Malagufuk

Development of a new village in the jungle

The village of Malagufuk is located in Klasow Valley near the Tambrauw Mountains of the Bird’s Head Peninsula in West Papua. From Sorong is one hour drive and then one hour walk. The village exists actually only relatively briefly in the current form. In ancient times the locals were attracted build a life at the coast to be near churches and schools. Since about a two years, the children of then (and so the elderly from now) decided to go back to their roots and start a new village. Important reason for their return to the interior, is the fact that there are plans for a large palm oil plantation in the area. People are afraid that their original living environment will suffer the same fate.

Till now the facilities in Malagufuk are very limited and the main need now is developing sustainable facilities and generating income. Last year a ‘clean water facility’ was build. To generate income they will focus on eco-tourism. Last year, the village already hosted several travelers. Now they have a plan to build a traditional guesthouse. They also need inventory and some basic supplies they can use while guiding tourists.

Jobs and involvement of local people in ecotourism

The creation of jobs for local people is the priority of this ecotourism project. Since the introduction of ecotourism in Klasowvalley and other areas in West Papua local people to play active roles in serving tourists. They work in turn as:

• Local guides in the jungle to show interesting birding/ wildlife watching sites or the medicinal merit of certain plants;
• Porters who carry food, bags, camera equipment and other logistical goods of the visitors;
  Mothers and girls who work as cooks;
• Drivers of 4WD car;
• Papuan mothers and girls selling food, vegetables, fruits and cultural souvenirs in traditional markets .

Tourists who visit Malagufuk village stay in a small wooden hut built by the local people for a Protestant priest. The villagers do not have a separate guesthouse or a wooden bungalow for tourists. The design of the new guesthouse will be similar to the traditional house for the priest but the quality and workmanship of the house will be improved and be more artistic.

€ 700 : Construction of new guesthouse
€ 140 : Inventory goods like sponge mattresses, pillows, mosquito nets, knives, cutleries etc.
€ 140 : Transportation of materials by 4WD car Sorong – Klasow Valley
€ 140 : Spotting scope for bird watching
€ 70 : Large plastic tarpaulin as camping tents
Total costs € 1190

The interior of West Papua forms with their ca. 40 million acres of rain forest is one of the last green lungs of our planet (next to the Amazon and the Congo rainforests) and features an unparalleled biodiversity. The island is very rich in natural ingredients, such as gas, oil, copper, and gold. The area is under heavy pressure from the global economy. The original inhabitants are suddenly faced commercial exploration activities and see their original habitat rapidly disappear.

Klasow Valley is a huge rainforest area located in the east of Sorong regency and has a great biodiversity.

Plants

The tropical rainforest that covers the valley is the natural habitat of a lot of plants including giant pandanustree, strangler ficustree, iron-wood tree, sago tree and etc.

Birds

Lesser Birds of Paradise (Paradisaeaminor), Twelve-wired Paradise Birds, Golden Myna (Mino anais), Eclectusparrot (Eclectusrotatus), Cassowary etc.

Reptiles

Crocodiles, Papuan Monitor Lizard, snakes, and etc.

Marsupial and Mammals

Wallaby, Deer (Cervustimorensis), Wild Pigs

Insects

Ornithopterapriamus butterfly
Meadow argus butterfly
Taenariscatops butterfly
Vindulaarsinoe butterfly

SDSP supports sustainable and small scale fair tourism in West Papua together with our partners in the ‘Community Based Ecotourism Network’ Papua-travel.com.

Our partner Charles Roring is the promotor of development of ecotourism in the new village of Malagufuk. He hopes this ecotourism initiative in Klasowvalley of Sorong regency will support local people in protecting their land for the current and future generations of Papuan people. Charles also writes several blogs to promote eco-tourism and share his experiences travelling through beautiful West Papua.
Absalom Kalami (the former project leader of the clean water installation) will be the local project leader for the construction of the guesthouse.