Raja Ampat, a district in Papua – Indonesia gives serious attention for its tourism. It has strength in the maritime and is supported by  natural richness, cultural interest, and the unique of its art.  For its 7th anniversary, the local government via tourism information center announces the Maritime Festival (Festival Bahari) on May 2 to 9, 2010. Waisai is the town chosen to carry out the festival.

In this event, some activities performed such as underwater photo contest, paddle boat race, diving, beach volley ball tournament, and cultural attraction from the local people and participants from other regency like Wakatobi.
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Raja Ampat Tourist Information Center explains that the local people will perform its traditional boat which is used to sail the ocean. Furthermore, they will show their custom to consume mangrove fruits. Many attraction that had not been performed will be shown for the first time to surprise the tourists.

Raja Ampat photo from www.gorajaampat.com

Waisai, that is about 3 hours boating from Sorong, has no accommodation for tourists yet. But, the government will provide live aboard as floating hotels to accommodate the visitors.

Raja Ampat photo from www.gorajaampat.com

Raja Ampat Maritime Festival is planned to be annual event to increase visitors. Currently,there are some festivals in Papua such as Festival Lembah Baliem in Wamena – Jayawijaya, Festival Asmat, Festival Kamoro in Timika, and Festival Danau Sentani (Sentani Lake Festival) in Jayapura.

Nias island on the western side of Sumatra is not an easy to reach destination. To come there, the difficulty level is high enough. However, there many ways to Nias. From Medan, there are two airlines – Merpati Airlines and Riau Airlines – which fly over this route every day. From Padang, Riau Airlines also are scheduled to fly to Gunungsitoli. The attractions to see in Nias are on the subject of cultural heritage like Lompat Batu, the traditional houses and one worthy place, the Museum.

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Under the BPPI (Indonesian Heritage Preservation Board), the Museum Pusaka Nias (MPN) has completely accurate collection to study the life of previous civilization in the area. Incredible! MPN is special not only because of the complete collection, a lot, and valuable, but also its setting in a good way. This museum is not like a warehouse  storing old items that are not managed well with damp room.

Museum Pusaka Nias has a collection of valuable heritage that is very complete. Everything is displayed in a systematic and considered beautiful. The most valuable collections in the MPN was higher buildings models of traditional houses from various regions of the island.

Nias Heritage Museum pioneered by Johannes Hammerle, a priest of the Capuchin Order from Germany, who had served 35 years and residing in Nias. Father Johannes had already written several books about theethnological of  Tano Niha  (Land Nias) and Ono Niha (the Nias).

The picture on above is a tiger figure that is used in the ancient believe of  Maenamölö people in Southern Nias. “n ancient time, according to Nias belief in Maenamölö region Southern Nias, sort of this statue was marched by many people and constituted a sacred rite once every seven or fourteen years. It’s thrown away in the river. They believed that all sins and violence they committed during the previous years would wash away together with tiger figure.”
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On another day, I was also able to visit in the South of Bawomataluo. Bawomataluo means the Sun City . This is an important tourist destination in Nias and is quite popular. The main tourist destination here is to see the king’s house that is very large in size, with “legs” from the large sized intact logs.

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To achieve this stone yard of the King’s house, we had to climb about 80 stairs of stone – as if we are going to the sun up there. The yard area was “fenced in” dozens of traditional houses.Kings House is the largest and highest. In front of the house there are two large pieces of stone, polished and carved on the edge – once used by the king as a seat to watch the show.

One of the most famous attractions is stone jump. Piles of stones about two-meters high is where a young man dressed in customary will jump over. There are some trained people who are and always ready to show these attractions. Paid, of course. If you’re smart enough to bargain, you can see it for just a hundred thousand Rupiahs or about ten US dollars for one jump. If your camera is not ready, then you must pay for another hundreds thousands Rupiahs. Typically, the jumper will always wanted to see your shots. Their standard comment: “Wow, this is less beautiful. You should shoot when I’m exactly on the rock. Yup, it’s just a persuasion so that they will get more money.

Nias House photo by vetanent

Not far from Bawomataluo, in Teluk Dalam district there is a known Sorake Beach. In the Lonely Planet it is stated as the surfers’ beach. This beach is beautiful, and the waves fulfill the qualification for surfing . Around the beach is available lodging facilities for the surfers who came from abroad.

Do not miss to visit the Hiliamaetaniha village in the this Teluk Dalam district. With funding from Muslim Aid that is channeled through BPPI, the houses in this village have been rehabilitated under the supervision of Father Johannes.
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Djarum Super Jakarta International Blues Festival 2009 will be held at Istora Senayan Jakarta on Saturday, September 7, 2009. The theme taken for this year is “Back To The Roots of All Music”.

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The Indonesian musicians that will perform are Gugun & Blues Shelter, Blues Train, Kiboud Maulana, Gigi, The Dance Company, The Changchuters. special performance from senior blues artist Yopie Item and two of his children Audy and Stevie Item, Bondan Prakoso and his father who is also a musician, Sisco, Abdee Slank, John Paul Ivan, and Rif’s vocalist, Andi.

International Stars from UK, USA, Australia, Dutch, Ireland, Thailand and Singapura are invited to perform on stages. Artists loke Jan Akkerman and Mike Wilgar will surely give great atmosphere on the show.

There will be four stages on the festival. The ticket costs IDR 100.000 or about US$10. It’s an affordable price to witness the world class blues festival in Indonesia.
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Pesta Danau Toba 2009 festival will be held at Lake Toba, Parapat, Simalungun District, North Sumatra, beginning Wednesday October, 7 2009 until Sunday October, 11 2009. This event is expected to boost the tourism of North Sumatra. Furthermore, this festival will show local traditions and culture that are worth to witness.

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“Our main target is to boost tourism image of North Sumatra in the eyes of the world, that our area is safe and comfortable place to visit,” said Head of Culture and Tourism of North Sumatra, Ginting Nurlisa.

Lake Toba photo by vikhers

Lake Toba party will feature a variety of cultural attractions, in addition will also hold a variety of traditional sports event. In this scene will perform, among others, performances of traditional dance and costumes, special dance performances of Batak dance Tor-tor and a number of races, such as swimming competitions in Lake Toba, and also fishing competition.There will also choir competition singing folk songs.

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Visiting Muara Enim to enjoy the natural attractions of Bedegung waterfall can be a refreshing vacation. This tourism place is near to Lubuk Linggau and Lahat at Sumatra, Indonesia. In fact, if lucky, you can sip the delicious and famous Bedegung coffee.

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To reach Bedegung from Batu Raja, you should fill the fuel tank full, because there is only one public gas station for about four miles from Batu Raja border. If you depart from the Prabumulih, advisable to refuel in Muara Enim.

The road to the Bedegung waterfall from Batu Raja is good, but there are many sharp bends. Drive slowly while enjoying the view of the river which lay almost along the left side of the road. The location of the waterfall is about four kilometers from the main road.

Along the road. we can see the unique local houses that are typical of South Sumatra houses. They are stage houses (rumah panggung). Some of them have had hundreds of years old. Formerly, its space underneath the house functioned to store firewood, coffee and rubber, and cattle sheds. Now, it functions switches into garage and small shop.

Most of the local residents in this area coffee farmers. As the harvest season, people dry the coffee on the road and on the yard. Coffee for Rp 30,000 per kilogram is worthy as presents for family when back home.

Approximately 300 meters before entering the site, the sound of Bedegung water is already heard. Fresh water is tempting people to bathe or just wash the face. Near to the waterfall there is a fishing pond and a whitewater rafting. If you want to enjoy the atmosphere for longer time, there are nine villas for rent around the location that has rate Rp 75.000 per villa per night.

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Mentawai island is popular with the high tube rolling waves, that is the favorite of surfers. By various surfing organizations, waves in Mentawai rated as the third best in the world after Hawaii and Tahiti.

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The waves in Mentawai are big. In the video, you can see that its waves are huge that is very ideal for surfing. We advice, surfers should be skillful to ride the waves otherwise they may choose the smaller waves near the beach.

Mentawai Surfing Video

Mentawai Islands consist about seventy islands. The biggest island is Siberut which is known as Siberut National Park. The other islands like Kandui, Siloinak and Makaroni have very beautiful view where resorts are built.

An Island in Mentawai photo by charvetcarol

To go to Mentawai, travelers can go by boat from Muara Padang. The trip will last about ten hours.

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The Interesting about the Island

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Macaroni is about 15 acres and indeed has good wave so that it is very ideal for surfing. It has lagoon so that swimming is safe.

Siloinak is about 24 acres island. It has very good nature like soft sanded beach, corals, lagoon, palm trees. The island is very safe is it has no mosquitoes and sand flies. The most interesting thing is its wave, very big, just more than that you think. This island is just perfect for ecotourism.

Just like other island at the Mentawai chain, Kandui has very big waves.

I don’t have any idea whether the island that is sold, or just the resorts. If it is the islands that are sold altogether with the resort, it seems the Indonesian government should act. Any island in the Indonesian Archipelago should not be sold. They are belong to Indonesian people. Investments are open for every one in the world, but ownership should be for the Indonesian.