「 Holtekamp 」
Holtekamp is a region in southwest of Papua that is about 40 minutes drive from Papua New Guinea. Along the road, stretches a beautiful sandy beach and some are silent witness to the Hollandia battle dating back in 1944. These days, people prized this area for its beautiful view overlooking the newly built bridge that connects Jayapura to Holtekamp and eventually a faster way to reach Skouw, the border area between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
There are quite number of activities to do around this area such as strolling around the Holtekamp beach, stopping at the Youtefa Bridge, sitting down at one of the Cafe and restaurant around the beach and visiting a mangrove area around it.
Youtefa Bridge
This bridge was constructed during the previous presidency and relatively new. This connectivity changes a lot of things in Papua and many people are happy about this newly constructed building. It's called Youtefa because it's crossing the Youtefa bay rather than carrying its district name which is Holtekamp.
When our group passed through the bridge, we saw many newly graduates were taking pictures in front of it. Many young papuans also set up a photography service and stalls for those who want to take a professional photo around the bridge.
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There are quite a bit of places to see this place from the distance but the best ones are around Holtekamp, the other side of the area than in Jayapura itself.
Before the bridge, there is also an area called Hamadi and Entrop, both are also interesting area of its own. Locals called it "Europe" which basically means " Entrop rupa-rupa" indicating that you can find all sorts of things there from nightlife to one night service.
Once you cross the bridge, you'll enter a much more interesting areas, the actual holtekamp and areas called skouw. But that's for later that we're going to Skouw. This time, we'll only explore around Holtekamp.
He'cnuk Injros Beach
There are several areas around Holtekamp where you can see the sunrise and even swim around the beach. Since our group arrived a little late, we only visited the closest beach around the area called He'cnuk Injros. Along this beach, stretches cafe and restaurant where you can lounge and stroll around its sandy beach.
The sunset in this place is amazing. I was in awe of the view that truly was never something I saw my entire my life. Can you spot the rainbow?
When we were at the place, it was just in time before the sun goes down. In Jayapura, the sun sets a little earlier than other places. For me, it took a bit of time adjusting before I could finally in sync with the rhythm of life around here.
Being one of the most exotic place and perhaps, less unexplored this place is one of its kind. But those who have been visiting this place, always wanted to go back. There's truly something about the place that's pretty magical & this is not just something you can really find anywhere.
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More pictures that I need to share!
Yasbeer & Mangrove Cafe
We decided to get some drinks at a place called Yasbeer. It's located just across the beach and a great place to chill around. Our group was already tired from driving around the Sentani lake to this almost-border area which is on the opposite side of the province.
Yasbeer has a great view of the bridge and their service was good enough for us. We weren't really fussy about things as we needed to actually sit down and use their restroom. For me, I was due for my coffee fix. So, I only ordered coffee and wasn't really hungry.
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This is why we visited a Mangrove cafe and was actually eating in the middle of mangrove. One of our group members joked about finding crocodile and snakes while we dined.
I imagined this place would be much cooler during the day. Since it was almost 6:30 PM, there were many mosquitoes around the place too. But the staffs were kindly enough to provide mosquito repellent.
By the way, in this cafe, I finally tried Papeda, a local main staple made of sago. I also ordered manado styled noodle with skipjack tuna as the broth. It was so good that I felt extremely full.
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While we rarely go out, since our time is almost done in Papua, our neighbors wanted to take us around. They said that it would be a waste going far away eastbound without having to actually check out some places around Jayapura and Papua. Many Indonesian know this place is more expensive than going to Singapore, Malaysia and even Thailand. Sometimes the flight can cost similar to going to EU one way. However, when it comes to living cost, it is not that different.
I heard that even in months such as december, flights here would cost around $500-600 To my mind, I'd be better going to Europe or some other places haha but now I understand that you will never regret coming to this place. It's exotic, foreign, and one of its kind especially if you love ethnography, unique landscape and areas.
Even for me, I'd never think of traveling here had it not been because of work. But at one point, I would love to come back to this place again on my own terms and outside of work purposes.
Anyhow, see you in my next Eastbound Journey or you can read some of it here :
- Eastbound | Flavors of Papua
- Eastbound | Bosnik Beach & TETE Diving Point Biak Numfor
- Eastbound | Leaving Jayapura for Diver’s Paradise, Biak Island
By the way, this was one of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on this year regarding to Hive awareness in Indonesian (Sept–Feb 2024–2025). You can learn how I managed it here :
 | 𝘊𝘦𝘮𝘺 (𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘤) 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝖼𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗀𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗋𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗍 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳, 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬. 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵, 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, 𝘱𝘰𝘱 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺; 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘏𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴. |