"Small city of Sentani" a Danau Sentani Travel Page by Glorija

This region is a beautifully dramatic introduction to Papua. A huge wall of vegetation called the Cyclops sits majestically above Lake Sentani and makes for a stunning backdrop to the clear waters.

The port city of Jayapura sits on the coast and has a population of around 250,000 including many people from other parts of the Indonesian archipelago. It is not an unattractive city and you will find museums, hotels, an assortment of restaurants, banks and markets for shopping. From Jayapura it is easy to take guided overnight treks to primitive villages and it is a 45-minute flight to Wamena, the main town of the famed Baliem Valley.

Just out of Sentani, a paved road winds upward for 6 kilometers and climbs to Mount Ifar in the Cyclops Mountains. At Ifar stands a monument to general MacArthur, whose headquarters were located here. The site overlooks the humid lowlands and offers a splendid view of the lake. Local lore states that while gazing out over island-strewn Lake Sentani, MacArthur conceived his famous island-hopping strategy in the Pacific.

At several places on the shores of Lake Sentani, you can arrange to rent an outboard-powered dogout ($10-$15 per hour) to visit the island villages or just ride arround the lake. While there are regular services, it’s better to charter one of these outboard-powered canoes, if you can afford it. Some are magnificent craft, hollewed out from a single, huge trunk. Many have painted or carved motifs in the old Sentani style (Sentani was formerly one of West Papua’s great art centers). One of the canoes, with a raised human figure in s stylized background, should belong to a museum.
If you rent a boat, ask to be taken to Ayapo Island, where crafsmen make bark cloth paintings and sculptures in the traditional style. Or just ride around for an hour or two and take pictures of the hills disappearing into the water at the foot of the Cyclops Mountains. It is safe to swim in the lake. If there are any crocodiles left, they are concentrated around the more remote shores where there are no buzzing motors.

Women do most of the fishing here, and the men work the sago palm and fish only occasionally. The men’s canoes are more rounded than the women’s and more difficult to balance in. don’t take your camera if you want to try one of the canoes by yourself.

Occasionally one of the boys from the Yougwa Restaurant on the shores of the lake uses scuba equipment to spear fish here. The lake is said to reach depths of over 100 meters. One diver said that visibility id so bad that you have to be almost touching the fish before spearing them. He also tells of some men with ilmu, or “esoteric knowledge,” who dive without any equipment, stay underwater for three days and bring back a huge catch.