Papua Indonesia

Papua is a province of Indonesia which is located in the middle of New Guinea or the far east of West New Guinea (Irian Jaya). Eastern hemisphere is a country of Papua New Guinea or East New Guinea. Papua word itself comes from the Malay language which means curly hair, a description which refers to the physical appearance of the original tribes.

The capital of Papua province is Jayapura. Most of the population depends on subsistence farming, especially the cultivation of rice and maize. The main industries include copper (with the largest concentration of copper in the world at Tembagapura), palm oil, copra, maize, groundnuts, pepper, tuna, gold, oil, coal, and phosphates. It is mostly a mountainous and forested region, with the Maoke Mountain range rising to 5,029-m/16,499 ft at Jaya Peak. The population comprises Melanesians (original settlers of Western New Guinea), Papuans, Negritos, and Europeans.

The Baliem Valley remains one of the last places on the face of the Earth where people continue living in semi-Neolithic circumstances. Upon the spectacular approach by air, the tourists will notice the total isolation of the area. Sealed of the rest of the world by mighty mountain walls and without any roads leading from the coast to the inner region, the Valley keeps its own secrets.

Villages of no more than a few families are dispersed throughout this rough and mountainous region. Dani is a generic name of a series of tribes, until recently adhering to a Neolithic lifestyle. Only by the sixties of last century, they adopted the use of iron. Their dark complexions underline a Negroid origin, something that differentiates from the other Indonesian people. There are numerous tribes residing in the valley, having quite different languages and customs. The Yali, Kimial, Ok and Eipomek claim the eastern periphery of the magnificent valley. It is relatively easy to find their villages under the shelter of rainforest and highland.

The Baliem Valley remains one of the most fascinating places on the planet, where man may confront it its prehistoric past. But even in the remotest of area. Civilization is seeping through and will not be kept at bay. Maybe the time is right to visit the wild beauty of the Baliem Valley and its remarkable people.

This province owned tourism potential that is almost complete in Indonesia. Of its pristine nature, distinctive and unique culture, maritime special interest that is not less attractive to other regions in country even foreign ones. All this has not been touched even arranged for the object and the leading tourist attraction for visiting tourists, especially the permanent snow in mountainous central (Carstenz or Jaya Peak) and Lorentz National Park.

Lorentz National Park lies within Irian Jaya Province, and the administrative Jayawijaya, Paniai, Merauke (Southern Division), Fak-fak, Mimika and Enarotali districts. It stretches for over 150km, from the central cordillera mountains in the north to Arafura Sea in the south. With the total area is about 0.6% of Irian Jaya’s total size, the Park can be divided into two very distinct zones: the swampy lowlands and the high mountain area of the central cordillera.