Friday, August 13, 2010

Watching Hornbill and Caving in the Table Mountain of Manokwari West Papua

The tropical rainforest of Table Mountain in Manokwari of West Papua is rich in vegetation and birds. It plays an important part in preventing land erotion and in supplying drinking water to citizens in the capital of West Papua province. Yesterday (13 August 2010), I went with Wim and Vicky Boyden to the Table Mountain to watch hornbills eating nutmeg, a kind of tropical fruit that is an important spice commodity. While we were walking along the road that devides the forest, we saw around twenty hornbill birds eating the nutmeg fruits. The fruits are smaller than the usual nutmeg fruits sold by farmers. Perhaps these nutmegs were from different species. With her long lens dslr camera, Vicky was able to shoot some pictures of this magnificent birds.
Blyth's hornbill in nutmeg tree.
Papuan Blyth's Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus)
After watching the birds, we continued walking deeper into the forest to do some caving. One hour later, we arrived at the mouth of the cave. There are around 6 caves in the Table Mountain but only three caves that are frequently visited. The cave that we explored yesterday was the biggest and the most popular. It was not difficult to enter and the floor of the cave was flat. 
Belgian tourists in Manokwari
Caving in Table Mountain of Manokwari
This morning, I am going with them to Senopi village to see male birds of paradise dancing in trees to attract their female birds the Kebar valley of the interior region of Tambrauw Mountains. I will write a special blog post about my tour into Kebar valley after returning from the area on 18 of August 2010. by Charles Roring

Also read: 

Merchandise

Please, support this blog by buying art drawings and illustrations of wild animals and plants in the form of prints on various products as follows:

Watercolour Sketch of Bird

Watercolour Sketch of Bird
Fruit Dove from Tropical Rainforest

Vector Art Drawing in Inkscape

Vector Art Drawing in Inkscape
Swimming with Whaleshark

Vector art illustration in Inkscape

Vector art illustration in Inkscape
Baby leatherback turtle was reaching for the sea

Drawing of Paradise Bird

Drawing of Paradise Bird
Lesser Birds of Paradise art print on classic T-shirt

Digital Drawing in Autodesk Sketchbook

Digital Drawing in Autodesk Sketchbook
A Couple of Red Bird of Paradise