I made an exploratory rainforest tour in Kais village of South Sorong regency early this year. My initial intention was to assess whether the region is a suitable destination for rainforest tour program. I went to Kais village. It was quite expensive to go there but I did not regret of going to Kais. I went there by boat. The wetland of South Sorong regency was covered with hundreds of kilometers of mangrove forest and hundreds of big and small rivers. I saw a lot of birds including the Blyth's hornbills, brahminy kite, fruit doves, and sulphur crested cockatoo. I saw bats hanging in the leaves of nipa palm trees. The bio-diversity of this mangrove forest is very high. Shrimp is abundant in the river. It was much easier to catch them than fish. The mangrove forest in South Sorong regency of West Papua province was perhaps the largest mangrove eco-sytem in South East Asia. The dry land of Kais was also covered with pristine rainforest. Visitors can go hiking in the jungle guided by the villagers. I asked the villagers in Kais whether some tourists or birdwatchers had visited the area or not. They said, "no."
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| Mangrove Forest in South Sorong Regency |
District Kais was a small village. Its population was less than 500 people. I stayed there for 2 nights and returned to Teminabuan early in the morning. On the way back to the town, I saw a bird that I could not identify. I used Birds of New Guinea to match the name of bird with the picture that I took from my rainforest trips. Well, I call it: Kais Black Bittern
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| Kais Black Bittern |
Please, look at the following Google Earth Map which I have modified by adding the names of towns. District Kais is the one below Teminabuan town with small red dot.
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| Approximate location of District Kais |
If you are interested in taking a rainforest tour for seeing unique plants, as well as watching birds and wildlife, please, contact me by email to peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to +6281332245180.
Mangrove is an important part of coastal marine environment especially in tropical region. Coral reef that is near mangrove area will have higher fish stock than the one that is far from the mangrove forest.
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