"West Papua" Papua Province by EdVallance

Papua Province Travel Guide: 177 reviews and 351 photos

Introduction

Papua, or Irian Jaya as it was formerly known, or West Papua as Papuan separatists call it, is Indonesia's Easternmost and poorest province. It takes up the Western half of the island of New Guinea, the Eastern half being the independent nation of Papua New Guinea. West Papua's inhabitants are utterly different from Indonesians, both ethnically, linguistically and in terms of religion. Whereas Indonesians look South-East Asian, Papuans look more like Africans. The province has hundreds of distinct languages which evolved separately from one another due to the impenentrable mountains and rainforest separating groups of people from their neighbours.

Papua became part of Indonesia back in the 1960s and many Papuans are still very unhappy about this, particularly because of the fact that the Indonesian government earns vast amounts of money from extracting Papua's natural resources, but feeds very little of it back into the province. Despite this underlying unrest that is present in many areas, Papuans are among the friendliest people I have ever come across. Even in the towns people would stop and talk to me in the street, invite me to their house or offer to show me around the town for free.

There are almost no roads anywhere in the country, so travel is largely by walking, boat or, if you can afford it, chartering missionary planes. However, the difficulties associated with travel in the region have also meant that many areas have remained completely untouched by tourism. In remoter areas, every time I arrived in a village, the entire village would come out and stand around me in a circle, laughing and staring. Although a bit daunting at first, the sheer warmth and big-heartedness of the people soon helped me feel completely at home.

Note - any mention of costs on this page is valid for June and July 2007 but not later.

Click here for more advice on Independent travel in Papua

Intro Updated Dec 24, 2011
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Reviews (24)

Chopping off fingers Local Customs (4)

IT used to be the custom to chop off a joint of a finger or part of the ear when a relative died. Due to the heavey... more travel advice

Kosarek Off The Beaten Path (8)

A missionary outpost on the edge of the Yalimo and Mek territory. It could take anything from 1 - 6 days to get here... more travel advice

Nipsan Off The Beaten Path (8)

A missionary outpost further east than Kosarek. The people here are Mek. The terrain between Angguruk and here is pretty... more travel advice

Angguruk Off The Beaten Path (8)

A missionary outpost and the biggest settlement in the Yalimo. The people are wonderful and the scenery is, as usual,... more travel advice

Transportation (1)
Bemos, ojeks and becaks
Hotels (2)
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Comments (6)

Ronaldkabak Mar 18, 2012 at 10:33 AM Report Abuse

Hallo, Eddy! Terima kasih untuk deskripsi yoru dari yali papua terpencil!
selamat ya buat pa Eddy.
edachsund May 7, 2008 at 6:06 PM Report Abuse

Hi, your narrative simple and the picture added is even more interesting. I guess your off the beaten path is awesome. I might want to visit there some day. Anyway, excellent write up! I like it.
h4pp1 Apr 2, 2008 at 9:35 PM Report Abuse

saya baik-2 edi, wow.......what a great n a cophrehenssion tips.......bravo!!!
hunwagner Apr 2, 2008 at 9:28 PM Report Abuse

Nice one with fine photos. However perhaps you should add a note to prices saying when they were valid as inflation in Papua is high.
black_mimi99 Apr 2, 2008 at 6:11 AM Report Abuse

Tres Bien Edi..... j'aime des photos.... ^_^
hunterV Mar 22, 2008 at 2:22 AM Report Abuse

Hello, Eddy! Thanks for yorru description of those remote places!