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Papua

The Raja Ampat Islands, aka The Four Kings Archipelago, are located in the center of the Coral Triangle, the area with the greatest biodiversity worldwide. The Raja Ampat National Park is situated by the north-western Indonesian part of Papua (West Irian) and encompasses more than 50,000 square kilometers. It comprises four major islands: Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool as well as hundreds of smaller islands and the surrounding seas.

Scuba diving around Raja Ampat ensures a huge marine life diversity. Some places offer amazing landscapes of soft corals and gorgonias, while others have hard coral areas stretching up to the horizon. Other unforgettable aspects include diving among sea weeds, shallow reefs and walls, caves, current diving, white and black sands or mangrove forests on the shore.

On top of that there's a huge amount of fish in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colors. All elements of the marine food chain can be found there - starting with tiny pygmy seahorse to the chain-top predators. Coral reefs almost reach the water surface, which makes shallow diving untypically attractive - also thanks to the equatorial sunlight bringing up amazing colors.

The islands are equally beautiful as the surrounding sea - covered with tropical rainforests, rare fauna and beaches where thousands of turtles lay their eggs.

The Raja Ampat area includes 1,223 fish species (out of which 25 are endemic species), 600 hard coral species (10 times more than around the Carribean), 75% of all recognized coral species, 57 species of mantis shrimp, 13 sea mammal species as well as five endangered turtle species.

A 12-day diving safari on a luxurious 'Shakti' boat is 2,420 € per person.