Surgeonfish and Coral Reef

Tonight I upload another drawing again into my Redbubble account. It is the picture of Surgeonfish in the coral reef. I only added another species of fish to the previous illustration. The new fish is Convict Surgeonfish. There are some hard corals and water-plants in the new artwork. So, there are now two fish in the picture, i.e.: Striped-Surgeonfish and Convict Surgeonfish.

Surgeonfish in Coral Reef

I frequently see these fish and hundreds of other species when I guide tourists on sightseeing, and snorkeling tours in Raja Ampat, Tambrauw and Manokwari. To take pictures of the marine life, I bring a small action camera. It is a Brica B-Pro5 Alpha edition. The camera is not for professional underwater photographer. But it is good enough to show how an underwater coral reef environment looks like. I will buy a better camera such as Fujifilm XQ2 and its waterproof housing. I hope it will give higher quality photographs which I could study as my reference for creating more artworks.l
If you are interested in taking a snorkeling, birding, and sightseeing tour with me in West Papua, you could contact me (Charles Roring) by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.

• If you just want to enjoy my artworks, please, support this blog by buying some products in the form of t-shirt, mugs, spiral notebook, or iPhone/ Samsung cases, please, visit my online artshop in Redbubble under this name: Tropical Art

Tourist Attractions in Tambrauw

Marine Tours in Tambrauw regency of Indonesia

Tambrauw is the name of a regency in West Papua province of the Republic of Indonesia. Its local government has declared its territory as conservation regency. As a consequence no mining, logging and other activities that are harmful to the environment will be allowed. To support local economy, local government of Tambrauw support the development and promotion of environmentally friendly tourism.

Tambrauw regency has got a number of interesting attractions which tourists can see while exploring its coastal and mountaineous areas. Some of them are described as follows:

Leatherback turtle was laying eggs

• Turtle watching - There are four species of turtles that land on the beach of Tambrauw to lay eggs. They are the Leatherback Turtles, Green Sea Turtles, Hawksbill Turtles and Olive Ridley turtles.
• Snorkeling and freediving - There are coral reef areas along the beach of Tambrauw, and Pulau Dua where tourists can visit to enjoy swimming, snorkeling and freediving. Visitors need to bring their own snorkeling gear such as mask, snorkel and flippers if they want to see the marine life. A good underwater camera such as Nikon W300 or a D-SLR camera with waterproof housing will be useful for taking pictures of fish, sea star, lionfish, striped surgeonfish, sea urchin, and other marine creatures. There is no scuba dive center in the regency so, I cannot offer diving trips at the moment.
• Fishing - Visitors can also enjoy fishing at the blue sea of the regency. Please, also bring your own fishing gear. Fish such as tuna, or even red snapper can be caught for a delicious lunch or dinner.
• Bat watching - There are a lot of bats in Pulau Dua area, they play important roles in polination of flowers in the forest of New Guinea
• Hiking, Camping, Birding and Wildlife Watching - Most of the territories of Tambrauw is covered by tropical rainforest. It is the natural habitat of hundreds of species of birds including Palm Cockatoo, Eclectus Parrot, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Lesser Birds of Paradise, King Bird of Paradise, Common Paradise Kingfisher, Western-crowned Pigeon, Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, as well as coastal birds such as Tern, Sand Piper, and even the migratory bird - the Northern Phalarope. Tourists need to bring their binoculars, spotting scope and camera with telephoto lens to watch and take pictures of the birds. For the purpose of camping in the forest or remote beach, we can provide camping gear.

Local people in Tambrauw with international visitors

How to get there

Please, fly from your country to Indonesia. The capital of this country is Jakarta. After arriving in Jakarta, you could continue your trip by taking a domestic flight to Sorong city. I could meet you at the airport and organize your trip to Tambrauw regency. Airlines such as Garuda, Batik Air, Sriwijaya Air, Lion Air have got regular flights between Jakarta and Sorong city.

Cost
The cost of the tour in Tambrauw regency depends on the number of participants and duration of the trip which visitors have. The tour and its cost is usually customized according to these factors.

Booking

Please, contact me (Charles Roring) by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.

Also read:
Snorkeling Raja Ampat 
7 Snorkeling Spots in Raja Ampat

Snorkeling and sightseeing tour in Manokwari

Sunbathing, Swimming and Snorkeling in Manokwari

I have just completed a snorkeling and sightseeing tour for a Dutch family in Manokwari. I guided them to see several parts of the city in the first day and then a tour to Mansinam island in the second day.
The view of the coral reef could be seen easily. I brought my underwater action camera Brica B-Pro5 and some snorkeling gears that I ordered from an online store in China. Their brands were Whale. I was very surprised with the qualities of the products. The masks, snorkels and fins were very good. They were very comfortable on my face, mouth and feet. Whale is a very good brand for snorkeling and diving gear.

I was doing freediving, I could see a lot species of fish such as the Regal Angelfish (Pigoplites diacanthus), Latticed Butterflyfish (Chaetodon rafflesi), Backlip Butterflyfish (Chaetodon kleinii), Yellowtail Damsel (Neoglyphidodon nigroris), Dash-Dot Goatfish (Parupeneus barberinus). There were also grouper, moorish idol, surgeonfish, parrotfish, and anemonefish. I felt as if I was diving in a giant aquarium with thousands of marine creatures around me. My experience of snorkeling and freediving was amazing.

Coral Reef life in Manokwari waters

As a tourist guide, I often organize tours for foreign visitors who come from countries as far as the Netherlands, the United States, Japan, China, Korea, Germany, Switzerland, and India.
I sometimes combine the marine tour with hiking, camping and wildlife watching tour in the rainforest. Visitors who are interested in taking a tour with me should bring their own snorkeling gear, and underwater camera as well as binoculars.
Please, contact me (Charles Roring) by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or whatsapp to: +6281332245180.

Related posts:
Snorkeling in Raja Ampat archipelago
Birdwatching and Snorkeling in Raja Ampat

King Bird of Paradise

King Bird of Paradise

This is the photograph of King Bird of Paradise (Cicinnurus regius) that I made in Susnguakti forest of Arfak range. The bird lives in lowland and lower montane forest of New Guinea. There are several sites that visitors can go to watch this bird such as Tambrauw Mountains, Arfak mountains and Sorong ridge forest. Because the size of this bird is quite small, bird watchers need to bring binocular and, if possible, a spotting scope in order to find and watch the bird.
The wings and upper part of the bird are red whereas the underpart is white. I made the picture of this bird while I guided two Dutch tourists on a 3-day/ 2-night hiking, birding and wildlife watching in Susnguakti forest of Manokwari. I used my old camera Fujifilm Finepix HS50EXR. The telephoto lens capability of this photographic device allowed me to shoot the bird in the branch of a tree some 10 meters above the ground.
In addition to King Bird of Paradise, visitors who go to this forest can also watch Lesser Birds of Paradise, Common Paradise Kingfisher, Great Cuckoo Dove, Beautiful Fruit Dove, Hooded Butcherbird, Coconut Lorikeet, Spangled Drongo, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra and a lot more.
At nights, we did soome night walks where a local villager immitates the sound of female cuscus possum to attract a male one. We saw the nocturnal animal twice. In addition to birds and possum, we also saw a venomous white snake, ground brown skink, and a bandicoot.
The Susnguakti forest where I saw the King Bird of Paradise is located in the south of Manokwari city. It can be reached by car or motorcycle in approximately one hour ride. There is no guesthouse in the forest, tourists only stay in simple basecamp which was built by local people.

Pinon Imperial Pigeon

Pinon Imperial Pigeon (Ducula pinon)

Pinon Imperial Pigeons are in mating season in late March and April. Actually during these months the northern region of West Papua receive high rainfall. However, due to its close position to the equator the sunlight is also good. Small berry fruits are still abundant in Klabolo forest of Sorong regency. They attract a lot of birds to gather in trees to eat the fruits and mate. During my recent birding tour where I guided Tony Lau - a Canadian tourist in Klabolo forest, we saw male Pinon Imperial Pigeons compete one another to mate with their female counterparts. I was able to take some pictures of them including pictures of a female pigeon sitting on her nest in a high tree. Fortunately, my Fujifilm Finepix has got powerful zoom to shoot her. Her nest was quite small compared to the size of her body.

Female Pinon Imperial Pigeon was incubating her eggs

In West Papua, people hunt Pinon Imperial Pigeon for their meat. They are greatly extirpated especially in the forests near big towns or cities. In these areas, town dwellers use air guns to hunt them. Pinon Imperial Pigeons can still be watched in lowland and lower montane forest.
I also saw Yellow-faced Myna, Golden Myna, Large Fig Parrot, Coconut Lorikeet, Pink-spotted Fruit Dove, Moustached Treeswift, Oriental Dollarbird, Black Lory, Magnificent Riflebird, Rainbow Bee-eater, Eclectus Parrot, Orange-bellied Fruit Dove, and even Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise during my 4 days/ 3 nights stay in the forest.
This is my whatsapp number: +6281332245180. You could contact me to book your birding trip in Manokwari and Sorong regency. You could also send email to peace4wp@gmail.com.

Also read:
Pied Imperial Pigeon