Sorong

The town of Sorong, located on the “beak” of the Bird’s Head Peninsula in West Papua is the departure point for your visit to the fabulous Raja Ampat marine park. The word “Sorong” is said to originate from the local Soreri language meaning “deep and turbulent seas”. The town is surrounded by mountains, hills, lowlands and protected forests. As a port, its inhabitants come from multi-ethnic descent.

Sorong has long been one of the busiest harbours of West Papua because of the oil found in this region since 1932. However, today oil finds have declined significantly. The oil fields off Sorong were one of the reasons why the Dutch government hung on to Irian after having yielded to the independence of the rest of the Indonesian archipelago.

Today, oil is still the dominant industry here, but timber export is a close second, with logs usually directly shipped overseas. Nowadays, government regulations require that milling and processing take place locally, and so plywood factories are being built in Sorong. The seas around Sorong are rich in tuna and shrimp which are also major export items. On Kabra island there is a Japanese farm for cultured pearls, while shark fins and trepang are shipped to Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.

Getting There

Although most of inter-island passenger and cargo traffic is by boat, there are a number of flights to Sorong.
Batavia Air now operates B737-200 aircrafts between Jakarta-Makassar- Domine Eduard Osok (DEO) airport at Sorong. Another longer route will be via Manado, served by SilkAir, Garuda Indonesia, Pelita Air and Merpati, then take a connection flight to Sorong.

To Do

In Sorong on a hill overlooking the town, is a war memorial to the Japanese dead, known as the Tugu Arfak. The complex includes an obelisk, a bronze Shinto deity and long, thin memorial plaques. During World War II, American aircrafts bombed the airfield on Jefman Island, originally built by the Japanese. The airport has now been moved from Jefman Island to Sorong, and is called the Domine Eduard Osok, or better known as DEO airport.

To watch the birds of paradise and other endemic birds of Papua take a motorboat to Batanta Island, some three to four hours motoring. For a better view of the fabulous bird of paradise (Cendrawasih), take a trip to Waigeo Island, some five to six hours by motorboat. In Sawinggrai Village, for instance, you can observe four species of Cendrawasih. To stay overnight on Waigeo or Sawinggrai, you need to take your own tent or sleep in local huts.
To Stay

Sorong has a number of starred hotels including the Marriot, the JE Meredien, and the Grand Pacific.

Quoted from : http://www.indonesia.travel/en/destination/426/sorong

Supported by : JavaTourism, Lintang Buana Tours