Telaga Biru, Dangerously Beautiful Blue Lake

One day an old man said to me "What seems beautiful usually dangerous," well this is actually true in some ways and in nature. Lets not talk about how dangerous a beautiful woman is that she might took logic out of man's head, I'm talking about dangerously beautiful things in nature.

So in my trip to Wamena, Papua, we went to the beautiful lake in Maima District. I should’ve prepared my trekking shoes since the trek is not friendly for my flat shoes. It was muddy, we must carved a way though trees and coppices for about an hour.

This sight is just truly beautiful!

Then I saw a beautiful beautiful blue river. "We're not arrived yet," the guide said. I heard her but still, this view is just mesmerizing. A small bridge with blue water, it just perfectly combined frame.

Then we moved on, walking about 10 more minutes then we arrived. Light green bluish lake, surrounded by trees and hills as its background. This breath taking view stunned me for a while and then I saw the crystal clear blue water and washed my dirty feet there.

"I really wanna jump there right now" I said that while looking at the blue lake. But well, actually it was forbidden, even what I've done which was washing my feet is also forbidden. "Nobody swim there," the locals said.

The lake is more green than the river

"Telaga Biru" or the blue lake, that’s what the locals called this green lake, is a sacred place for people in Wamena. They believe this is where their ancestors came for the first time.

This kind of color on the lake usually came from algae, the green blue color came from cyanophyceae, one of the microscopic bacteria that are photosynthetic and occur naturally in the surface of water, make the water look green blue, as in Telaga Biru.

Well one thing I didn't aware is that these algae might be quite dangerous. Some species might produce toxin and can be dangerous when exposed to human body.

Then I tried to connect the dot with the local beliefs. It might be because of some local long time ago went swimming here and exposed to toxins, the locals with their lack of scientific knowledge would accept it as superstitious power that forbid the them to touch the water, then the lake became sacred.

It was my own theory; of course I won't debate the local beliefs. For me, traditional beliefs are as important as religion, it put people in order and sometimes, we should be scared then we can obey. Consider if they don't believe this lake is sacred, maybe a lot of people and tourist might swim and exposed to toxins.

The lake is behind me, okay, no better spot to pose I can find :)

Now I think too much and distract you from enjoying the true beauty. This lake is a perfect example of what the old man say. Beautiful but dangerous (might be, no further research as far as I know held in this place) and one more thing, my feet, despite had exposed to the water and algae, is fine until now :)

@marischkaprue - traveler with healthy explorer feet

Thanks to:

Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy Republic of Indonesia for this amazing trip. 

NOTES:

• Akan jauh lebih menarik jika mengunjungi Wamena dan sekitarnya di saat Festival Lembah Baliem. Tahun ini Festival Lembah Baliem dilakukan di tanggal 12 Agustus - 15 Agustus 2013.
• It would be way more interesting to visit Wamena and Baliem during the Baliem Valley Festival. This year the festival will be held on 12 August until 15 August 2013.

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