Kokas Rock Art
Hand Stencils And Figures Painted On Limestone Sea Cliffs Reachable Only By Boat, On A Coast That Also Holds Japanese Wartime Tunnels And The Oldest Nutmeg Groves In The World · Kokas, West Papua
ALONG THE LIMESTONE SEA CLIFFS OF THE BOMBERAI PENINSULA, RED HANDS ARE PAINTED ON THE ROCK - stencils, human figures, fish, and shapes nobody has firmly explained, in panels that can only be reached by boat because there is no shore beneath them. They belong to the same broad tradition of coastal rock art that runs through eastern Indonesia and into Papua New Guinea, AND THEY HAVE HAD ALMOST NONE OF THE ATTENTION OR THE DATING WORK THAT SULAWESI'S CAVES HAVE HAD. Some panels sit beside burial niches in the cliffs. THE SAME COAST HOLDS JAPANESE TUNNELS AND GUN POSITIONS from the Second World War, cut into the same limestone. AND FAKFAK IS NUTMEG COUNTRY - the Papuan nutmeg groves here are among the oldest anywhere and predate the Banda plantations that the Dutch fought a century of wars over. Hardly anyone comes. The panels are seen from a chartered boat with someone who knows the coast, some sit beside cliff burial niches that must not be landed at, and nothing should be touched.
Kokas, Fakfak Regency, West Papua, Kokas, West Papua, Indonesia
KOKAS IS ROUGHLY TWO HOURS BY ROAD FROM FAKFAK, which has an airport served from Sorong, Ambon and Timika on LIMITED SCHEDULES - build in spare days. THE ROCK ART IS SEEN FROM A BOAT and boats are CHARTERED INFORMALLY AT KOKAS on the day, weather-dependent, with a LOCAL GUIDE WHO KNOWS WHICH PANELS ARE WHERE - this is not something to attempt without one. DO NOT TOUCH OR MARK ANY PAINTED SURFACE, and do not land at burial sites. THE JAPANESE TUNNELS near the town are open ground and free, unlit and unmaintained - take a torch and do not go in far. ACCOMMODATION IS SIMPLE at Fakfak and very basic at Kokas. MALARIA IS PRESENT IN PAPUA. Bring cash; banking outside Fakfak is minimal.