When you are searching for tourism destinations in Indonesia, you would most likely encounter the name “Raja Ampat”. Raja Ampat is a beautiful tourism destination located in West Papua. Indonesia. It is a regency that consists of islands and known for its natural beauty and flourishing marine life, making fishers as the main occupation of people in Raja Ampat.
Specifically, to get to Raja Ampat, you need to fly to Sorong using domestic flights in Indonesia. Sorong Airport—known as Raja Ampat Airport—is the closest airport available for your convenience to arrive and explore the Raja Ampat Archipelago. After arriving at Sorong Airport, you need to take public transportations to Sorong Harbor and aboard a public ferry to go to Waisai, which is the capital.
Raja Ampat has a total island of 612 with four major islands, namely Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo. Waisai is located on Waigeo Island. If you travel Waisai using a tour package or by using a tourism service, you might have your holiday sorted out for you. Otherwise, here are recommended places in Raja Ampat for your travel plan.
Wasai Torang Cinta Beach
Wasai Torang Cinta is an exotic, attractive, and scenic beach located in Waisai; the locals shorten it as WTC. Wasai Torang Cinta is not only famous for its exotic scenes. It’s also popular because President Joko Widodo and First Lady Iriana Widodo commemorated Mother’s Day celebration on 22nd December 2017 with the locals and their five female ministers there.
The reason why President Joko Widodo chose Wasai Torang Cinta was to manifest and develop West Papua’s infrastructure, especially in Raja Ampat, the hidden gem in the eastern part of Indonesia. For many years, people have known the beauty and attraction of Raja Ampat, but only a few of them treat it as a tourist destination due to poor access. However, that will not be a problem anymore due to the recent infrastructure developments.
There is also a nearby park in Wasai Torang Cinta’s area. Therefore, you have choices on what you want to do for recreation. Both the beach and nearby park are great places for land activities, such as beach walking.
The locals usually come to do swimming and fishing, which you can do as well. As a popular tourist destination in West Papua, it offers a quite complete, clean, and well-managed facility to meet tourists’ basic necessities and to maintain the environment’s top condition.
To get to Wasai Torang Cinta, visitors outside of West Papua will need to board an airplane bound to Marinda Airport in Waiego Island. Other great recreation places near here include Daroyen Village, Saleo Beach, and the two islands of Batanta and Mansuar.
Arborek Tourism Village
Arborek Village is the most popular tourist village in West Papua. The village is specifically located in Arborek Island, Raja Ampat Regencies, West Papua. Many tourists come here and are eager to come back again because of its attractive charms.
Arborek is a small village with an area of around six hectares. However, it can represent the amazing beauty of West Papua. The soft white sand is one of the best things here, where you can do beach walking barefooted while enjoying the panorama. Arborek village is also very peaceful. The sea looks very clean, and you can even see some sea creatures from the surface.
The water in the Arborek Village area is incredibly rich in marine life and biodiversity, making it a popular place to snorkel. If you want to do some snorkeling, you can simply go down to Arborek Pier. Diving is also an option; the diving location is ten minutes away from the pier. Other activities include: Bameti (hunting for sea creatures along the beach with the locals) and looking for traditional crafts, such as Noken and Kaya Fayf made by local women.
In Arborek Village, tourists can stay in homestays managed and owned by the locals. The homestays are humble and simple, yet it has all the basic facilities, such as three meals a day, a bathroom and a solar generator to provide electricity. It is recommended to stay in Arborek village’s because it is one of the charms of the village.
Sawinggrai Tourism Village
Sawinggrai village is one of the other recommended places in Raja Ampat for you to enjoy. To get to this village, it takes approximately 2 – 4 hours from Waisai. The Sawinggrai village is famous because it is the best place to see Cendrawasih, the iconic bird of Papua.
Locating the birds was not easy at first, but because of the locals’ hard work, they were able to find where the birds gather their food, live, and mate. Now, tourists can use local guides’ service to see them. Your presence will not disturb the birds because you can only watch them from the dedicated wooden houses. However, you need to hike Manjai Sawinggrai Hill for 30 minutes.
Other activities in Sawinggrai village include snorkeling and fish feeding. As for accommodations, there are several comfortable homestays that include three meals a day. The locals are very welcome to tourists. They will make you feel at home and enjoy your stay.
Those are the recommended places in Raja Ampat. Which ones are you going to add to your travel plan? Have a great trip, and visit Raja Ampat.
