Indonesia Tour 3

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Photos by tour ....

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Starting Tour 3 with a Koteka - confirming beyond doubt that I am back in Papua Wikipedia

Although called back from leave 10 days early in the wake of the Chief Pilot's departure,

our whole Nabire team is looking forward to restoring functionality to our operation

and finally being able to do our jobs

Engineers Meli and Marsel and I were grateful to receive a visit from Asian One Air owner Silvi and her Mother to provide support

Nabire, Papua - the jungle wall
Alive with every imaginable creature and impenetrable without a machete

Nabire, Papua - the jungle wall

Papua highlands - the raging Derewo river, jungle and landslides ( old and new )

Bilogai - Ramli, who keeps us safe at this challenging 600 m long (6960 ft 2120 m elevation) airstrip

Onwards logistics - Papua style

Young love is a beautiful thing but we had serious words with the airport security guards on duty last night

Loading 46 pigs, 100 chickens, 20 ducks and 12 rabbits

Spreading coffee granules to reduce the ammonia and smell

Loading 46 pigs, 100 chickens, 20 ducks and 12 rabbits

Multiple species in flight - 46 pigs, 100 chickens, 20 ducks, 12 rabbits and 2 crew
....the noise and smell were unbelievable.
The debate still rages which species on board smelled the worst

Sugapa - native dancers welcoming a visiting dignitary at the airstrip

Sugapa native dancers lining up to lead the VIP procession into town

Sugapa dancers

Our Laundry Service shack.....

Our favourite Laundress.....

Nabire's Supermarket and Department Store....the Lucky

Rushhour at the fuel pumps....

Formula 1 Nabire - one of the many vans for hire which cruise the streets and will bring you wherever you want for a small fee - as long as you do not mind sharing with up to 30 Papuas.
I have also seen the names FIFA World Cup, UEFA Football-Wagon as well as Black Warrior, Razor, Ghetto Blaster and, most appropriately, Death on Wheels

Refuelling in the rain

Bilogai Airstrip 6960 ft 2120 m above sea level

Papua Highlands - Spiders

Papua highlands - 4 m wide spider's web

Papua highlands

Papua Highlands with the afternoon cloud buildup

Nabire - shop on left where I buy my mobile phone vouchers

Nabire - one of many Christian churches

Nabire - my favourite Kambing (goat) restaurant
....with tomorrow's dinner keeping fresh

Nabire - main Mosque . . . still under construction in 2014

Nabire's tribute to the Vostok rocket
....harking back to the days when the regime was close to the USSR

Nabire - our favourite seafood restaurant beside polluted river

Nabire - shops and health warning billboard

Nabire - when you just can't get enough palm trees ....put in a fake one !

Nabire - the bank

Nabire - CFC Crispy Fried Chicken

Nabire Airport - Old and New Control Towers

Another trip to the Sinak Valley.
The 7310 ft 2230 m elevation airstrip is very rough with only 450 m of the 650 m useable.
A new runway is being built (crossing at a right angle) but will take time.
There is frequent independence militant and bandit activity in the valley
and the Bukit Kandoe ( hill on the right ) is a stronghold.
During times of high tension (political, inter-tribal or opium harvest) aircraft passing close to Bukit Kandoe are shot at

High tension in Sinak requires a curved approach and a steep descent to avoid

the Bukit Kandoe hill, from where militants/bandits will shoot at you even though you are bringing in food, supplies and medicine for their families.

The steep descent needs to be turned into a climb to touch down with a rate-of-climb on the 10% slope of the 7310 ft 2230 m elevation airstrip of which only 450 m is actually useable

Scenic Sinak - not a nice neighbourhood so a walk down the runway requires an escort

Scenic Sinak - boulders on the runway and the 12330 ft 3760 m peak
of Gunung Gogobak in the background GoogleMaps .

Mahavira Hotel staff at their best changing a lightbulb

....if not one way, then another

SusiAir PK-VVZ joined us on the apron in Bilogai

There are some crazy winds around the south ridge this morning

Rhino beetle assisting with the loadsheet

Sinak airstrip perimeter
The flag establishes a political presence and also works as a windsock

Outside the perimeter of Sinak airstrip
...not the safest neighbourhood so an escort is mandatory

Starting the day's flying at 0550 local time and already a monster CB (Cumulonimbus) is heading our way Wikipedia

Indonesian flavour combos never cease to amaze : green beans baked into a sweet bun

Sugapa MEDEVAC patient being handed over to ambulance crews in Nabire

Me in my new Batik formal shirt with our Engineers Marsel and Meli
for a crew night out at the Moon Beach resort

Batik and Sunset

Crew night out at the Moon Beach Resort north of Nabire
( also called the Pantai Mona Lisa ) GoogleMaps

Moon Beach Resort pier

Rhino beetle leaving the pier party early

Entering the Freeway - winds curving around the northern boundary range

Early morning Freeway - cloudpour

Ilaga - unloading a personal record-to-date 277 kg pig.
Actually, I was only watching ...from a distance.
It was not unusual for a crate to be dropped and the angry occupant getting loose

Taking advantage of an unusually clear and calm day to enjoy the north plateau bordering the Sudirman Range as it rises to become the Puncak Jaya, Indonesia highest mountain.
Our altimeter indicates 12500 ft 3800 m above sea level, but we are actually flying 1500 ft 460 m above the ground

Now flying 1000ft 300 m above the ground with the altimeter still indicating 12500 ft 3800 m above sea level, we pass over the plateau north of the Sudirman Range and the Puncak Jaya GoogleMaps

Seen from the plateau north of the Sudirman Range, the 15500 ft 4750 m peaks of the North Wall hide the Puncak Jaya, Indonesia's highest mountain at 16024 ft 4885 m above sea level

Passing Mil-8 ER-MGX in the Freeway

Passing Mil-8 ER-MGX on a cloud day

Boat trip with the crew of Mil-8 ER-MGX to Nuburi island coral reef
GoogleMaps

Pulau Nuburi coral reef

Nuburi curiosity

Pulau Nuburi coral reef

Nuburi Clowns

Pulau Nuburi coral reef

Pulau Nuburi coral reef - predator starfish inching in for the kill

Pulau Nuburi coral reef

Nuburi Clam

Pulau Nuburi coral reef

Chief of Security for Highland Airports - employed to keep people off the runways

A few days later the same pig caused an emergency stop after landing - by European standards this sounds dramatic but in Papua it is an almost daily occurrence

A gift from a colleague returning from holiday : Javanese 'Blangkon' headdress Wikipedia
which we honoured with a traditional dance

Unloading emergency building supplies in Sugapa
....urgently required after the recent tribal unrest

Not my best pic, but not bad for through the window from 5 miles away :
AMA Pilatus Porter passing low over the jungle below us in the Freeway

Eastbound at 11500 ft 3500 m through the Beoga Pass enroute to Ilaga.
The Pass directly below us lies at 9300 ft 2330 m and the ridge on the wingtip
reaches 13200 ft 4020 m and extends for 30 NM

Unloading a 180 kg pig at Ilaga WABL
( not even close to my personal record pig passenger )

The spot on the Ilaga apron where a woman walked into a TwinOtter prop two weeks previously
...see Post 30Dec14

To prevent further tragedies, a crowd control fence has been installed

Rush hour at Ilaga

AMA PAC750 PK-RCE on the move in Ilaga
Worth having the sound ON
When the sound of the aircraft fades you can hear the voices of all the people milling about the apron

AMA PAC750 PK-RCE rolling on Runway 07

PAC750 departing Ilaga - runway length 603 m and threshold elevation 7975 ft 2430 m.
The peak is the Gunung Kelabo 13350 ft 4070 m beyond which lies the Sinak valley
GoogleMaps

Ilaga Rush hour from inside - wait till the end

Church of the Guiding Light in Kali Merah Wadio village near home-base Nabire. The size, position and angle to the sun coincide to make it shine and visible from a great distance. Even on bad weather days it is often visible thru a hole in the clouds….and brings us home

Guiding Light

On a day off we decided to find this Guiding Light
but a wrong turn found us off the track and stuck for a while

Our 'Church of the Guiding Light'
Actually called 'Eklesia' in the Kali Merah area of Wadio village.
'Kali Merah' translates to Red River and refers to the nearby Kali Bumi
GoogleMaps

The current church/village hall in Kali Merah with a curious congregation. The villagers have been solely funding the building of the new church hall themselves since 2009

Work in progress on the new church/village hall of Kali Merah

New church/village hall under construction in Kali Merah

SusiAir Pilatus PC6 Porter on the ground at Hitadipa
GoogleMaps

Nutritious Durian fruit - enthusiastically welcomed when in season for its flavour
and mild alcoholic/hallucinogenic qualities.
Papuas will leave the Durian to ferment in the sun, often with tragic results

Bilogai Tutup = Sugapa's airstrip is closed due to rioting
(difficult to see, but there is a lot of debris on the runway)

Unusual sight of gold mine helicopters PK-USA and PK-USS both
under cover at the fire station for maintenance

A final Christmas load in a mid-morning temperature of 42°C and 97% humidity
....a reminder that we are only 200 NM 370 km south of the equator
on the opposite side of the world from Europe

Christmas Eve sunset

We will continue to go into rough airstrips in the new year - gravel deflectors

'nuff zed

New Year's Eve 2014 : fellow pilots Swiss-Serge and French-Claude as we crossed the runway to the Company fireworks party in a humid 30°C

Dutch-Remco and French-Claude on Nabire's runway
heading for the Company New Year's party

Christmas [ Palm ] Tree

Our Company fireworks street party

GloStix from Glasgow are always popular

Wheelbarrow BBQ with Rapster Chef and his fish

Enjoying the fireworks while sheltering from the rain - which reduced the fire hazard to the town. The lens is not foggy - that's smoke.

The Freeway, Papua

Moisture steaming off the highland jungle at 7500 ft 2290 m elevation

On the apron at Nabire WABI waiting for the rains to clear

The yellow dot is helicopter PK-USS heading for the Bayabiru gold mine

GoPro looking down - Nabire town Upload 21Dec14

Ruslan's first marshalling - close enough for a lollipop prize
...see Post Tue30Dec14

Marshalled into a tight parking spot ....with 1 x marshaller and 3 x assists this is going to cost my whole box of lollipops

GoPro looking down - Unipo gold mine along the Sirowo river
GoogleMaps

On a return from the mountains we carried a large, very smelly and diseased looking dog back to Nabire along with its owner and escort ….I assume for a visit to the vet. The poor thing sat quietly looking sad the whole trip.

Nabire - our hotel 'Mahavira 2' is the L shaped yellow building.
'Mahavira 1' is the L shaped tin roof in front.

AMA Pilatus PC6 Porter on the ground at Bilai
GoogleMaps

Pogapa - adorned with the wrecks of two Caravans
GoogleMaps

CB (Cumulonimbus) with cap

Landslide - scale not obvious but that is a drop of at least 2500 ft 760 m

Looking straight down - Papua jungle

GoPro looking down - Bumi river gold mines

Looking in

GoPro looking down - Papua jungle

GoPro attached to the tailcone, looking down - posing with Ramli, our man in Bilogai

Freeway waterfall - seen from 3 NM and falling at least 500 ft

Freeway waterfall seen from 2 NM distance - a huge volume of water dropping at least 800 ft

Freeway waterfall

Loading construction materials

Early morning insect on the apron

First thing in the morning the aircraft is always covered with insects

Early morning insect

Early morning insect - this one got under my seat, was released and then nearly got eaten by a passing bird

Loading pipes for Sugapa

Noisily unloading pipes at Sugapa

A special lunch prepared by Engineer Meli's Mum

Our aircraft seen in a cloudy Freeway at 10500 ft 3200 m.
It may sound high but we are only 5000 ft 1520 m above the valley floor
and 1500 ft 460 m below the hidden mountain a few miles to our right

Checking the load

Old landslide and the Derewo river

Entering the Freeway

Bugalaga airstrip GoogleMaps

To give a sense of scale - that dot is a Pilatus Porter going towards Bugalaga
( the lighter strip on the ridge on the right YouTube )

Our next load of 700 live chickens keeping cool in the shade
....and nobody noticed the ants in the grass

Loading 700 chickens and, unwittingly, 1000s of ants - see post dated Tue30Dec14

The chickens' owner ....and an escapee who stayed in that spot and clucked happily and noisily the whole flight.
It was common for the owner of a cargo to join the flight

Just a few of the 1000s of ants brought on board with the chickens
....see post dated Tue30Dec14

Passing another aircraft in the Freeway - it gives a sense of the unbelievable size of the mountains

The airport staff were otherwise engaged
....so we used our propwash to remove this FOD from the centre of the runway
Wikipedia

Finally some nice pics in good weather of our aircraft in flight :
Asian One Air C208B PK-LTF in the Papua Freeway
as seen from a passing SusiAir C208

Asian One Air C208B PK-LTF in the Freeway
at 10,500 ft 3200 m

A week later an Enggang Air Caravan got this nice photo of us
in the Freeway at 8500 ft 2600 m

Missionary John Cutts from Pogapa www.villageheartbeat.org who has served Papua for 60 years and featured on the TV Series "Worst Place to be a Pilot"
( see Indonesia MAIN Page for links to the series )

Papua 2015 - bridge still under construction
2025 - still no bridge but a disturbing deforestation GoogleMaps

Fresh lemur anyone ?

Our Engineer Marsel in a rice paddy getting us a sample

What rice really looks like - the black and white varieties

Rushhour at Bandar Udara Nabire.
It is not unusual for several aircraft to enter the runway and backtrack at the same time,
the last in line taking off first ....with the ever-present rotaries doing their own thing in the opposite direction just beside us

The jungle just outside Nabire - some of these trees are 150 ft 45 m tall

MAF Grand Caravan PK-MAE in the Freeway

Missionary Aviation Fellowship MAF Grand Caravan in the Freeway

MAF C208B PK-MAE

The sea breeze sending moisture up over the jungle plateau east of Nabire

Going east, as the terrain rises again, cloud pouring at the entrance to the Freeway

Departing Nabire on a rare Saturday with no flying I shared a boat trip into Cenderawasi Bay with friends from the MAF GoogleMaps

Escorted by a pod of dolphins enroute to see the Whale Sharks

Cenderawasi Dolphins

No problem - Don't worry - Be Happy

A welcoming 'bagan' fishing platform under which two Whale sharks were feeding
(although the big smiles may also have been in anticipation of the generous 'compensation' we paid for 'disrupting' their day's piscatorial efforts)

In the water for the first time with Whale sharks

Whale shark wikipedia

Cenderawasi Whale Sharks

Curious Whale shark gliding in from under the bagan to have a close look at me.
This is the 'small' one of 4.5 meters so still a juvenile

'Small' Whale shark - no enlargement...they come that close.
The juvenile took his time going past - almost drifting rather than swimming

A few minutes later the 'Big' one came from behind passing under our boat and lightly brushed past - which still tumbled me over her back.
Perhaps a polite check on what the juvenile was playing with

The spots and stripes are unique to each Whale shark

Curious, gentle Whale shark
This was the 'big' one at 6+ meters

Cenderawasi Bay Whale shark

Around midday, as the surface water warmed, they just glided away into the depths

Whale shark away into the depths

Approaching Pulau Nuburi in Cenderawasi Bay GoogleMaps

Cenderawasi - Approaching Pulau Nuburi

Pulau Nuburi

Pulau Pepaya seen from Nuburi
Further away than it seems and said to be a mangrove with no beach

Nuburi - a 150 metre circle of paradise
Note the conifers - apparently a Dutch colonist planted some on the mainland
100+ years ago and some seeds ended up here

Nuburi - it is strange to go for a walk and a few minutes later you are back where you started

Pulau Nuburi reef - just off the beach is an area of sea grass and a few corals

Pulau Nuburi coral reef

Nuburi corals and reef inhabitants

Pulau Nuburi - fish congregating in the surf

Nuburi - fish and feet

Departing Pulau Nuburi

Full 9 minute movie - Whale Sharks and Nuburi

Associated Mission Aviation Pilatus PC6 Porter PK-RKA on a dark and cloudy day

Was it something I said ?

Long line sling load being lifted to a remote site

Nabire, Papua, Indonesia

FOD on the strip at Bilogai. The fate of the owner remains unknown.

A beautiful bug who got up my trouser leg.
Normally this causes a girlie scream, some leaping and leg shaking and a murder
....but the offender was too stunning for that.

The Freeway eastbound in the early morning
The peaks in the distance reach 13200 ft 4020 m

Hand luggage - Papua style

Short finals for RWY09 at Bilogai - 600 m long, 6960 ft 2120 m elevation
and an early morning temperature of 25°C

Touchdown on the gravel and applying Reverse Thrust as soon as we reach the asphalt on landing at Bilogai

A day with extensive virga Wikipedia

Snack vendor outside our cargo office

A fuzzy pic of cloud pouring over the 12200 ft 3720 m Weyland massif 30 NM away GoogleMaps

Jail Break - fugitives recaptured. The one on the left made it all the way across the apron.
For the sake of clarity ...we are talking about the roosters

Catching up with AMA's Pilatus Porter PK-RCY in the Freeway

Associated Mission Aviation Pilatus PC6 Porter
( a nice pic and I am proud that it is still in use on the AMA website in 2025 )

Crime prevention - Papua style

On an unusually clear day looking South from overhead Bilai,
situated on the valley floor at 5800 ft 1770 m above sea level. GoogleMaps
The 1st ridge is 'only' 8100 ft 2470 m and defines the southern edge of the Freeway.
The high point on the 2nd ridge (possibly named Kendatapa) sports 10000 ft 3050 m.
The jagged ridge on the horizon, 16 NM 30 km away
is part of the Sudirman Range at 13400 ft 4090 m.

Traditional gold mining at Baya Biru along the Derewo River

Nabire - loading building supplies

Marsel and Rango ..... Ground Team ride-a-longs are always fun

Last run of the day
....one of the mining helicopters departing in a rush to get there and back before sunset

A nice TC (Towering Cumulus) with ambitions to grow into a CB (Cumulonimbus)

welcomes us into the Freeway

Turning towards the 7400' KeyPoint (Blue-Red-Blue buildings) for Finals at Bilogai
An explanation of Key Points to follow during 2025 - I hope

Unloading 1500 kg of rebar

Sugapa town (Bilogai)

Freeway - skirting clouds

Leaving the Freeway Westbound with the coast on the horizon

Staring descent into Nabire - where the Utuwa and Siriwo Rivers meet GoogleMaps

Same spot - different view

East of Nabire - gold mining along the Kali Bumi

The Kali Siriwo as it snakes northwards toward the sea
GoogleMaps

Jungle plateau East of Nabire WABI

Approaching Nabire 4 minutes from touchdown.

The coast and airport are immediately behind the 1700 ft 520 m ridge ahead

Joining Finals 34 at Nabire

Bandar Udara Nabire Douw Aturure
( the tribal name of a popular local Regent )

Boat trip to the islands North-west of Nabire.
Unspoiled and mostly uninhabited in 2014 ...not so in 2025.
As is common in Papua most of the islands' names have changed too

Boat trip to the islands North-west of Nabire

Uninhabited islands 1 hour boat ride NW of Nabire

Approaching Pulau Babi - uninhabited, but note the antenna
(in 2025 it also seems to be known as Meips Island) GoogleMaps

Pulau Babi

Pulau Babi with Pulau Ahe in the background

Pulau Babi offshoot

Pulau Ahe in 2014 still unspoiled and uninhabited.
The jungle reclaiming all that remains of a hotel once built on the island
( the owner did not get along with the local Chief and there was an accident ).
The 2025 remnants of the pier are pinned on GoogleMaps.
Ahe now seems to be called Kopataor and the shape of the reef and even the beach are barely recognizable

Pulau Ahe - clamshells

Pulau Ahe - WW2 aircraft engine.
The rest of the wreckage lies somewhere on the reef, said to be within reach during low tide.
Unfortunately the tide started coming in and our search ran out of time.
We returned to Ahe during Tour 5 and found a wing and part of the fuselage