Raja Ampat Islands
Raja Ampat Islands
Located
off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New
Guinea, in Indonesia's West Papua province,
Raja Ampat, or the Four Kings, is an archipelago comprising over 1,500 small islands, cays, and shoals
surrounding the four main islands of Misool, Salawati,
Batanta, and Waigeo,
and the smaller island of Kofiau.
Raja Ampat Regency 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 Cenderawasih Bay, the largest marine national park in Indonesia. It is a
part of the newly named West Papua
(province) of Indonesia which was formerly Irian Jaya. Some of the islands are the most northern pieces of land
in the Australian continent.
History
The
name of Raja Ampat comes from local mythology that tells about a woman who
finds seven eggs.
Four of the seven eggs hatch and become kings that occupy four of Raja Ampat biggest islands whilst the
other three become a ghost,
a woman, and a stone.
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 Netherlands.
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.
Geography
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
the 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, Malaysia, Philippines, 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
temperatures, also suggest that its reefs may be relatively resistant to
threats like coral bleaching and coral disease, which now jeopardize the
survival of other coral ecosystems around the world. The Raja Ampat islands are
remote and relatively undisturbed by humans.
The
high marine diversity in Raja Ampat is strongly influenced by its position
between the 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, the capital city of Indonesia to Sorong. Then,
taking boat to reach the islands is necessary.
Documentary film
The
documentary film EdiesParadies 3 (by Otto C. Honegger) has been broadcast by the biggest Switzerland television broadcaster, SchweizerFernsehen.
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 the "Amazon" because of the underwater world located in the heart
of the world's Coral Triangle.
