Word: Ayu Arman
The smell of the sea immediately greeted us when we arrived at Pomako Pier, Mimika, Indonesia. That morning, the speed boat took us along the Wania River, to villages along the coast of Mimika, Indonesia.
Along the way, we were treated to a refreshingly green landscape. The sun shone brightly with snow-white clouds hanging in the blue sky.
The river cuts through the mangrove forest forming a beautiful natural panorama. Above us fly eagles and pelicans, migratory birds from Australia.
The coast of Mimika is a landscape of tropical forests and mangroves divided by the sea and large, long rivers. There are 74 rivers here, and the lowlands of Mimika are known as the ‘Land of Rivers’.
The rivers that flow through the Mimika plains have given birth to the civilisation of the Kamoro tribe, formerly known as the Mimika Wee tribe. The word ‘Mimi’ means water and ‘Aika’ means stream. Mimika means people who live in the flow of water.
Rivers and seas are the lifeblood of the Kamoro people. Water is their food and source of sustenance as well as a means of transport that connects villages and tribes.
The Wania River that we travelled along is 68,000 metres long and is the transportation route that took us to the mangrove forests along the southern coast of Papua, Ipaya Village, Blue Campus Beach, Kekwa Village, and the estuary that leads to the Arafuru open sea.