PAPUA PARADISE

The eastern part of Indonesia always amaze us with the beauty and the richness of its natural resources. One of them is Raja Ampat, a hidden paradise in Papua. It's located off the northwest tip of Papua's bird's head peninsula. Raja Ampat which means Four Kings is an archipelago comprising over 1.500 small islands, cays, and shoals surrounding  the main four islands Misool, Salawati, Waigeo, Batanta and the smaller island Kofiau. The name of Raja Ampat comes from local mythology about a woman who finds seven eggs. Four of the eggs hatch and become kings that occupy four of the biggest islands whilst the other become a ghost, a woman and a stone.

Raja Ampat is a new regency which separated from Sorong Regency in 2004. It encompasses more than 40.000 km2 of land and sea, which also contains Cendrawasih Bay, the largest marine national park in Indonesia. It's a part of the new Indonesian province West Papua which was formerly Irian Jaya. Some of the islands are the most northern pieces of land in Australian continent.

History shows that Raja Ampat was once a part of Tidore Kingdom, an influential kingdom from Maluku. Yet, after the Dutch invaded Maluku, it was shortly claimed by the Nedherlands. The main occupation for people around this area is fishing since the area is dominated by the sea. They live in a small colony of tribes that spreads around the area. Although traditional culture still strongly exists, they are very welcoming to visitors. Their religion is dominantly Christian.

The oceanic natural resources around Raja Ampat give it significant potential as a tourist area. Many sources place Raja Ampat as one of their top ten most popular places for diving whilst it retains the number one ranking in terms of underwater biodiversity. According to Conservation International, marine surveys suggest that the marine life diversity in Raja Ampat area is the highest recorded on Earth. Diversity is considerably greater than any other area sampled in the Coral Triangle composed of Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste. The Coral Triangle is the heart of the world's coral reef biodiversity, making Raja Ampat quite possibly the richest coral reef ecosystems in the world.

The area's massive coral colonies along with relatively high sea surface temperature, also suggest that its reefs maybe relatively resistant to threats like coral bleaching and coral disease, which now jeopardize the survival of other coral ecosystems around the world. Raja Ampat islands are remote and relatively undisturbed by humans. 

The high marine diversity in Raja Ampat is strongly influenced by its position between Indian and Pacific Oceans, as coral and fish larvae are more easily shared between the two oceans. Raja Ampat's coral diversity, resilience and role as a source for larval dispersal make it a global priority for marine protection. 1.309 fish species, 537 coral species (a remarkable 96% of all scleractinia recorded from Indonesia are likely to occur in these islands and 75% of all species that exist in the world) and 699 mollusk species, the variety of marine life is staggering. Some Areas boast enormous schools of fish and regular sightings of sharks, such as wobbegongs.

Although accessing the islands is not that difficult, it takes some time. It takes six hours flight from Jakarta to Sorong. Then, taking boat to reach the islands is necessary. 

There's a documentary film about Raja Ampat Edies Paradies 3 by Otto C. Honegger has been broadcast by the biggest Switzerland television broadcaster Schweizer Fernsehen. The film tells about Raja Ampat's natural underwater beauty which is likened to Switzerland's only inhabited area of the region of around 50.000 residents and is considered like 'Amazon' because of the underwater world located in the heart of the world's Coral Triangle.