Watching Butterfly in the Table Mountain of Manokwari of West Papua

I, Katja and Paul went to Table Mountain on 26 May 2010. Because we wanted to watch butterfly, we woke up early. At around 6 a.m we were on top of the mountain hiking along the road. The air was fresh and the view of Manokwari city looked calm. When the sun light hit the surface of the green leaves and the flowers, various colors of ornamental butterflies came out of their hiding places and began flying around. It was wonderful to see a lot of butterflies.  One even landed on the tip of my shorts. We did not need binoculars to watch them. Butterfly watching in Manokwari's Table Mountain is my favorite activity. Butterflies were just everywhere, big and small, black, white, yellow, and brown.

We walked to Japanese war memorial. It has a little open area provided by local government to Japanese government to build a monument for honoring the Japanese soldiers who died during the the Pacific War. There, I and Paul picked up some garbage scattered around the monument which had been thrown by people who visited place. That's what we usually do to keep the surroundings of the monument clean. Katja (the German tourist) also helped us. We put all the wastes at the left side of the gate and Paul burnt them.

 We took a rest for around 30 minutes there before continuing our trip to see more butterflies and other unique vegetation of tropical rainforest. Because Table Mountain is located near the Manokwari city and not too high from the sea surface, we can see a lot of insects and birds in it.

 As we were descending the mountain Kompleks Missi where my house was, Katja stopped for a while and picked up a large dry leaf of Sukun tree (bread tree). She asked me to take a picture of her standing with the leaf. She said that in Europe, there are no leaves with such size. She was amazed by the leave. In the tropical rainforest of Papua, we can see a lot of unique plants that always attract tourists' attention.

The best time for bird watching and butterfly watching is from 6 a.m and 11 a.m. We can actually do it all day but I think morning and before sunset are the best times for admiring and appreciating the nature. If you are interested in hiking in the Table Mountain of Manokwari, you can contact me - Charles Roring - by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com

Also read: A Visit to Mansinam Island and A Meeting with Peter Rumbruren