Raja Ampat Festival

Raja Ampat has been holding a Festival Bahari (Marine Festival) for several years now.  Usually it is in May, to coincide with the 'Birthday' of the Regency on May 9th, but this year it was postponed and happened in October.

Pantai WTC (Waisai TerCinta - Beloved Waisai Beach) with Kalabia at anchor in background

The postponement had to do with the worrying poor health of the head of the Regency back in May (fortunately he is in better health now, and when I met him at the Festival, he seemed fit-as-a-fiddle), but in fact, this is better timing from several other aspects.  It is much more favourable weather and sea-faring conditions, and the Liveaboards which operate in Raja Ampat have just about completed their 6-month Komodo season and are generally heading back up at this time of year, so there is potential to attract international guests and attention from here as well.

This year the festival was bigger than previously, and seemed much better organized.

There were several activities including a Photography Competition, Traditional Food Fair, where I taste-tested 'Grub Kebobs', there were traditional dance troops from the villages which gave periodic performances throughout the festival and there was a 'Travel Mart'.  A Symposium on Environmentally-Friendly Diving was held one day, although my major comments at that were that it seemed a little futile to be discussing diver impact when the scale of the environmental damage that can occur in that respect is miniscule compared to some of the major issues threatening the reefs and marine conservation, like rapid unsustainable coastal development.

We took the opportunity, at the invitation of the local government, to participate by maintaining a Kalabia stand at the fair, and hosting a drawing competition for Raja Ampat children.  The Kalabia team was very proud that their stand was by far the most popular one at the fair, both for kids and adults!  And of course, the drawing competition was a great success... the top 12 winning entries will become part of the Kalabia 2012 Calendar, but they were more excited to receive their prize of a snorkel set each!

And we hung out and enjoyed the bad food, interesting dances and festival atmosphere!

Ange & Yesaiah @ WTC - a friend who leads a traditional music and dance troop as well as conservation programs in Sawinggrai village

 So it seems like the Festival was a decent success from most points of view.... BUT... there are still a couple issues regarding planning, and the MAJOR issue of waste management that the government needs to improve upon for coming years.  The Festival dates were announced only about two weeks prior to the event - so it doesn't give either participants or guests much chance for preparation!  But the bigger issue in my eyes is the non-existent waste management.  Part of the message of this festival is about how fabulous Raja Ampat is as a fabulous holiday destination... BUT although they at least had someone cleaning the festival area daily, they still don't have a long-term viable solution in place for waste-management in Waisai.  They are still going with the typical 'treatment rather than prophylaxis' (ie. bandaid) approach.  Someone from the Kalabia team was in Waisai for 2 weeks prior to the event canvassing for the inclusion of waste bins around the entire festival area... BUT in the end, the waste bin at the Kalabia stand was the only one visible in the entire area!  And the area just behind the festival grounds looks like this: