If you go...


Getting There On the far northwestern corner of the


world’s second largest island, New Guinea, you’ll find the town of Sorong, your launch- ing point to the Raja Empat. • Enter Indonesia on an international flight via Jakarta, Bali, or Ujung Pandang


• Take a Merpati or Pelita Air domestic flight to the airstrip near Sorong


• Hire a water taxi for the 20-minute ride to Sorong


• Hire a boat from Sorong for the minimum two-hour ride to the Raja Empat


Outfitters and Accommodation The only tour operator in the Raja Empat is Irian Diving (www.iriandiving.com). Owner Max Ammer and his staff can help with Indonesian travel arrangements (including flights and boat transfers). You don’t have to be a diver to base yourself at Irian Diving’s low-key Kri dive camp.


There are currently no guided kayak trips available in the Raja Empat. Irian Diving has two kayaks for rent but be sure to check about their current condition and status of accessories (bilge pumps, spray skirts, etc.). For extended trips, bring your own boat.


Season


The climate is equatorial with the rainy sea- son generally falling between May and October. The calmest (and hottest) months are March and November.


Planning • See a travel doctor about appropriate vacci- nations, anti-malarial drugs and first-aid supplies such as antibiotics.


• Excellent nautical charts are available. Check out The Armchair Sailor at www.seabooks.com.


Papuan whose life experience doesn’t extend beyond the borders of one of the most biologically rich marine habi- tats in the world.


I


t’s my desire to “make a difference”that has landed me and two friends,Dave and Bo,firmly in the midst of this


tropical wonder with James. I have explored a variety of exotic locales during the past 10 years searching for pris- tine destinations to dive and kayak, only to find each beau- tiful area spoiled by coral bleaching, illegal fishing or other negative human impacts.Last year,however,the Raja Empat islands put a sudden halt to my search. These remote islands have somehow managed to escape the destruction that is commonplace elsewhere. But it’s only a matter of time before they’re “discovered.” Whether the discoverers will be illegal fishermen with their bombs, cyanide and gill nets, or sensitive ecotourists with kayaks and dive gear, depends in part on decisions that locals like James will make in the next few years. That’s why I have returned to the Raja Empat: to assist in a shift to community-based conservation.A Papuan-run kayak operation would be a great start.That means turning local dugout-canoe fishermen like James into western-style sea kayak guides.But as I watch our prospective “eco-


34 Spring 2003


guide”attempt to harvest the eggs of an endangered sea turtle, I recognize that this may be harder than I thought. Positioned just off the “Bird’s Head”of northwestern


Papua (formerly Irian Jaya), the Raja Empat (Four Sultans) island group comprises several hundred emerald-green islands scattered over an area the size of Connecticut. Uplifted descendants of an ancient sea, some are sculpted mushroom-shaped creations draped with lush tropical growth and intersected by secret channels that hide burial caves and rock art. Others invite exploration with soaring ridgelines and towering forests that plummet to sugary white-sand beaches lined with coconut palms.Very few are inhabited save for the occasional pearl farm or tiny Papuan village.


The place is a biological gold mine. Awash in currents


from three distinct seas, they contain perhaps the most important tropical marine ecosystem on the planet and are being heralded as the world epicenter of coral reef diversity by conservation groups and scientists. Renowned ichthyologist Gerald Allen established the world-record fish count here—283 species on a 200-metre stretch of reef. The sea is full of wild and whimsical creatures like the archerfish, which uses a well-aimed stream of “spit” to gun down unsuspecting insects from jungle branches.On


illustration Lorenzo Del Bianco


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