in Papua,
I consider this very good price.
Our captain new bigger islands in Raja Ampat and how to navigate there,
but Garmin GPS with Garmin Blue Chart marine map for Papua area was
very usefull. The printed Dutch map for Raja Ampat area was also very
usefull for overall planning and for explaining to the captain, where
we wanted to go. The captain was basically willing to go anywhere we
wanted. The exception was Wayag, the gem of Raja Ampat, that was closed
by local villagers at the time we were there. The cause was probably
some dispute about compensation between local people that had widely
recognised fishing rights there and local government that wanted them
to stop fishing there.
I don???t know whether diving liveboards (that I think don???t stop at
villages and dive often a bit off the islands) went there at this time.
But our boat with local captain stopped at villages often and when we
said we were going to Wayag they insisted that Wayag was closed. We
eventually went there during night. When we appeared in the main bay in
the morning, first noone was there, so we managed to go around in the
small boat and find place where the trail up the the ridge starts. I
can???t understand how the trail to such gorgeous viewpoint can start
at
sign saying ???trail prohibited??? or something like that, but at least
we
found the trail by accident this way.
After some swimming around, some local (but not official) person
appeared in boat, reminding strongly to our captain, that Wayag was
closed. So we spent less than 1 day in Wayag. But we were lucky go
there at all in this situation and even find path up to the ridge for
viewpoint. Note that the path was steep with sharp rocks and should be
undertaken in good sandals or preferably light trekking shoes. But the
viewpoint was worth all the effort as it enables you to view Wayag like
the famous promotional pictures from airplane ??? something that was
possibly the reason for many people to come to Raja Ampat in first
place.
No one required surat jalan in Raja Ampat, although in theory one
should have it. We got one easily within 2 hours in Sorong at district
police station later for the following trip to Baliem Valley. I think
that such very officially looking piece of paper might possibly had
helped us to get to Wayag (or stay there longer) if we had if for Rajam
Ampat with Wayag written on. I think Wayag was not oficially closed by
govenment of Papua or even local government of Raja Ampat, but by local
villagers only.
If one wants to go diving at some dive resort or just to go by boat to
Wayag, so called Raja Ampat PIN is needed, for 500 000 IDR (will be 1
000 000 in future). It is easiest to buy this in Meridian Hotel in
Sorong. Other option is Waisai. It is a pity, that it is not possible
to rent diving equipment with portable air comressor and a guide for
several days in Sorong or Raja Ampat as boat such ours could serve as
simlple budget diving liveaboard. Diving in Raja Ampat resorts cost us
about 80 usd per dive including equipment rental, much more than
elsewhere in Indonesia. And you are lucky to get the opportunity to
dive in the resorts at all, as they are full with their accomodated
diving guests most of the time and do not have diving capacity for non
guests. We visited several resorts on the way and eventually dived with
Swiss run Raja4Divers as they were both available and friendly to us.
It is probable, that when you just appear there at resort and want to
dive same or next day, they will have no capacity.
We had maybe 500 liters water tank on the boat. And we refilled it once
in a locally well known refill place near just before The passage when
comming from the east. It is originally stream from jungle and some
person probably built hut and jetty and collects some money there
already.
In Sorong, we stayed in medium expensive Belagri hotel (about 500 000
IDR room), after we tried others from LP guide, that were full. Tho
hotel was very nice and wifi was working even in rooms (working wifi
was theory but not reality in many other hotels). There was quite big
hotel (so should have room most of the time) just next to Belagri, we
have not tried it and this was for about 350 000 IDR room.
Usefull
contacts and GPS coordinates
Phone number for Rifai is 0062 823 99823093
Place in Sorong where boat stays next to house of Rifai
0??53'23.10"S 131??16'55.73"E
Bay in Fam 0??32'57.62"S 130??26'14.41"E
They seemed to build some house or small resort there.
Start of path for Bird of Paradise watching 0??29'20.01"S
130??40'16.29"E
The shelter used as watching place is about 20 min by easy trail. It is
possible to do independently as it does not start exactly from village.
But it might be better with guide at leasst for the first time as the
birds are not exacly close, it is not like BBC or NG documentary at all
and one does might not know what to look for in the distance.
Approximate map of our Raja Ampat trip as I remember it
Some interesting
points in Gam island area
Route from gps in
Google Maps
Large map
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We did just quick 6 day visit, that was focused on 4 day
trek from Lake Habema to Ibele village. I have not found any
gps tracklog for this, so we went with guide (Cosman that is mentioned
in LP
guide, he is very good and reliable) and 4 porters. I am still not used
to guide and
porters, but when one pays for, guide already (500 000 IDR per day,
almost 50 USD), the porters come quite cheap (150 000 IDR per day,
almost 15 USD). They were friendly and amusing bunch of Papuans
from Lani tribe
(together with
Cosman). Cosman speaks English, porters not. For me it was difficult
to
comunicate with porters in my basic Indonesian. So may original plan to
take
porters only to show us the way would not be practical.
There is now completely sealed
pretty road from Wamena to Lake Habema. But
they still asked crazy 3 000 000 IDR (as written in LP guidebook) for
4WD pickup
to go there (one way takes about 2 hrs). I hope this will change in
future, normal car could do it as
well. And
normal car costs not more than 1 000 000 IDR for whole day when rented
with driver for going around villages in Baliem valley.
We spent
half day walking around lake Habema, so the actual Habema to Ibele trek
took usd 3 days,
walking approximately 5-6 hrs a day. I think it is impossible to do
this trek
intependently without help of gps coordinates at least for the
starting point that is about 1 hr walk before Habema when
approaching from Wamena. There is no sign there and the trail is not
much visible here. On the
way, the trail goes steeply down by stream sometimes and it is not much
visible as well, but it
would still be possible to follow it independently if one really
wanted.
There were open shelters with
roof at Habema lake, good for putting tent inside, plus one closed
hut good for Papuans who make fire (but ok for up to 10 people to sleep
on the ground). After
Habema, the first night is usually in a hut in the jungle. The hut is
quite spacy even for
small group with porters (up to 10 people together). But as Papuans
here do fire inside with a lot of
smoke, it is as always better to sleep in a tent next to the hut.
Second night
was spent in very nice house of probably local teacher in some village
on the
way. The first village on the way for the second trekking day appeared
sometime around noon, but it was still maybe 3 hrs to the village with
school where we slept. From here, it is vey good path, even a bit
boring in the end, to Ibele. Shared cars wait near road here to go to
Wamana for 10 000 IDR per person only. It
is not necessary to take trekking poles for this trek from home as this
is jungle and good walking sticks can be
made easily. For me, it would be very difficult to do this short trek
without
a stick.
Times are changing and there are
not much naked Papuans with
kotekas waking around Baliem nowadays. But we could still see one or
two at the big Jibama market near Wamena and they did not seem to be
there for tourists. The individualsin Wamena itself are there for
tourists to be photographed for money usually. And some individuals
could be met
walking along the car road connecting Baliem valley villages, obviously
on it???s own way, not being there for
tourists.
Maybe in 10 years from now only the few that are there for
tourists in Wamena (and of course Jiwika) will remain in Baliem valley.
In
Wamena, we stayed in Pilamo hotel, one of the best, although more
expensive
(about 700 000 IDR for 3 people. It was level above anything
else we visited on the way to find reasonable hotel in Wamena. It
is necessary to have surat jalan permit listing this trek route. But it
was checked in Napua road post, outside Wamena only.
Usefull gps
coordinates
Start of walk to Habema lake, finish by car here 4?? 7'45.18"S
138??40'54.19"E
Shelters above Habema lake (our night 1) 4?? 7'51.41"S
138??40'27.83"E
Place at the car road where trail into jungle starts 4??
8'0.17"S 138??42'48.35"E
Shelter in the jungle where we slept (our night 2) 4?? 6'26.54"S
138??43'17.16"E
School where we slept in the house next to it (our night 3) 4??
4'7.59"S
130??26'14.41"E
Baliem valley tourist map
Route
from gps in Google Maps
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Papua
- Whale sharks in
Cenderawasih bay near
Nabire
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Snorkelling with about whale sharks that have around 6 meters and can
be touched easily (although I know they write everywhere that this
should not be done, but they have such good feeling skin ...) is the
(only?) highlight of coming to Nabire. We found a boat after
maybe 2 hours of asking for it. But we did not have such luck as in
Sorong. The boat was quite long, but not very stable. It was quited
expensive. For 3 days trip, people were asking 10 000 000 IDR (compare
to our Raja Ampat deal ...) including fuel and possibly food. We
finally agreed on 7 000 000 as it was evening already and we did not
want to loose 1 days out of out 3 full days for whale shark trip.
They offered as just a bit lower offer for just dropping us in
Kwatisore, but we would be at mercy of few small boats there, not good
offer at all. According to LP guidebook, travel agencies want similar
sum even for 1 person.
The whale sharks come to fishing boats or platforms known as bagans in
Indonesian. They like to eat some very small fish the fishermen from
bagans give them. The nearest bagans to Nabire are near Kwatisore
village. We did the mistake of not having Kwatisore and it's bay
written in surat jalan permit. Because of this they asked for some
money in Kwatisore, but it was not much. Kwatisore is maybe 3 hrs by
boat from Nabire. There were maybe 10 bagans near Kwatisore. The whale
sharks are not all the time there. But I think that if they come to
some bagan, they can stay up to several hours there, if the fishermen
feed them a bit. Ideally, the fishermen should have small radios to
announce if they have whale sharks, if they wanted to do proper tourist
attraction from this. But they don't have it of course.
We had good luck to meet the out first (and only) whale sharks right
during the first day. Later, we had bad luck to break both propellers
of our boat at night anchoring site during storm. The crew did find
some replacement propeller at some bagan, but not ideal, the boat was
slower and they wanted to go back to Nabire immediately. So we cut the
originally agreed sum of money and visited a few bagans on the way back
to Nabire during our second day on the boat. But we did not have
luck for whale sharks again. The third day was spend nice beach spot
about 30 km from Nabire.
The area of whalesharks near Kwatisore seems to be already inside
Cenderawasih National Park. But this park does not have office in
Nabire I think and even requires rangers to accompany boats.
Fortunatelly no one asked about any entrance permit etc.
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