Indonesia's most eastern island has a stunning natural. Call it the Raja Ampat National Park. Who does not know the beauty of Raja Ampat National Park? The archipelago is located in the northwest province of Papua has an area of about 9.8 million acres.
Raja Ampat archipelago position is very strategic. This is because the territory is located in the Coral Triangle which is the center of the world's coral reef biodiversity. As a center of diversity of coral reefs, then undoubtedly Raja Ampat National Park is the richest biodiversity in the world.
Coral reefs in the National Park which is located in this Waisai resistant to threats like coral bleaching and disease, as evidenced by the broad and rich coral reefs in this area. The threat is very dangerous to the survival of coral reefs around the world.
A very strong ocean currents play an important role in spreading the larvae of coral and fish through the Indian and Pacific oceans to the other reef ecosystems. The existence of this capacity was supported by the diversity and resilience, making this a priority area to be protected.
Through research conducted by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) obtained information on marine ecosystems, mangroves, and forest archipelago of Raja Ampat. This study shows that there are 537 species representing 75% of coral reef species that exist in the world. In addition, found 828 species of fish and estimated the number of fish that exist in these islands around 1074. While on land, discovered lush forests, endemic and rare plants in the Cretaceous rocks, and thousands of sea turtle nesting beaches.
Types of coral reefs in Raja Ampat is a fringing reef generally to the contours of steep ramps up. Not only that, the type of atolls and burned or taka is found also in this area. With the adaptation itself, corals are able to live even though they remained in the open air and exposed to direct sunlight. Thus, when the lowest tides can disakisikan coral reef without diving.
Unique species that can be encountered while diving is some kind of pigmy seahorse or kudalaut mini, wobbegong and manta ray. Endemic fish species are Eviota king Raja Ampat (gobbie fish). At Manta Point is located in Dampier strait Arborek, you can dive in the company of some tail Manta Ray is benign like when you dive in Derawan Islands, East Kalimantan. Not only that, if lucky you can see the collection of fish barracuda, reef sharks, turtles, and dugongs.
Islands, which is one of the 10 best diving in the world tour has 4 major islands namely Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati, and Misool, as well as hundreds of other small islands.
To achieve this TN Raja Ampat Islands, the tourists have to fly to Sorong and then along the sea as far as 71 km to arrive in Raja Ampat.
Although only seven years old, Raja Ampat has been able to bring in foreign tourists as much as five thousand people per year in 2009.
sourch:another website about raja ampat