Raja Ampat Islands

The sparsely populated Raja Ampat Islands comprise more than 1500 islands just off Sorong. With their sublime scenery of steep, jungle-covered islands, fine white-sand beaches, hidden lagoons, spooky caves, weird mushroom-shaped islets and pellucid turquoise waters, Raja Ampat is without question one of the most beautiful island chains in the world.

Unadulterated beauty isn’t the only thing drawing people here, though. Raja Ampat also has abundant wildlife, with a couple of species of birds of paradise dancing in the trees and a diversity of marine life and coral reef systems that are a diver’s dream come true (and fantastic for snorkellers and kayakers, too).

So great is the quantity and variety of marine life here that scientists have described Raja Ampat as a biological hot spot and believe that the reef systems here restock reefs throughout the South Pacific and Indian Oceans.