Raja Ampat
An Archipelago Of More Than 1,500 Islands At The Heart Of The Coral Triangle, Holding The Highest Recorded Marine Biodiversity On Earth Roughly Three Quarters Of All Known Coral Species · Waisai, Southwest Papua
Raja Ampat sits at the centre of the CORAL TRIANGLE, off the western tip of New Guinea, and it holds THE HIGHEST RECORDED MARINE BIODIVERSITY ON EARTH - surveys have found roughly THREE QUARTERS OF ALL KNOWN CORAL SPECIES in this one archipelago, along with well over a thousand reef fish species. More than fifteen hundred islands, most of them uninhabited limestone karst, rise straight out of impossibly clear water; the views from PIAYNEMO and WAYAG over clusters of mushroom-shaped islets are the images that sell it. Underwater there are manta cleaning stations, walls, and currents that feed everything. IT IS NOT EASY OR CHEAP TO REACH: flights to Sorong, then a ferry to Waisai, then a boat to wherever you are staying. What has changed it is the PAPUAN HOMESTAY NETWORK - simple village-run huts over the water that put the money directly into local hands rather than into resorts, and which are the reason to come.
Raja Ampat Islands, Southwest Papua, Waisai, Southwest Papua, Indonesia
THERE IS NO GATE, BUT THERE IS A COMPULSORY PERMIT: every visitor must buy the RAJA AMPAT MARINE PARK ENTRY PERMIT, a conservation levy sold at Sorong or Waisai, valid for the calendar year and CHECKED - carry the card. Fees differ for foreigners and Indonesians and have been revised more than once. GETTING THERE IS THE REAL CONSTRAINT: fly to SORONG, take the passenger FERRY TO WAISAI which runs on a limited daily schedule, then a local boat. MISSING THE FERRY COSTS YOU A DAY. Homestays and resorts arrange transfers and must be booked ahead; there is no walk-in market. DIVE OPERATORS AND LIVEABOARDS run their own seasons. The heaviest rain and roughest seas fall roughly July to September in parts of the archipelago, which is the opposite of most of Indonesia.