Features
- Reef dropoff
- Hiking available
- Coral
- Child discount
- Good house reef
- IDR 700,000 to 800,000
- Calm beach
- Sandy Beach
- Has raised beds
- Western style toilet
- Has ensuite bathroom/toilet
- In village
Details
Imuri Homestay occupies a beachside location at the edge of Sauwandarek village in southern Mansuar.
Imuri is the local Betew language name for the striped yellow sweetlips fish that abound on the homestay reef.
Two beachfront VIP bungalows with ensuite bathrooms are available. The bungalows sleep two on raised beds. A mattress for a child can be provided in if needed. Note that the bungalows are not intended for three adults: Booking requests for three adults in one bunglow will be rejected.
The well-appointed bungalows have glazed windows and verandahs with ocean views. Mosquito nets, sheets and pillows, and bath towels are provided. The bungalows are equipped with light switches and power outlets.
Meals are served on the bungalow verandahs, and hot water and tea and coffee making supplies are freely available to guests.
Bungalow ensuite bathrooms have western-style toilets, showers and hand basins. Piped water is available when electricty is on at night. Tubs of water are provided for other times.
Electricity for lighting and charging devices is is from the village supply, and is usually available all night.
Only a weak signal is available at Imuri, especially if it’s rainy. The best reception is out on the beach. WhatsApp will usually work, but you should be prepared to be offline at Sauwandarek.
Only basic supplies are available at Sauwandarek’s shops, so be sure to bring your essential supplies with you.
Very little English is spoken at Imuri Homestay. Bringing an offline translation app or phrasebook will make things much easier.
As everywhere in the islands, please do take your inorganic trash away with you when you leave: There is no safe means of inorganic waste disposal in Raja Ampat. (Please see our Don’t rubbish Raja Ampat article for more about this.)
PLEASE NOTE: Sauwandarek is a Seventh Day Adventist community, and the village strictly observes the Sabbath on SATURDAYS.
This means that, with the exception of meal preparation and Waisai transfers for incoming and outgoing guests, no activities that require homestay staff to work are available on Saturdays.
No diving is available on Saturdays at Sauwandarek homestay dive centers.
Snorkelling, or sightseeing trips can only be provided on Saturdays by advance arrangement with your hosts. (Your hosts will organise a boat from another village for you.)
The Sauwandarek community also hope that you will help in their observance of the Sabbath by postponing all your private activities and quietly relaxing until noon, when church services finish.
Transport / Getting there
Transport between Imuri Homestay and Waisai costs IDR 1,000,000 each way.
The longboat used can carry up to 4 passengers, and the total trip price is shared by passengers.
Read more about Raja Ampat boat transport prices here.
Activities
Imuri Homestay has great snorkelling at the door. Easy access to the water is provided by the nearby village jetty. The jetty also shelters large schools of fish and many colourful soft corals. Mansuar’s southern shore is fringed by coral reef, and rich upwellings attract plenty of marine life.
Imuri Homestay can also provide snorkelling and sightseeing trips to anywhere you might like to go.
Sauwandarek’s wide sandy beaches and beachside trees provide plenty of shady places to relax with a good book.
Long hikes are available on Mansuar. Follow the path leads north from Sauwandarek, and you will pass by a lake in the center of the island, before coming to the north shore village of Yenbekwan, where more great snorkelling is available. From Yenbekwan, it’s possible to follow a jungle path eastward, all the way to Yenbuba village on Mansuar’s eastern tip. You will probably need a guide to find this path. If you’re really keen (and the tide is low), from Yenbuba you can cross the sandbanks to Kri.
Do be aware that Sauwandarek village is of the Seventh Day Adventist faith, and that the day of rest there is Saturday. Apart from providing transport to Waisai if needed, your hosts are unlikely to be available for boat trips or other guided activities on Saturdays.
Imuri Homestay Location Map
Imuri Homestay Reviews
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13 Reviews
Single person 16 Feb- 20 Feb
As describes in other comments. Well appointed bungalows (even mini frig in mine). Now, provides a printed list with excursions and fair prices. As stated, fantastic reef off village jetty. Both advantage and disadvantage of village proximity: advantage is experience village life, snack shacks, convenient; disadvantage is more trash and associated rodents, unfortunately, despite bungalows and property being very clean. Learned to tuck in mosquito net ALL around the mattress and sleep with lights on. Better then.
We really enjoyed our stay at Imuri Homestay and would recommend it, especially for those who love snorkeling and village life.
The location of the bungalows is lovely — right on the beach and set away from the busier cluster of homestays at the other end of the village. Both bungalows have hammocks and raised beds, the mosquito nets were good, and the bungalows feel quite new and well set up. Communication overall was fairly good, and it’s clear this is a newer homestay that is still learning the common expectations of Western guests.
The house reef was absolutely phenomenal. Every day felt exciting, never knowing what we might see next. We swam with giant turtles, huge schools of fish, octopus, large groupers, and blacktip reef sharks. While the coral here isn’t as thriving as in some other parts of Raja Ampat, there are still beautiful sections, and the marine life more than makes up for it. Snorkeling straight off the homestay was a real highlight of our trip.
It was also very special to be part of the village. The people were warm and welcoming, and this was especially lovely as we were travelling with our children, who really enjoyed being around other kids in the village.
As a newer and relatively inexperienced homestay, there are a few areas where Imuri could really improve. It would help if the hosts were a bit more proactive and available each day, rather than guests needing to seek them out. We felt that shyness and limited English may be part of this, but even using Google Translate — with the help of their daughter Engel — would make a big difference.
It would also be very helpful if they provided clearer information about common boat trips from the island, along with upfront pricing. Because this information wasn’t always clear, we ended up booking fewer trips than we would have liked. A simple typed list of suggested activities or itineraries that guests could point to would go a long way, and we feel we would have done more if this information had been more readily available.
Overall, this is a wonderful homestay with a truly outstanding reef, a beautiful location, and very kind people. With a little more confidence, clearer information, and more daily availability, Imuri has the potential to be exceptional. We understand these are simply the growing pains of a new homestay, and we would still happily recommend staying here.
We really enjoyed our stay at Imuri Homestay and would recommend it, especially for those who love snorkeling and village life.
The location of the bungalows is lovely — right on the beach and set away from the busier cluster of homestays at the other end of the village. Both bungalows have hammocks and raised beds, the mosquito nets were good, and the bungalows feel quite new and well set up. Communication overall was fairly good, and it’s clear this is a newer homestay that is still learning the common expectations of Western guests.
The house reef was absolutely phenomenal. Every day felt exciting, never knowing what we might see next. We swam with giant turtles, huge schools of fish, octopus, large groupers, and blacktip reef sharks. While the coral here isn’t as thriving as in some other parts of Raja Ampat, there are still beautiful sections, and the marine life more than makes up for it. Snorkeling straight off the homestay was a real highlight of our trip.
It was also very special to be part of the village. The people were warm and welcoming, and this was especially lovely as we were travelling with our children, who really enjoyed being around other kids in the village.
As a newer and relatively inexperienced homestay, there are a few areas where Imuri could really improve. It would help if the hosts were a bit more proactive and available each day, rather than guests needing to seek them out. We felt that shyness and limited English may be part of this, but even using Google Translate — with the help of their daughter Engel — would make a big difference.
It would also be very helpful if they provided clearer information about common boat trips from the island, along with upfront pricing. Because this information wasn’t always clear, we ended up booking fewer trips than we would have liked. A simple typed list of suggested activities or itineraries that guests could point to would go a long way, and we feel we would have done more if this information had been more readily available.
Overall, this is a wonderful homestay with a truly outstanding reef, a beautiful location, and very kind people. With a little more confidence, clearer information, and more daily availability, Imuri has the potential to be exceptional. We understand these are simply the growing pains of a new homestay, and we would still happily recommend staying here.
In summary, we had a disappointing stay here and would not return.
Positive aspects first: the house seems quite new and is in very good condition and well equipped (there was a good mosquito net, a fan, and a small usb lamp). The reef to the left side of the jetty in nice (not excellent) but the variety of fish is superb! Also, blacktip sharks and turtles are guaranteed sightings if you stay in the water long enough. The village is quite nice and there are lots of friendly kids around – you get to enjoy the calm village life.
However, the room was clean but the private bathroom was very dirty. There were fungi and used dental floss on the sink. The toilet was quite disgusting.
The food was just ok, but one of the meals didn’t go down well and we had diarrhea for multiple days after. The amount of food was sufficient and breakfast is usually just cakes. Also, one day the hot water smelled of tobacco.
The host is never around (we only saw him on arrival), so you have to contact him via phone if you can get a signal (we had no signal for the majority of our stay). The guest in the other house was complaining about poor communication and organisation.
Despite the village being nice, they burn trash nearby you’ll get a room full of nasty smoke occasionally. There were lots of mosquitos when we were here and, after cleaning the other house, the host dumped a bag of trash in a pile of trash 10 meters from our house, that sits 1 meter above sea level.
Overall we would choose another homestay in Mansuar, outside of the village, and visit the village on a day trip.
In summary, we had a disappointing stay here and would not return.
Positive aspects first: the house seems quite new and is in very good condition and well equipped (there was a good mosquito net, a fan, and a small usb lamp). The reef to the left side of the jetty in nice (not excellent) but the variety of fish is superb! Also, blacktip sharks and turtles are guaranteed sightings if you stay in the water long enough. The village is quite nice and there are lots of friendly kids around – you get to enjoy the calm village life.
However, the room was clean but the private bathroom was very dirty. There were fungi and used dental floss on the sink. The toilet was quite disgusting.
The food was just ok, but one of the meals didn’t go down well and we had diarrhea for multiple days after. The amount of food was sufficient and breakfast is usually just cakes. Also, one day the hot water smelled of tobacco.
The host is never around (we only saw him on arrival), so you have to contact him via phone if you can get a signal (we had no signal for the majority of our stay). The guest in the other house was complaining about poor communication and organisation.
Despite the village being nice, they burn trash nearby you’ll get a room full of nasty smoke occasionally. There were lots of mosquitos when we were here and, after cleaning the other house, the host dumped a bag of trash in a pile of trash 10 meters from our house, that sits 1 meter above sea level.
Overall we would choose another homestay in Mansuar, outside of the village, and visit the village on a day trip.
Imuri is a really nice Homestay with brand new bungalow, windows, private bathroom and a nice bed ! The only downside was the mosquitos, I don’t know how but even with the mosquito net we were still bitten.
The reef here is one of the best that we visited between Arborek and Fam. Everyday a lot of tourists are coming to visit the cute village of sawandarek, dive or snorkel at the jetty. Famous for shark reef and turtle. Sunrise is amazing !
The staff are caring, the food is excellent, we have done one activity with them and it was really nice around KRI. One downside is that when I wanted to do diving the morning of the dive they told me it was not possible anymore due to the air compressor..
Another point is that you really have to be proactive if you want to do activities and the English of the family is really limited.
The day to go back to Waisai, we asked to leave early as it’s a long journey and they almost forgot us we had to search them in the village and they finally started to prepare the boat. Once on the boat, the motor kept turning off every 5 minutes it was stressful journey we arrived 10 minutes before the ferry departure.
Overall it’s a good homestay but they have to improve communication and organization.
Imuri is a really nice Homestay with brand new bungalow, windows, private bathroom and a nice bed ! The only downside was the mosquitos, I don’t know how but even with the mosquito net we were still bitten.
The reef here is one of the best that we visited between Arborek and Fam. Everyday a lot of tourists are coming to visit the cute village of sawandarek, dive or snorkel at the jetty. Famous for shark reef and turtle. Sunrise is amazing !
The staff are caring, the food is excellent, we have done one activity with them and it was really nice around KRI. One downside is that when I wanted to do diving the morning of the dive they told me it was not possible anymore due to the air compressor..
Another point is that you really have to be proactive if you want to do activities and the English of the family is really limited.
The day to go back to Waisai, we asked to leave early as it’s a long journey and they almost forgot us we had to search them in the village and they finally started to prepare the boat. Once on the boat, the motor kept turning off every 5 minutes it was stressful journey we arrived 10 minutes before the ferry departure.
Overall it’s a good homestay but they have to improve communication and organization.
Imuri is a wonderful homestay . The staff are caring, the food is excellent, the bed is comfortable & the bathroom is very comfortable. Our home reef is unbelievable
The best house reef. Thank you. Imuri.
Imuri is a wonderful homestay . The staff are caring, the food is excellent, the bed is comfortable & the bathroom is very comfortable. Our home reef is unbelievable
The best house reef. Thank you. Imuri.
We were worried about booking a homestay with no reviews but we’re so glad we did as we had the pleasure of being Rein’s first guests at Imuri Homestay.
The summary:
We had an amazing stay, the place is perfect—roomy and comfortable—and the food was excellent. The house reef is out of this world. We would absolutely recommend staying here and would’ve happily stayed longer! Thank you to Rein and his family for being so welcoming and providing such an incredible stay!
The long version:
We initially booked 5 nights but extended because we loved it so much. The homestay is right on the beach at the end of Sauwandarek village, the views out over the water are idyllic. If you’re up early enough, you’ll catch sunrise over the horizon.
The accommodation itself is lovely and all self-contained. The family were very respectful of our privacy and space. Looking out on the sea, there’s a deck with hammocks and a table and chairs for meals, perfect for relaxing and enjoying the view. Inside, there’s a big bedroom and bathroom. The bed was very comfy. There’s also a fan (needed at night!) and a mini fridge.
Meals were brought to the deck, there was always plenty of food and the chef(s) did an incredible job. The meals were all filling and delicious. Food is a combination of rice, fish, noodles, vegetables, tempeh, but through some culinary wizardry everything was very tasty and meals didn’t feel repetitive. The pink pancakes stuffed with coconut were a winner.
The family were lovely, very welcoming and made sure we were comfortable. Communication was great and Rein was very responsive on WhatsApp. Transport to/from Waisai was smooth. Rein and his brother speak some English, but download offline google translate just to be safe!
We came to Sauwandarek to snorkel at the reef and it was somehow better than we’d hoped. The reef is expansive, healthy, bursting with life (barracuda, tuna, turtles, sweet lips, sharks, all pretty guaranteed sightings!) and probably one of the best places in the world to snorkel. It gets a bit busier when the dive boats arrive but you have the place to yourself most of the time! Rein and his brother are divemasters and there’s a local dive shop on the island, we didn’t dive (lots of the reef you can freedive) but we were able to rent weights and fins, and they were more than willing to take us diving and on snorkelling/fishing excursions if we’d wanted to.
We walked to Danau Sauwandarek (Sauwandarek Lake) and the other side of the island one day, it was a reasonably easy walk though the path was not always in good condition. As you’d expect, there were gorgeous views of an untouched landscape.
Some helpful things to note: Power is on from dusk till dawn (approx 18:00-06:00). There are no locks on doors or windows but the village feels very safe, we were never concerned. There are two small shops in the village where you can buy snacks. There are mosquitoes and sand flies in excess so being repellent. They either dump or burn waste on Mansuar, there are some areas just out of the village where you’ll find lots of rubbish.
We were worried about booking a homestay with no reviews but we’re so glad we did as we had the pleasure of being Rein’s first guests at Imuri Homestay.
The summary:
We had an amazing stay, the place is perfect—roomy and comfortable—and the food was excellent. The house reef is out of this world. We would absolutely recommend staying here and would’ve happily stayed longer! Thank you to Rein and his family for being so welcoming and providing such an incredible stay!
The long version:
We initially booked 5 nights but extended because we loved it so much. The homestay is right on the beach at the end of Sauwandarek village, the views out over the water are idyllic. If you’re up early enough, you’ll catch sunrise over the horizon.
The accommodation itself is lovely and all self-contained. The family were very respectful of our privacy and space. Looking out on the sea, there’s a deck with hammocks and a table and chairs for meals, perfect for relaxing and enjoying the view. Inside, there’s a big bedroom and bathroom. The bed was very comfy. There’s also a fan (needed at night!) and a mini fridge.
Meals were brought to the deck, there was always plenty of food and the chef(s) did an incredible job. The meals were all filling and delicious. Food is a combination of rice, fish, noodles, vegetables, tempeh, but through some culinary wizardry everything was very tasty and meals didn’t feel repetitive. The pink pancakes stuffed with coconut were a winner.
The family were lovely, very welcoming and made sure we were comfortable. Communication was great and Rein was very responsive on WhatsApp. Transport to/from Waisai was smooth. Rein and his brother speak some English, but download offline google translate just to be safe!
We came to Sauwandarek to snorkel at the reef and it was somehow better than we’d hoped. The reef is expansive, healthy, bursting with life (barracuda, tuna, turtles, sweet lips, sharks, all pretty guaranteed sightings!) and probably one of the best places in the world to snorkel. It gets a bit busier when the dive boats arrive but you have the place to yourself most of the time! Rein and his brother are divemasters and there’s a local dive shop on the island, we didn’t dive (lots of the reef you can freedive) but we were able to rent weights and fins, and they were more than willing to take us diving and on snorkelling/fishing excursions if we’d wanted to.
We walked to Danau Sauwandarek (Sauwandarek Lake) and the other side of the island one day, it was a reasonably easy walk though the path was not always in good condition. As you’d expect, there were gorgeous views of an untouched landscape.
Some helpful things to note: Power is on from dusk till dawn (approx 18:00-06:00). There are no locks on doors or windows but the village feels very safe, we were never concerned. There are two small shops in the village where you can buy snacks. There are mosquitoes and sand flies in excess so being repellent. They either dump or burn waste on Mansuar, there are some areas just out of the village where you’ll find lots of rubbish.
Imuri Homestay was added to Stay Raja Ampat today, and so does not have any reviews yet.
It’s really hard for homestays new to the website.
Why not give Kristina and Rein a chance, and then be the first to submit some feedback for them?
They’ll be so happy to see you! 😊🙏
Imuri Homestay was added to Stay Raja Ampat today, and so does not have any reviews yet.
It’s really hard for homestays new to the website.
Why not give Kristina and Rein a chance, and then be the first to submit some feedback for them?
They’ll be so happy to see you! 😊🙏