The tropical rainforest in West Papua is the natural habitat of a lot of butterflies and insects. They have got different sizes, colors and shapes. For instance, in lowland and lower montane forest, I could see such butterflies as Cruiser Butterfly (Vindula arsinoe), Silky Owl Butterfly (Taenaris catops), The Ulysses Butterfly or also called Blue Emperor Butterfly (Papilio ulysses), Red Lacewing Butterfly (Chetosia biblis), and a lot more.
The species of butterflies in higher montane forest are different from the ones in lower montane and lowland forest. Some of them include: Taenaris schoenbergi kenricki, Rothschild Birdwing (Ornithoptera rothschildi) and a lot more.
There are a lot of places in the forest where visitors can watch butterflies. Here are some of the places that I recommend:
- Rainforest in Wondama regency
- Rainforest in Klasow Valley especially in Klatomok village.
- Rainforest around Fef town of Tambrauw Mountains
- Susnguakti Forest of Manokwari
- Higher elevation forest of Mokwam, and in Mbenti of District Minyambouw.
Watching butterflies is easier than watching birds because most of them can be found in flower garden or in flowering trees and shrubs along the forest edge. A butterfy whisperer can even approach butterfly and let it land on his or hand. It is easy to do that. We have to be calm when standing in the middle of flower garden. Without making unnecessary movements, we can slowly approach a butterfly and take pictures of him or her. If he or she knows that we are not dangerous, he or she may fly and land on our body or even hand.
Taking pictures of insect is easy, we can use camera of smartphone, pocket camera made by Nikon, Canon, Fujifilm or other manufacturers. Professional photographers use D-SLR cameras with macro lenses that can capture more detailed parts of a butterfly.
West Papua is a province in the Republic of Indonesia. It has been a famous tourist destination especially for those who are interested in seeing the wealth of biodiversity of rainforest and coral reef. The capital of the province is Manokwari. Anyone can visit it by flying from their country to Jakarta (the capital of Indonesia). After that, he or she can take domestic flight to Manokwari city by such airlines as Batik Air, Sriwijaya and Lion Air.
Hotels, inns, and simple guesthouses, restaurants, supermarkets are available in Manokwari. As a coastal city, Manokwari also has got islands, beaches and coral reef which visitors can visit to enjoy swimming, snorkeling and sightseeing.
If you are interested in taking a rainforest tour to West Papua to watch butterflies, insects, birds, other wild animals, and want me to be your guide, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by email to: peacewp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.