REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Seventh Lake Sentani Festival is currently going on in Kalkhote, Sentani, Jayapura District, Papua Province, from June 19 to 23, 2014, to promote tourism in Papua and preserve the local culture and arts.

"I am pleased to welcome the implementation of the Lake Sentani Festival. Hopefully, this event will attract more domestic and foreign tourists to Papua and West Papua provinces, and help preserve as well as promote Indonesia's art and cultural heritage existing in Papua," Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono said on June 19 when officially inaugurated the annual festival in Sentani, Jayapura.

The minister praised the beautiful natural scenery around Lake Sentani, which is located in a mountainous area. "I hope there will be a direct international flight to Jayapura in the near future," the minister added.

Thousands of people mostly hailing from Jayapura and the surrounding areas flocked to the venue of Lake Sentani Festival during its opening ceremony.

The festival's opening ceremony was also attended among others by Tunisian Ambassador to Indonesia Mourad Belhassen and spouse, Houda Zaibi, Ambassador of Zimbabwe Alice Magezza, and Indian Ambassador Neeru Singh, his spouse and daughter.

"This is an important event to promote Papua as a tourist destination. Certainly, it will benefit the local people and government," Chairman of the Festival's organizing committee Chris K Tokoro said.

A cultural parade from the various ethnic groups in Papua and from around Indonesia was earlier organized prior to the Festival, on 17 June 2014.

During the Festival, various artists from 19 sub-districts are offering a wide range of cultural performances, exhibitions, and culinary feasts.

This year, the Festival was successful in breaking two records in Indonesian Book of Record MURI, respectively on painting in a 100-meter-long piece of tree bark and creating a giant clay pot having a diameter of one meter and a height of 50 centimeters.

"Resounding Sounds of the Tifa" performed by 500 Papuan dancers and musicians wearing traditional costumes, Isosolo traditional dance aboard boats, and diving while smoking, also highlighted the opening ceremony, stated Hana Hikoyabi, a member of the festival's organizing committee.

Fierce competitions are organized in the eventt such as boat racing for men and women, and musical competitions on drums and pipes with songs from various parts of the region. Touristic tours to the Islands of Asei and Ajun are also offered to visitors to witness special local rituals.

A multimedia show is displayed continuously to showcase varied attractions that the region has to offer, as well as the preparations for the National Sports Week, PON 2020, to be held in the province of Papua in six years to come.

Having a theme: "My Culture, My Life", the Lake Sentani Festival is part of a series of activities prior to the international maritime event, Sail Raja Ampat, which will be organized on August 22-23, 2014. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to inaugurate the Sail Raja Ampat.

The Lake Sentani Festival is one of the three impressive festivals in Papua, besides the Baliem Valley Festival held in August, and the Asmat Festival held in October, that together offer the best and most comprehensive presentations of this huge and beguiling island of Papua, according to information on the official Indonesian tourism website www.Indonesia.travel.

Lake Sentani is one of the largest lakes and the most beautiful one on the island of Papua. Being a volcanic lake, Sentani is 70-90 meters above sea level and located in the Cyclops mountains.

The lake, which is considered by the local population as the home of the rainbows, is part of the Cyclops Strict Nature Reserve and contains many species of fish that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

It harbors 33 species of fish, of which 12 are indigenous, 8 anadromous and 13 introduced. Besides having its own species of rainbowfish (Sentani rainbowfish and red rainbowfish), Lake Sentani is also home to another fish species that cannot be found anywhere else, the Sentani gudgeon.

The lake water outflows into the Jafuri and Tami rivers to the Pacific Ocean near the Papua New Guinea border. The lake is very deep and offers incredible scenery. Above Lake Sentani, a number of cranes (Gruidae) and eagles often fly around to grab fish .

The Lake Sentani Festival is organized to give visitors an insight into Papua`s cultural diversity.

Indonesia's eastern-most province has 30 districts and at least 250 different tribes and languages. Papua's major tribes include Asmat, Kamoro, Dani, and Sentani.

The Lake Sentani Festival showcases the government's commitment to ensuring that both past and present culture and arts of Papua are kept alive.

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