
Danau Habbema
Baliem Valley
This lovely lake, 30km west of Wamena as the crow flies, sits amid alpine grasslands at 3400m altitude, with dramatic, snow-capped mountains in view …
The legendary Baliem Valley is the most popular and most accessible destination in Papua’s interior. The Dani people who live here were still dependent on tools of stone, bone and wood when a natural-history expedition led by American Richard Archbold chanced upon the valley in 1938. Dani life has since changed enormously with stone axes being replaced by mobile phones and age-old belief systems with Christianity, but even so the changes are often skin-deep and the valley and surrounding highlands remain one of the world’s last fascinatingly traditional areas. Visiting the Baliem Valley and trekking through high mountain scenery, past neat and orderly Dani villages, takes you to a world far removed from Jakarta and is an honour and an experience to be savoured. For most people it is the highlight of Papua.
Baliem Valley
This lovely lake, 30km west of Wamena as the crow flies, sits amid alpine grasslands at 3400m altitude, with dramatic, snow-capped mountains in view …
Baliem Valley
The celebrated mummy is kept at the tiny settlement of Sumpaima, 300m north of Jiwika along the main road from the main village entrance (look for the…
Baliem Valley
At Iluwe, 1½ hours up a steep path from Jiwika, is Air Garam, a group of saltwater wells. Villagers soak sections of banana trunk in the water, then dry…
Baliem Valley
In Wosilimo, a 45-minute drive northwest from Wamena, Gua Wikuda is said to be several kilometres long, with an underground river that reaches Danau…
Baliem Valley
About 8km from Wamena, nondescript Aikima is famous for its Werapak Elosak mummy, the (supposedly) 300-year-old corpse of a great chief, which was…
Baliem Valley
The road north from Jiwika is flanked by rocky hills with several caves. Gua Kotilola is a sizeable cavern up a short, pretty path behind a Dani compound,…
Baliem Valley
The 280-year-old Alongga Huby mummy can be viewed in Araboda; viewings cost around 80,000Rp (plus another 50,000Rp to the holder).
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