Birds of Paradise in the Arfak Mountains | How To Guide (West Papua)
Just getting to the Arfak Mountains can be it's own adventure. From the very first moment of deciding to go, the difficulty of executing of such a trip presents itself. I could talk about all of the red tape around going to the province of West Papua in the first place, but I'd rather focus on how to see birds of paradise once you've landed there. The first thing you need is an official surat jalan or travel permit.
Supposedly you can go to most major cities in Papua without one of these. Flying into provincial capital cities such as Jayapura or Manokwari (the place I landed and the city where you'll need to be to get to Arfak) are perfectly ok. I've heard that other major cities, like Sorong and Fak fak, are also places where surat jalans aren't necessary. However, if you want to take even a single step outside of these cities, you'll need a surat jalan.
You can touch down anywhere in West Papua, but ultimately you'll need to get a flight to Manokwari. Once there, you'll need to hail down an ojek, one of these motorcycle taxis, and have them take you to the kantor polisi or police station. You'll recognize the ojeks by their bright yellow helmets. There are several police stations around Manokwari since this city, like the entire region of West Papua, is heavily packed with police and soldiers due to past liberation/resistance conflict. You'll want the ojek to bring you specifically to the one on Jalan Bhayangkhara. It's open between the hours of 9am-5pm.
Have an ojek take you to the police station.
The ojek brought me to another police station before getting to the right one, so you'll need to specify from the beginning and have them get directions from passersby if they aren't sure how to get there. Most ojeks should know though.
This is police station where you will get your surat jalan. It’s the only place to get one in town.
That police officer statue scared the crap out of me. It looks way too real! Let it be one of your confirmation landmarks.
When I entered the station, I was sent right away to the regional administrator that handles this. There generally isn't any waiting time since few travels ever make there way to the region. The administrator will question you and then tell you not to engage in any politically oriented for a few minutes before working on your permit. Aware that there was a linguistics conference and workshop held in Manokwari that week, his questions to me mainly aimed to expose a "research agenda" in Arfak. Are you doing RESEARCH on the Arfak language? Are you doing RESEARCH on the birds of paradise? I let him know that I wasn't conducting any research in Arfak and right away he printed, signed, stamped my letter, and I was out. The whole process takes about 20 minutes tops.
This is the surat jalan or ‘travel letter’ that you’ll need before heading to Arfak.
After getting my letter, I had the ojek take me over to Terminal Wosi where I'd ask around about public transportation to Arfak. Most people waiting for the taxis there had no idea and directed me to the chartered vehicles. I talked to the drivers of the chartered vehicles and after getting past their solicitations, I confirmed that there were public vehicles that make the trip to Arfak. Supposedly, all public vehicles usually leave in the early morning, so showed up the next around a quarter to 7am.
I entered Terminal Wosi and went to the open bus counter to see if this was where I would get transportation to Arfak. I told them that I was heading to Syiobri, small village on the road to Mokwam, where I would meet Zeth Wonggor, a really well-known guide for birds of paradise. Zeth is a legend in Manokwari. Almost everyone to whom I mentioned his name had heard of him. Most people had never actually met him, but were very familiar with his celebrity reputation as a first-class Arfak guide. I was initially directed to buy a bus ticket. Then it came to the attention of one the people at the counter that the bus wasn't going to Syiobri, so they refunded my money and sent me over to the taxis. One taxi driver said he was going to Syobri, but it turned out he would only make the trip to Warmare where I would have to get a get a ranger, a huge four-wheel driver pick-up truck, to Syobri. I found out that taxis never make the trip to Arfak, because they can't function on the terrain. Only rangers can take you to remote areas in the mountains.
By the time we arrived in Warmare, all public rangers where gone and only chartered vehicles where left. I wasn't willing to pay 1 million rupiah (about $86 US dollars) so I had the taxi driver take me back to Manokwari. That taxi ride, since I was the sole passenger on the way over to Warmare cost was expensive. I paid 300,000 rupiah ($26) and I lost a day. But it wasn't a complete loss. On the way back to Manokwari, we picked a few passengers, one of which was Zeth Wonggor's brother. He told me that he was headed to Syiobri the next day and that he'd help me get there. He said to be at the Pasar Wosi, "Wosi Market," at 3:30am if I wanted to get a public ranger to Arfak.
This is Terminal Wosi which is filled with ‘taxis,’ the vehicles that you see in the image above. This is NOT the place for public transportation to Arfak.
Since there were no ojeks at 3 in the morning, I paid a friend to bring me to Pasar Wosi. I sat there in the dark and waited for a half hour with not even the remotest sight of life beside a random, wandering pig that passed us by when we got there. Zeth's brother who was supposed to meet me was no where to be found.
I went home for a while and returned around 7am. The city was waking up as school kids in uniform were walking and riding off to school. Shops, gasoline stalls, and warung sidewalk cafés began to open. I enter a warung and had some breakfast. After breakfast, I met Zeth's brother and we stood around waiting for the rangers.
This is the area where you’ll wait for public ‘rangers’ headed to Arfak. It’s a few feet beyond the ‘Pasar Wosi’ within that yellow-gated property there.
This is how the Rangers look. Most of the trucks in the area will be for charter, but a few will be public. You’ll have to ask around a bit to confirm where they are, but this is the general area.
The public rangers have to come through this area for the day’s gas, so you should except to see them at some point in the early morning.
After the rangers finally arrived, we waited for them to take off. We waited...and waited...and waited...and waited some more, until I was so excruciatingly bored that I decided to take a walk through the Pasar Wosi.
Waiting for the public rangers to head out.
Again, these are ‘taxis.’ You do NOT want to take this form of transportation as it is IMPOSSIBLE for these vehicles to make it up the mountains.
To the right side there, you have the area where the drivers for chartered vehicle wait for customers.
Hanging out with the chartered drivers.
Visit Pasar Wosi “Wosi Market” while you wait (because you might be there for hours!)
This is one of the few places in Indonesia where you’ll see pigs freely running around the market.
Grab some street lunch before heading out on your journey.
Lots of friendly locals around the market.
Hanging out at the Pasar.
After 4 hours of waiting around, we were finally on the road to Arfak. Normally you can expect to pay 100,000 rupiah ($8.60), but since there were fewer than the normal amount of passengers--they usually require 8 passengers since the driver needs to make at least 800,000 rupiah one way--we paid rp 150,000 ($13). Since Zeth's brother was to show me the way to Syiobri, I paid his way as well.
The trip takes about 1 ½-2 hours. It's about an hour to Arfak from Manokwari and then 30-45 minutes from the foot of the mountain to Syiobri. While driving to Arfak, you're immediately immersed in the natural wonderland of New Guinea, glimpses of hidden waterfalls and forest covered mountains, lightly blanketed with misty clouds.
Finally, around midday, we headed out for Arfak.
Along the winding roads of Arfak.
Should we take the bridge across the river?
Nope! The bridge isn’t completed yet.
When you get to Syiobri, you’ll pass this church on the path toward Zeth Wonggor’s house.
This is Zeth Wonggor’s house.
Zeth Wonggor is a highly experienced bird-watching guide. Information for contacting Zeth is below.
Once you’ve met Zeth, you can finally settle in to Syiobri. YOU’VE MADE IT!
Although I lost the day before and then spent most of that day waiting around, the wait was well worth it. Just the awareness of being in Arfak, being in the highlands of New Guinea is an overwhelmingly joyful experience. The mystical mountains and lively and life full green forests take your breath away and then give it back again as a pure, cool, crisp air and spirit that only these remote, ancient forests could provide.
Making it to Arfak was a milestone in my travel life experience. At this point, I’d crossed over to another level of travel. I wouldn’t say that I’m a pro, but this was well-beyond my “book a hostel at hostel.com for Venice” days. To clarify, you do not have to be a pro traveler to make this trip. With some competence in Indonesian, a week or two getting to understand how the region works (because Indonesia is vast and each region is very different!), and a bit of an “I’m unstoppable” attitude, you can make your own exploratory voyage into those remote and ancient lands that are home to the world’s most magnificent wildlife treasures.
Cost Breakdown of Trip to Arfak
(Indonesian Rupiah to US Dollar @ rp11,200 - 1USD, Year 2014)
Accommodations: rp 100, 000 ($8.50) - Per Day | Activities: rp 250,000 ($23.50) - Half Day; rp 500,000 ($47.00) - Full Day | Food: Bring Your Own | Souvenirs: rp 40,000 ($3.75) - Hatam Bow and Arrow; rp 80,000 ($7.50) - Hatam Language Bible | Transportation (One-Way) : rp 100,000 ($8.50) - Public Rangers; rp 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 ($94 - 141) - Chartered Rangers
***Extra Planning Notes: For Chartered Transportation, one driver you may contact ahead of time is Aco at 081248566111.
Zeth Wonggor is a highly experienced bird-watching guide. He has had knowledge of the birds of the area since childhood. He has been in the bird-watching business formally for over 20 years. Zeth has worked with world-class naturalists such as Sir David Attenborough as well as internationally renown wildlife photographer and Harvard rain forest biologist Tim Laman. He has been featured in a number of wildlife documentaries on BBC and German TV programming. Through his work in ecotourism, Zeth is played an indispensable role in the bio-diversity conservation activities in the Vogelkop Mountain Rain Forest Ecoregion and in Syioubri community building efforts. He has guided tourists from all over the world (including USA, France, Germany, China, Japan, India, Korea, the Netherlands, UK, and many more). If you wish to contact Zeth, his mobile phone number is 085254053754. Phone service is scarce in Syiobri so it is best to send a text and expect a response within a day or two. You can also go directly to Syiobri and reach him there in person. For more information, watch Zeth Wonggor's video clip below or see other web resources.