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West Papua | Biodiversity Nature Resort, Raja Ampat | Red Bird of Paradise Trekking Adventure

West Papua | Biodiversity Nature Resort, Raja Ampat | Red Bird of Paradise Trekking Adventure

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Highlights

1. Red Bird of Paradise
2. Spotted Cuscus
3. Wide array of other bird life
4. Array of colourful butterflies
5. Indigenous plants & trees

Overview

The Red bird of Paradise is extremely colourful and beautiful and they inhabit their own special trees. Upon reaching their neighbourhood you’ll be rewarded with on of the most elegant and exotic displays in nature as numerous males dance for the females, vying for a chance to mate. It can take weeks of courting before the males gets their chance. Even then, some of will never be chosen by the picky females. We have two ways of trekking to see this spectacular bird, one is right from behind our Resort and the other is by boat and then trekking.

First option is right behind our property , a nice and easy trek through the jungle will take you to base camp. Here you will be able to enjoy the courtship dance of the Red Bird of Paradise, which is endemic of Batanta, Waigeo, and Gam island. The guide, Yehuda, constantly maintain the paths and base camp for guests.

For the ones who want to enjoy a little bit more trekking and dance , we can offer a longer trip. Our guide, Simon, will pick you up at our Resort and take you on an amazing boat drive through the bay. After 20 min you will arrive at the starting point for the trek. This trek is a little bit more difficult before reaching base camp. Here you will soon be rewarded by one of the most elegant and exotic displays in nature. Here there is more chance of the sightings of 4 male birds dancing and displaying to 1 or 2 females, vying for the chance to mate.

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Ethics

At Terra Incognita we support tours that do good in the world. They must help conserve the environment, support local people and provide educational opportunities for guests and staff, or be actively working to improve in these areas.

What conservation activities do you support through the tour, and your wider operations?

The Resort holds a high value towards eco-sustainability because the trek is directly behind our Resort, which means we have a duty to focus our resort on conservation and to take measures in limiting our activities on the environment. We are solar generated, we recycle all trash, our cottages are built from all local materials and are built in such a way that they do not impact the natural landscape. Continuous planting around the resort to engourage the local bird & butterfly population. The local guides are from the village and do not go into the jungle except to maintain the pathways for the trek.

How does the tour support local people?

In order to support the local economy we outsource these walks and treks to local guides. They have walked the jungle trails since their childhood, and their depth of knowledge of the local plants, trees and animals inhabit these forests will astound you. They will also spot insects, wildlife and plants that our foreign eye would never see. By outsourcing the tour to the local guides we give them the option of preserving the beautiful Red Birds of paradise instead of hunting them for souvenirs. Through this they also preserve the other jungle creatures that might be hunted for their rare beauty.

What type of environmental education activities do you incorporate into your tour?

Besides their beautifully bright coloured feathers, The Red bird of Paradise has a specific mating ritual which is the main attraction of these birds. To see this and be educated about their species, from your local guides, is vital to understanding the value of protecting a species that was nearly extinct, due to hunting in the earlier years. Above this you are in a jungle where rare species only inhabit, so by protecting and conserving the jungle they live in, we can enable future generations to see these rare and spectacular animals. To be able to do this Trek and understand this is an education in itself.

Do you provide any additional conservation, community or educational benefits through your wider operations that you’d like to mention?

Biodiversity Nature Resort Raja Ampat is a great believer in supporting the local community as much as we can. Our community programs range from education and conservation through to employment. Raja Ampat is luckier than other areas of Indonesia in that the local community is aware of the value of their environment and the need to look after it in order to support their way of life. With this in mind, we have undertaken several programs to support the future generations of Raja Ampat:

1. English Teaching
English is the international language of business, the language of the digital world, and of course, the tourist industry. Through providing an education in English we hope to open up opportunities both local and further afield for the young people of Raja Ampat and that this additional learning will go some way to improving ability to communicate clearly, thus enabling them to protect their families, the interests of the local community and their environment for generations to come.

2. School Library
We are in the process of building a Library for Yenbeser Primary School – and filling it with books and educational games! Everyone should have the opportunity to read, whatever their circumstances. We aim to provide quality books, which meet the needs of the children in Yenbeser, helping with English education and increasing learning capacity for long-term impact. Guests are encouraged to bring books for the kids when they travel here and to give back we offer a free trip to the village for the guests to see their donations in action.

3. We provide essential textbooks and resources for use in the classroom
It’s no surprise that resources are scarce in such a remote environment. Over the last few years, after consultation with the school to assess it’s needs, we have provided the following across all the schools in Yenbeser:
- Current curriculum books for teachers across all subjects and ages
- Writing books and stationary for over 100 children
- English learning text books for over 100 children
- Maths books for 40 children

4. We help Village school graduates complete their further education
Biodiversity is currently subsidising the further education of 23 students from Yenbeser Village. Students become eligable for subsidised education upon entering their 4th semester in further education, ensuring we only sponsor those who are serious about completing their studies. The students, who are aged between 20 and 23 years old, all in further education collages and universities in Waisai, Sorong and Jayapura

Top 5 achievements

1. 100% solar powered Resort
2. All cottages are made the traditional way using sustainable materials and natural products such as coconut wood and thatch. All locally sourced.
3. We source everything we can locally, not only to reduce our carbon footprint and provide our guests with the freshest food possible, but also to support the local economy and give you the chance to try local products, NO plastic straws – only bamboo.
4. Waste handling: Glass & cans are recycled, “dirty” oil from the generators & compressors is used as “wood Paint” to protect the wood from the sun and rain, small plastic bottles have been eliminated and bulk refillable water dispensers are used instead, batteries are rechargeable, and old sheets are torn and re-used as rags for cleaning.
5. Bed sheets are changed every four days and towels changed every two days, natural sunlight is used to dry all laundry, the WC is bucket-style, instead of low-flow toilets or toilet tanks.

What new sustainability steps or initiatives do you plan to take next?

We continue to evolve our sustainability practises at Biodiversity Nature Resort to try minimize our impact on the environment as we understand the importance of this.

Our future focus is educating and looking after our younger generation because through them we will be able to maintain sustainable eco-living, as they are our future. We are currently orgainzing a health project with the local village Yenbesser & Friwen. The event is on the 20th August 2019 and if successful we will to organise and support this event yearly. We have doctors who have volounteered to come and help with this project. It will be a day event that involves around 130 Children. They will receive medical check ups and necessary medicine where needed, as well as nutrition packs. They will be educated on the importance of health and diet.

Rate & Write a Review

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  1. Tristan
    Quality of Tour

    Value for Money

    Conservation Efforts by Operator

    Environmental Education Provided to Guests

    Tour Support for Local People

    I have always dreamed of seeing the birds of paradise and so i took the chance to do this at Biodiversity Nature Resort.

    We went to see the Red bird of paradise as well as the Wilson bird of paradise on two separate tours. Both are by boat and start very early in the morning. To hear the sounds of the jungle as it is waking up, is truly spectacular. The guide was from the village and very good at making bird sounds and spotting all the small insects and butterflys.

    As we made it to base camp, we were rewarded with most amazing dance/performance by the male red bird of paradise. I was absolutely taken back by this unique mating ritual. something worth getting up early for!

    After viewing them for a while, we made our way back down to visit Alfred Russel Wallace’s hut. A very humbling experience and a nice touch to see history.

    Well organised to make sure the conservation of these birds is a long term project.

    Thank you

    3 years ago

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Company Name

Biodiversity Nature Resort, Raja Ampat

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About Company

Biodiversity Nature Resort is situated on Gam island, at the heart of the Dampier Strait, in the Raja Ampat Archipelago in West Papua Province, Indonesia. Our aim has been to create one of the best resorts in Indonesia, with a strong focus on eco-friendliness and sustainability. We manage our beautiful and bountiful natural resources in a responsible way and take care to maintain the beauty of the island of Gam. Minimising the impact of our presence is a priority for us, so we have, for example, built all our huts in the traditional way, using sustainable materials and natural products such as coconut wood and thatch and all electricity is solar-generated. Supporting and being integrated into the local community is an essential aspect of any resort that seeks sustainability. The staff is primary made up of local Papuans. Local guides lead jungle treks to see the famous birds of paradise, activities from which they earn every cent. The resort also makes annual contributions to two of our local villages, Yenbeser & Friwen in the form of hundreds of kilograms of rice, sugar flour and other staples, as well as school uniforms and shoes for the primary school children. All food served to guests is sourced locally and all cooking is done with natural coconut oil, made exclusively by local woman. All of our guests agree that we are surrounded by spectacular nature, rich habitat, flora and fauna, in Raja Ampat, both above and below the water. We worry that the large numbers of these new guests consider today’s reality as being the benchmark of extreme biodiversity and beauty. We can only imagine what the health of these reefs were like in the past, and what they could be like again!

Cost

Boat & Trekking Excursion

IDR 250000 - Payable directly to the guide

Trekking only Excursion

IDR 150000 - Payable directly to the guide

Group size

There is no limit, however smaller groups 1-6 people would be ideal as you have a better chance of spotting the birds.

info@rajaampatbiodiversituy.com
www.rajampatbiodiversity.com

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