One of the highlights of my trip, was taking the BIG Caravan float plane to a very small interior river to pick up a missionary family, and then take them to the Central Papua highlands to the town of Wamena.
Our flight through the mountains was gorgeous. It's hard to believe, but there are literally airstrips EVERYWHERE scattered throughout the mountains. If you look closely in the middle of the plateau above, you will see a small airstrip carved from the surrounding forest.
Upon landing in Wamena at over 5000 feet above sea level, I opened the door of the airplane and for the first time in my Indonesian experience, cool, crisp air entered the cockpit; not hot, sticky, and humid air. The weather in Wamena was wonderful. However, from a pilots perspective, it can also be VERY challenging to fly safely there. You can see how large the amphibian Caravan looks compared to its stable mates, the Caravan on wheels and a Quest Kodiak.
From the highlands of Wamena, after dropping off our passengers, we returned to the lowlands of the Papua South coast with a load of fuel and cement. More on that in another post...
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