Raja Ampat - The Four Kings

The realm of the Four Kings remains untouched in a small corner of Papua New Guinea. Those who visit the kingdom of the Four Kings are mesmerized by its beauty and majesty. This group of islands near the northwestern tip of Papua New Guinea's Bird's Head Seascape lies in the heart of the famed Coral Triangle, which has been proclaimed by scientists as the most bio-diverse on the earth.

According to the Conservation International Rapid Assessment Bulletin, the marine life diversity for scuba diving in Irian Jaya is considerably greater than all other areas sampled in the coral triangle of Indonesia, Philippines and Papua New Guinea – the cream of the cream in world diving. Over 1,200 fish species – a world record 284 on one single dive at Kofiau Island, the benchmark figure for an excellent dive site of 200 fish species surpassed on 51% of Raja Ampat dives (another world record), 600 coral species , 699 mollusc species – again another world high. The term “Frontier Diving” seems to have been invented for Raja Ampat in Irian Jaya. The best way to traverse this beautiful area is by Diving Liveaboards where you can stay from 7 days up to 2 weeks for transition trips.

The Lost World of New Guinea

The Natural History Unit of BBC just came back from their expedition in the heart of Papua New Guinea. The team of scientists found a Lost World of new animal species on an extinct kilometer deep volcano crater of Mt. Bosavi. The prisitine jungles within the crater allowed many animals to develop in isolation for the last 200,000 years since the volcano last erupted.

Among the 40 new unidentified species of animals, the most bizzare was a giant woolly rat the size of a house cat and a kangaroo that evolved to live in trees. The isolation of the site has conditioned the animals not to be afraid of humans. It is astounding to think that there are patches of nature that still remain untouched and undiscovered. The challenge now is to protect and save these natural edens from habitat loss because of logging.