Paniai Lakes
Highland Lakes That The Outside World Did Not Know Existed Until A Dutch Pilot Flew Over Them In 1936, In A Valley That Already Held Tens Of Thousands Of People · Enarotali, Central Papua
IN 1936 A DUTCH PILOT NAMED FRITS WISSEL FLEW OVER THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF NEW GUINEA AND SAW LAKES, and villages, and gardens, and people - TENS OF THOUSANDS OF THEM, IN A VALLEY NO OUTSIDER HAD RECORDED. The lakes were called the WISSEL LAKES afterwards, which tells you whose account was being written down. THEY ARE PANIAI, TIGI AND TAGE, cool clear water at around seventeen hundred metres in a bowl of hills, and the MEE people have lived around them for a very long time indeed. It is the same story as the BALIEM VALLEY two years later and it happened first. WHAT SHOULD ALSO BE SAID: PANIAI HAS SEEN REAL VIOLENCE, including an incident at ENAROTALI IN DECEMBER 2014 in which security forces shot dead several young people. That is not history here. CHECK CURRENT ADVICE and go through local arrangement or not at all. Access is a small flight to Enarotali or a long rough road up from Nabire, both weather-dependent, and it is cold at night at seventeen hundred metres.
Danau Paniai, Enarotali, Paniai, Central Papua, Enarotali, Central Papua, Indonesia
REACHED BY SMALL FLIGHTS TO ENAROTALI or by a LONG HARD ROAD FROM NABIRE, which has the nearest airport of any size - BOTH ARE LIMITED AND WEATHER-DEPENDENT and the road is slow and rough in every condition. BUILD IN SPARE DAYS. THERE IS NO GATE AND NO TICKET; the lakes are open water with villages around them. ACCOMMODATION IS VERY SIMPLE at Enarotali and arranged locally. BOATS are hired informally at the shore. IT IS COLD AT ALTITUDE, especially at night, and it rains often. THIS IS A SENSITIVE AREA: CHECK CURRENT TRAVEL ADVICE FOR PAPUA BEFORE PLANNING ANYTHING, travel with local arrangement rather than independently, and be aware that permit requirements for parts of Papua have changed repeatedly. Bring cash; there is effectively no banking.