Merauke - The Most Eastern of Indonesia

Merauke, a town on the most eastern of Indonesia, is the capital of the largest districts in Indonesia. The town which  is located on the island of Papua, is still beautiful and original. The culture is still depply held and strong sense of brotherhood still exists. Of course, the hospitality of the very pronounced.

The name of Merauke began when the arrival of the Dutch around 1902. They came by sailing on the river Maro and asked to people of Marind (indigenous people of Merauke) about name of the river that they were going through. The Marinds did not understand the language, but could understood what the Dutch asked. They answered "Maro Ka Ehe" which means "This is river Maro". From the word "Maro ka ehe", then become into Merauke name used today.

To get the town of Merauke, we can use air and sea transport. by using ship, it will be quite a long time, more than a week. Meanwhile, through the air, we can shorten the time to about 12-15 hours and during journey, we will transit in Makassar which takes a long time (up to 6 hours). In Mopah Airport in Merauke, we will see the Statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as high as 12 meters. Here, many tourists are going to take pictures, to perpetuate their arrival at Merauke.

As the most eastern area of the Indonesian Archipelago, District Merauke is directly adjacent to the Republic of Papua New Guinea. Sota, about 80 km from the town of Merauke, is small city that directly adjacent to the neighboring countries. In Sota, there is a monument that shows the coordinates of the boundary between the two countries. This monument is located in a small park that is simple but neat, built by a police officer, Ipda Ma'ruf. In Sota, there is also Sabang-Merauke Monument, symbolizing the unitary state of Indonesia. This monument has a twin that is located on Weh Island, Aceh, which is 5200 km from Sota.

In the District Tanah Miring (about 25 km from Merauke), there is also the monument LB Moerdani. This monument was built to commemorate Operation Dragon, a military operation in which on June 4, 1962, at the District Tanah Miring, Military Special Forces under the command of Major LB Moerdani was dropped for the first time, in order to liberate West Irian from the Dutch.


In Merauke, there is Wasur National Park where can be found a variety of fauna and flora endemic of Papua, such as cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus), pademelons (Thylogale), cenderawasih/bird of paradise (Paradisaeidae) and New Guinea crocodile (Crocodylus novaeguineae). Moreover, it can be found also a wide variety of species of orchids. Approximately 70 percent of the National Park Wasur is savannah and the rest is swamp forest, monsoon forest, beach forest, swamp forest and extensive sago. Plant species that are found in these areas include Api-Api (Avicennia germinans), Ketapang (Terminalia catappa) and Cajuput (Melaleuca leucadendra).

The best time to visit Wasur National Park is in September, which is the transitional seasons from wet to dry. At that time, we can see spectacular scenery, which water birds come crowdly to feed into Lake Rawa Biru (Blue Marsh Lake). Around the lake will grow unique flowers. And in October-November, when the swamp will become drier, other animals began to come to Lake Rawa Biru to get water. And so, the Lake Rawa Biru becomes the "country" for the animals. The diversity of fauna in the National Park Wasur makes it known as the Serengeti of Papua

There are something unique in Wasur National Park, Musamus. Musamus is ants nests which  built by the ants in such a way, so it becomes a soil monument. There are many Musamus in Wasur National Park, with varying height and many are reaching 3-4 meters. Musamus which is "castles of ants" built by using ground, dry grass and the ant saliva as adhesive. Interestingly, Musamus was designed with a ventilated hallways to protect the ant colony from rain. And in summer, the halls become the airway to release heat from the "castle". Musamus can only be found in certain places in the world.

Nature of Merauke also awarded with beautiful beaches. One of the beaches that are popular is Lampu Satu Beach (One Lamp Beach), in Village Buti, about 3 km from Merauke. The name Lampu Satu obtained because there are a lighthouse on the beach. This beach has white sand and gentle stretching with a relatively long coastline and palm trees lined. From morning till evening, the sea water here, will recede as far as 2 kilometers. So, we will look that fishing boats stranded on the beach. And in the afternoon, the beach is crowded by local people, especially young people, who want to enjoy the romantic sunset in the evening.

There are also another beautiful beach in Merauke, Payum Beach. The atmosphere of Payum Beach is not much different than Lampu Satu Beach. Here, we can find a wide brown sand beach which is more natural and quiet. We can see the vast ocean that disappeared over the horizon. And at dusk, before sunset, the atmosphere will be more dramatic and romantic.

It is not complete if we do not taste the local cuisine. Venison is one of the typical culinary from Merauke and to get it is not so difficult, because the restaurants and butchers sell a lot of venison. Papeda which is a porridge made from sago is also a unique culinary from Merauke and it is not less delicious.

For souvenirs, besides Batik Papua, noken bag, deer jerky, bags, belts, shoes which is made from genuine leather could be a reference for souvenirs, a memento from Indonesia's easternmost city.