Hello..
back again on my blog now i will tell you about one of
amazing place.That is Raja Ampat Islands.Well...umm actualy I never go to this
airport so I got the information from internet.
Now enjoy and read it....
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 Regencyin 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 Sultanate
of Tidore, 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. Raja Ampat
people are more like Ambonese than Papuan people and now some of them are
Muslim and some of them are 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 East Timor. 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.
1,508 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.
Raja Ampat Islands have at least three ponds containt
unpoisoned jellyfish, all in Misool area.
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 a boat to reach the islands is necessary.
Documentary film
The documentary film Edies Paradies 3 (by Otto C. Honegger)
has been broadcast by the biggest Switzerland television broadcaster, Schweizer
Fernsehen. 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.
Okay......That's all about Raja Ampat Islands,I hope I can visit That Island and thank's for reading my blog, see you in next post.....good bye:)
(Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Ampat_Islands)
