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Halmahera, North Maluku, Indonesia Yet Another Active Volcano on Halmahera Because   Dukono   was great and because on Halmahera island there's another one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, we absolutely wanted to go to Mount Ibu. Plus, we were told that there we'd be even closer to the action (is that even possible?!). Our guide for this tour was Alex Djangu, a native from Ibu town who lives in Tobelo and is the dean and English teacher at a catholic private school in Tobelo. Without any problem though, he was able to take off a few days to accompany us to the volcano. After a very uncomfortable seven hour drive - the roads on the western side of Halmahera are in bad shape - we arrived in Ibu village at the foot of Mount Ibu. A bit removed from the village and amidst coconut plantations, Alex has built a small bungalow for his guests. It's very basic but there's a toilet and a shower (if there's water) and it's fine for one nig...

Halmahera, North Maluku, Indonesia   Force of Nature It's dark. You walk up the steep crater, on loose ash. The ground shakes with every thunder from the active volcano underneath you. The closer you get to the smoking crater, the louder the thunder and the faster your heartbeat. You're scared. You know this is crazy and you should better turn back, run down the mountain of ash, back to safety. You want to, of course, but you don't because you came this far already and you want to see what's in that roaring, smoking crater. And then you're there, at the top, and you look inside and, although even more scared now than before, you're spellbound and can't turn away anymore. Dukono's got you. Hiking Through Ash Covered Landscape There are three active volcanoes on the island of Halmahera. One of them, Dukono, is close to the town of Tobelo. From time to time, depending on the wind, it covers the town in black ash. We wanted to see the source of the ash cloud...

North Maluku, Indonesia Exploring Morotai Daruba, Morotai's main town, has at least one very good restaurant: Rumah Makan Irfamas (Ikan Bakar, what else.). However, apart from eating good fish there's not much to do in Daruba. You have to get out of town. The catch The lunch Muhlis Eso, the guy from Morotai's WWII museum (it's a small private collection, but a big museum has recently opened its doors) helped us organize a motorcycle to explore the island's east coast and he also joined us as a guide. Though his English and our Indonesian are very limited, we got along very well. Muhlis is a great person, very considerate and helpful and he's one of the (unfortunately) very few environmentally conscious Indonesians we've met. You can find his contact information at the end of this post. Driving Along the Coast The drive along Morotai's winding coastal road leads through coconut palm forests and small villages and is absolutely gorgeous. It was, however, a...

Morotai, Dodola, and the Bandas. Or not. Banda Islands: Sounds Like a Plan Plans are just that; plans. Where you really end up is another thing altogether. Our plan was (and we were looking very forward to it) to go to the Banda Islands. From   Ambon, they're accessible by plane or by speedboat. At least that's how it should be but, for whatever reason, the speedboat doesn't run at the moment. As for the plane, we read that Susi Air was flying to the Bandas. Travel agencies don't sell tickets for small airlines like Susi Air so the only place to get the ticket is at the airport. For some airlines (not Susi) you can in theory buy your ticket online but in Indonesia buying tickets online with a foreign credit card is a headache. At Ambon airport we learned that Susi Air didn't fly to the Bandas anymore, now it was Airfast but the tickets were sold through Aviastar. Ok. While we waited for the clerk to show up ("open" doesn't necessarily mean that someone...

Maluku, Indonesia Who doesn't dream of a tropical island with white sand beaches, palm trees lining the shore, and colorful fish swimming in the corals off the coast? Dream islands like that exist, yes, but unfortunately, in reality they often look a bit different. The white sand beach is strewn with garbage and it's not uncommon to swim among floating plastic bottles or other trash. Sounds disgusting? It is. Some people just close their eyes to reality but I find that hard to do and I'm still looking for the picture perfect litter-free island paradise, hoping to find it somewhere soon. Maybe even in Indonesia. Stop-over in Ambon From Papua   we flew to Ambon from where we   planned to go to the Banda Islands. First, however, we had to extend our visa. This was quite easy; with our passports, copies of them, and a copy of our flight ticket out of Indonesia we went to Ambon's immigration office. There, they took our pictures and fingerprints, asked us two ve...

West Papua, Indonesia Situated on the east of West Papua's Vogelkop, the Arfak Mountains are the habitat of some of the world's most unique and astonishing birds: the birds-of-paradise. Only few people live in the Arfak Mountains and just a handful of tourist guides offer tours and accommodation in the Arfak region. One of them is Hans Mandacan, a Papuan native of Kwau village who speaks English and knows his way around the jungle like no one we've ever met before (you can find his contact information at the end of this post). Like other villagers, Hans used to hunt birds and that is how he knows exactly which bird he can find where and when. Ecotourism in the region should now give the people another source of income. In some communities, a relatively big number of people profit from the growing, albeit still small, numbers of tourists who come especially to see the birds-of-paradise. Getting to the Arfak Mountains: No Easy Task The closest town to the Arfak mountains is M...