Raja Ampat Islands

Raja Ampat is the fractional Sorong District, since 2003. District has a population of 31 000 inhabitants has 610 islands (only 35 islands are inhabited) with a total area of about 46,000 km2, but only 6000 km2 of land, 40 000 km2, the sea again. The islands are unspoiled and beautiful sea is still making a direct tourists hooked. They seemed to want to explore all the waters in the "Bird's Head" island of Papua. Four of these islands is the largest island, namely: smalldam Island, Island Misool, Salawati Island, Island Batanta

PESONA ALAM
The archipelago is a place of great potential to serve as a tourist attraction, especially diving tourism. Raja Ampat Islands waters according to various sources, is one of the 10 best waters for diving sites around the world. In fact, it may also be recognized as number one for the completeness of underwater flora and fauna at the moment, especially due to the coral reefs up to 450 types of variants.

A team of experts from Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, and National Oceanographic Institutions (LON) Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has been rapid assessment in 2001 and 2002. The result, they note in these waters there are more than 540 species of hard corals (75% of the total species in the world), more than 1000 species of reef fish, 700 species of molluscs, and the highest record for gonodactyloid stomatopod crustaceans. This makes 75% of coral species in Raja Ampat world. No single place, with an area having the same number of these coral species.
Unique species that can be encountered when diving is some kind of Pigmy seahorses or mini kudalaut, wobbegong and manta ray. There are also four endemic fish king, namely Eviota king, that is a kind of fish gobbie. At Manta Point inlying Arborek Dampier straits, you can dive with the Manta Ray was accompanied by several heads of benign like when you dive in Derawan Islands, East Kalimantan. If you dive at Cape Kri or Chicken Reef, you can be surrounded by thousands of fish. Sometimes a collection of tuna, giant trevallies and snappers. In some places like in Salawati, Batanta and smalldam also seen Dugong or sea cow.