Mata.co.id – Raja Ampat is a district with an area of more than 4.5 million hectares, and is located west of the bird head of West Papua. 85% of the district is an ocean, the rest are islands of more than 600 islands. Raja Ampat Places of Interest Indonesia.
Of the 600 islands, there are 4 major islands, namely Misool Island, Waigeo Island, Batanta Island, and Salawati Island.
In addition to the 4 islands, only 35 islands in the Raja Ampat Islands are inhabited, the rest are not inhabited by humans. Only about 400 islands in Raja Ampat Islands have been explored, the rest is still untouched by humans altogether.
The inhabitants of the Raja Ampat Islands are mostly fishermen. They live in small villages separated from other villages because of different islands.
The people of this archipelago are friendly and kind-hearted people. They are willing to welcome guests from outside with a happy heart.
The inhabitants of the Raja Ampat Islands are partly Christian, and some are Muslim, but they remain harmonious despite their different beliefs. My advice, take candy and areca nut to give to them because they think it is a sign of peace.
Raja Ampat Places of Interest Indonesia
The name Raja Ampat comes from local people’s stories. According to the story, there was a woman who found 7 eggs. The eggs are then hatched, 4 of them hatching into a prince, while 3 other eggs hatch into a woman, a stone, and a ghost.
4 The prince then became king in his respective island, namely Misool Island, Waigeo Island, Batanta Island, and Salawati Island, finally called Raja Ampat.
The Raja Ampat Islands have incredible natural tourism potential. Tourist attractions in West Papua is very famous for underwater tourism which is one of the best dive sites in the world because of the completeness and diversity of flora and fauna under the sea.
Raja Ampat Places
Based on the research, Raja Ampat Islands has 75% of all coral species in the world. There is no other place in the world that has as many coral species in a relatively small location.
With many coral species in the Raja Ampat Islands, there are also numerous species of reef fish. In addition you can also meet with manta rays, mermaids, sea horses, barakuda fish, reef sharks, turtles, tuna, and others.
Remnants of the second world war can also be found in the waters of the Raja Ampat Islands, for example the wreckage of war planes near Wai Island.
Generally, tourists who come to visit the Raja Ampat Islands are divers who mostly come from outside Indonesia.
In addition to diving tours, for those who can not dive can also enjoy the beautiful beaches, cultural tours, see a relic of prehistoric in the form of hand stamp, see maritime festival (usually in August), enjoy the natural scenery, enjoy the countryside atmosphere, culinary tour, , Climbing coral hills, and others.
You will be faced with 2 choices when you want to enjoy the Raja Ampat Islands nature tourism. The choice is the option to stay at a resort, or live on a modified pinisi ship.
If my advice is better choose to use pinisi ship, because it is very common to stay at the resort, while staying for a few days on a typical Indonesian boat will be a unique experience. To enjoy Raja Ampat tour for 1 week by pinisi boat, you have to pay more than 100 million Rupiah, and the ship can accommodate up to 14 people.
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If you want to travel to the Raja Ampat Islands, not enough just with reckless capital just as often done by backpackers. Traveling to a tourist spot dubbed this underwater paradise requires a strong desire, adventurous spirit, passion for diving, and a fairly large capital.
If you expect the price of a trip to the Raja Ampat Islands will go down in the near future, you should throw away your hopes because there are already regulations that limit the number of resorts and ships.
It aims to maintain the natural conditions of the Raja Ampat Islands that are second to none in the world. The expensive price also serves to filter visitors, so only qualified and educated visitors come, so they will realize how important this location is as one of the most complete centers of flora and fauna in the world.
Actually now to reach the Raja Ampat Islands is not difficult, but it will take quite a long time and a considerable cost. If you are in Jakarta, then you should buy a plane ticket from Jakarta to Sorong. The flight will take more than 6 hours and will usually transit first in Makassar or Manado. After arriving in Sorong, you must use the ship to reach the King Islands.
How to reach Raja Ampat Islands
Actually now to reach the Raja Ampat Islands is not difficult, but it will take quite a long time and a considerable cost. If you are in Jakarta, then you should buy a plane ticket from Jakarta to Sorong. The flight will take more than 6 hours and will usually transit first in Makassar or Manado. After arriving in Sorong, you have to use a boat to reach the Raja Ampat Islands, it will take about 3 hours.
The cost of renting a boat for transportation on the Raja Ampat Islands is quite expensive, I recommend going in groups, ideally 1 group of 8 people, according to the capacity of the ship commonly used in the Raja Ampat Islands. That way, you can share the cost of renting a boat with your group and make savings.
If you want more savings, you can choose to use a boat from Jakarta to Sorong with ticket prices only about 400,000 Rupiah only. Although cheap, this way will take a very long time, because you will stop in some big cities. Travel time by boat from Jakarta to Sorong is about 1 week.
