Marine Life in Sansapor

During the Pacific War, Sansapor was a small village. It became the base for American forces who landed there in 1944 to fight the Japanese forces in the region. Warships, fighter planes and bombers were stationed in the islands of Amsterdam and Middleburg as well as the nearby Werur village. The war has been over for very long time. Sansapor is now called Sausapor and has become a small coastal town. In this peaceful environment, coral reef in Sansapor waters has grown again teeming with a lot of marine life. This can also be seen in the above islands.

Adventure in Tambrauw regency of Indonesia

Two hours by speed boat from Sausapor to the east, there is a beach called Jen Womom. It is the nesting ground of leatherback - the largest species of sea turtle. The nesting season has come. Hundreds of leatherback and other species of sea turtles land on the beach to lay their eggs.

The rainforest around Sausapor town is also a highly recommended destination for visitors who like trekking. It is the habitat of a lot of unique tropical plants including arboreal and terrestrial orchids, glowing mushrooms, bamboo, and hardwood trees. I used to see a terrestrial orchid  flower that was emitting fragrant smell. Its petals were white.
I organized a number of rainforest and coral reef tours to Sausapor region several years ago especially in Syuan river, and Syugrar river. We spent 4 to 5 days camping there. It was a nice experience, we did riverwalk trips and watched Blyth's Hornbill, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Palm Cockatoo, Black-capped Lory, Little Egret, Grey Crow, and a lot of other birds that live in West Papua's forest.

Tambrauw regency has got a lot of beautiful sceneries both in the mountains and coastal areas.
Indonesia has closed access to foreign tourists who want to travel around this country due to rapid spread of coronavirus. In the future, when this "Covid-19" storm has been over, visitors can visit this regency again. - written by Charles Roring
Also read:
Adventure Trip in Tambrauw
Marine Life at Sra-Oseri beach of Mansinam island

Nesting Season of Leatherback Turtle

We are now at the end of March 2020 - the time where massive spread of Corona-virus disease is reaching all corners of the world. Human is now struggling to survive.  Travel industry is one of the economic sectors that is severly hit by this pandemic. Millions of people become jobless. 

We are going to enter April. Soon, on the other side of the globe, the nesting season of Leatherback turtles will come. It is the time where mother turtles swim to the beach to lay eggs. They can now lay their eggs in peace. No flashes of cameras from tourists and researchers will distract them. Unfortunately, there are still soa-soa monitor lizards, dogs, crocodiles, and boars that are waiting for them at these remote beaches.

Leatherback turtle of Tambrauw regency

In Indonesia, there are several beaches where these giant turtles like to come to lay eggs. They are Warebar beach in Waigeo island of Raja Ampat archipelago; Jen Womom and Wermon in the northern coast of Tambrauw regency. It takes around 45 to 55 days for the eggs to hatch. Personally, I used to see newly hatched baby turtles at Jen Womom and Warebar. They were beautiful creatures.