Yenaduak Family Homestay

Location :

Pulau Birie, Batanta, Raja Ampat, Arefi, Selat Sagawin, West Papua 98484
Added by Jopie, at 12 November 2016

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• Shulmank

  05 June 2017

  Great Homestay. Stayed five nights in February/March 2017. I wanted peace and solitude and I got it; I was the only guest. Quiet, beautifully thatched cabin on the beach with a great home reef right in front. I counted 50 species of fish in the first hour (I timed it) on my first day in the water. Countless spectacular corals and other marine invertebrates including giant clams with iridescent neon blue edges. No need for costly, time-consuming, additional boat rides to reach world-class snorkeling; just walk into the water here.
  
  This is a safe place for solo snorkeling. Because it is inside a large bay there is almost no current. This increased my safety since I was in the water alone every day. (It is on the same bay as the Eco-Resort, which you can see, but Yenaduak is more affordable.) Day trips to other locales are available if you want them. The owner, Sam, and his nephew took me on a 40-minute boat trip one day, including up a jungle river, to a nice 2 km waterfall hike. He took me to see dugongs on the way back. We also saw manta rays breaching (now that's a wow) and flying fish and numerous dolphins, including a pod of 12 breaching endlessly, on the boat crossing from Waigeo to Birie Island. Sam's 36-foot wooden longboat (a dugout canoe with a powerful outboard engine) is a special boat to experience on the hour-long crossing to Birie from Waigeo Island. You are not likely to ride in a handmade wooden boat of this size many places in the world.
  
  Food was plentiful, nutritious, and simple. Tofu dishes were good. My only criticism of my entire stay is that I would have preferred locally caught fresh fish to the dried-out fish that was served with red sauce that was too sweet. I also did not care to have doughnuts for breakfast most days. Less sugar would be better.
  
  The salak (local fruit that you peel yourself) were delicious. There were also bananas for snacking, unlimited filtered water for drinking, tea and coffee 24/7, a simple indoor shower and toilet, and electric light in the cabins and on my porch from 6:30 p.m. to past midnight. I read a 950-page novel, The Goldfinch, sitting on the porch overlooking the ocean day and night when I wasn't snorkeling or hiking.
  
  Yenaduak Homestay is remote and worth the time to get there. No noise except the birds. I was awakened by the most wondrous bird call every morning and went to sleep to the cacaphonous sound of thousands of birds calling in the wetland behind the homestay each night.
  
  Sam and his very friendly family worked hard to accommodate and make my stay comfortable. Except for the too-sweet red sauce, dried fish instead of freshly caught, and doughnuts for breakfast, I would rate Yenaduak a 5-star. I would stay there again.

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• Nikolaus Welz

  10 May 2017

  Great place to stay, I can recommend it very much. Very friendly Family, good Food, great Snorkelling and very quiet .

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• Milan Maric

  13 April 2017

  Semi - uzasny domaci. Vyborna kuchyna. A neskutocny koral pred "domom"

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• Septinus Manggaprow

  19 November 2016

  Best homestay ever

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