RAJA AMPAT | The last paradise

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Raja Ampat, or the Four Kings, is an archipelago located off of the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula (on the island of New Guinea), Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. It comprises over 1,500 small islands, cays, and shoals around the four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo, and the smaller island of Kofiau.

The Raja Ampat archipelago straddles the equator and forms part of the Coral Triangle, an area of Southeast Asian seas containing the richest marine biodiversity on earth. The Coral Triangle itself is an approximate area west-southwest of the Philippines, east-northeast and southeast of the island of Borneo, and north, east and west of the island of New Guinea, including the seas in between.

Home to the largest manta ray sanctuary & the richest coral reef ecosystems in the world and earning the Prized Crown Jewel of Indonesia award as a global center of marine biodiversity. Raja Ampat is the most protected marine areas in Indonesia. 75% of all Hard Coral Species that exist in the world are in Raja Ampat.

The name of Raja Ampat (Raja means king, and empat means four) comes from local mythology that told of a woman who found seven eggs, in one version this woman was Boki Tabai, daughter of Al-Mansur of Tidore and wife to Gurabesi. Three of the seven hatched and became kings who occupied Raja Ampat Islands, the fourth hatched and settled in Waigama but later migrated to Kalimuri (Seram). In another version, the fifth egg hatched into a woman (Pin Take) who later washed away to Biak, married Manar Makeri, and later gave birth to Gurabesi. The sixth egg hatched into a spirit, while the seventh egg did not hatch and turned to stone and worshipped as a king in Kali Raja (Wawiyai, Waigeo). Historically the 'four' kingdoms were Waigeo, Salawati, Sailolof, Misool, and Waigama. Locally Waigama is not considered one of the Raja Ampat, while Sailolof is not considered one of the Raja Ampat by Tidore.

Best Season : October to March