Lake Sentani and the Balian highlands
Jayapura is the largest town closes to Papua New Guinea. It is the gateway into Papua’s interior, the Beliem Valley. It is the provincial capital with several interesting places to see. Engross Village in Yotefa Bay has houses built on stilts. The Museum Loka Budaya at the Cendrawasih University is worth a visit for its collection of artifacts from around Irian Jaya and crocodile farms.
A boat trip on Lake Sentani includes a must see on Apayo Island where local craftsmen produce bark cloth paintings and carvings in the traditional Sentani style characterized by stylized geckos and snakes painted with natural colored pigments. East of Sentani, in the village of Waena, the Museum Negeri displays Asmat bisj poles and decorated skulls, fine Baliem axe heads and interesting items such as mammoth sharks’ teenth. Doyo Lama Village in the Sentani area is famous for woodcarvings and rock paintings.
The wild and mysterious highlands of Papua is dominated by the Baliem Grand Valley, home to the Dani, Lani and Yali tribes, discovered only in 1938. wamena is the most important town and urban center in the valley. The daily market in Wamena is an important place and activity for the Dani people. The market opens at dawn and offers and array of interesting produce and handicrafts, such as bows and arrows, koteka or penis sheaths (still worn by the tribes), stone axes and cowrie shells.
The Dani, the most famous tribe of the interior, have unique customs. Before, the Dani women followed a ritual of cutting their finger joints. Missing finger joints on a woman indicates death in a family. Since the arrival of missionaries, self-mutilation as a form of grief has been replaced by applying points of colored earth onto parts of the body. (photo: mepow.wordpress.com, wisataloka.com)
