Short Hiking and Sightseeing Tour to Table Mountain

Damaged Road through the jungle of Table Mountains.

I used to guide a German lady to Table Mountain and Mansinam island of Manokwari on a 2-day hiking and sightseeing trip. On the first day, we visited the Table Mountain and saw a lot of green plants, and insects along the road to Japanese World War II Memorial Monument. We visited the forest early in the morning at around 08.00. There were a lot of plastic wastes everywhere inside the area of the monument. We were sad to see them and decided to collect some of them and put them on one place.

In morning time animals in the forest were quite active. Small butterflies were flying around to find nectar in wild flowers, birds were singing in high trees. Spiders were knitting their webs to create traps for tiny flying insects that they want to eat. Their names were Golden Orb Weaver Spiders. There were also small black ants that were moving on the ground climbing buttresses of trees to carry food that they collected from every corner of the forest to their nests in high trees.
After that we walked deeper into the forest and entered a big cave where frogs and fruit-bats lived in it. When we were inside the cave, rain began to fall. We had to wait inside it for about half an hour.

A Beef Cow near Ayambori village of Table Mountain

When it stopped, we went out of the cave and then out of the forest to main road again. We continued our trip walking to Ayambori village and then to Anggori village. While we were walking, we saw a beef cow feeding on green leaves. We walked slowly towards her. Suddenly she paused eating the grass and raised his head to see us. She tried to walk to us but failed. Fortunately, the blue rope that was tied around her neck stopped her. Actually, it was quite intimidating to see a big animal coming to us although it was a domesticated one.
There were New Guinea Tulip (Spathodea campanulata), Centrosema flower, and papaya tree whose trunk was full of papaya fruits.

Papaya was a very popular tropical fruit. Unriped papaya could be grated and cooked with coconut milk and salt as vegetables. Nearly riped papaya that was still hard could be used to make spicy pickles - locally called asinan or gohu. The main ingredients of the pickles would be lime juice, water, ginger, sliced shallots, salt, some sugar and some chillis. Because of its economic values, papaya was available in traditional market and big supermarket in Manokwari. Fortunately, the price of the fruit was still affordable to most of the city dwellers.

Spathodea Flower in Table Mountain of Manokwari

Under the Spathodea tree, we saw a lot of its flowers on the ground. Its color was orange, like a burning flame. I asked the German lady to pick up some of them. I took picture of the flowers. They looked beautiful and gave contrast bright color in almost all green surroundings. From my personal observation, the size of tropical rainforest in Table mountains was shrinking day by day. People who lived near the forest converted it into farmland, and housing areas.
When we reached the street junction in front of a shop in Anggori village, we saw a public transport minibus coming. We stopped it and got into the bus. Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at the Billy Jaya hotel again. It was a very good jungle adventure. We were very tired but we liked it very much. When everything was ok, I returned home.
Do you plan to take a vacation to West Papua?
Whether you like hiking, birdwatching, swimming and snorkeling or just sightseeing, if you want me as your guide to organize your trip, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by e-mail to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp: +6281332245180.
Also read:
One day tour in Mansinam island
Raja Ampat Adventure Tour