Taman Safari To Host Papua Cultural Festival

Cisarua (Antara Bali) - Taman Safari Indonesia (TSI) or the Indonesian Safari Park in Cisarua, West Java, will host a month-long Papua Cultural Festival starting January 9, 2012, TSI public relations official Yulius Suprihardo said here on Friday.

"To take place at Kampung Papua or Papua village in the Safari Park, the festival will  be officially opened by Environment Minister Baltazar Kambuaya on Monday, January 9," Yulius said.

He said the festival would be organized to showcase not only the culture and traditions of Papua but also the cultural diversity of Indonesia to both domestic and foreign visitors.

Although Cisarua Safari Park in Bogor district was mainly a flora and fauna conservation center or  modern zoological garden it was  also paying attention to the cultural aspects of  people's life.

Yulius said TSI was developed based on  a concept that was also culture-oriented and featured areas dedicated to different continents of the world such as Africa and Asia,

Therefore, the park also had a "Kampung Papua" or "Papua village" where the Papua Cultural Festival would be staged for a month.

The festival would among other things show the cultural diversity of Papua's indigenous people, for instance, with respect to creative arts. To that end the parkn had brought in two traditional  sculptors from Papua's Asmat tribe, namely Yance and Alex,  who would demonstrate their skills to the public.(IGT/T007)