BEHIND THE RAJA AMPAT

GEOGRAPHICAL LAYOUT OF THE RAJA AMPAT ISLANDS

Raja Ampat Islands District whose territory is largely made up of a cluster of Islands the island which is located at position 20 25 ' North latitude-40 25 ' South latitude and 1300-1320 55 ' East longitude. The County has an area of approximately 6,084.5 km2. Administratively, the boundaries of the territory of Raja Ampat Islands bounded by:

a. North                : Pacific Ocean.

b. the South Sea  : Spooky.

c. West                  : sea of Central Halmahera Regency or Halmahera, Seram Maluku province North

d. East                    : District of Sorong City West District Aimas Sorong, Sorong Regency Districts

                                   Seget,Spooky and the sea.

HISTORY OF THE KING'S FOUR ISLANDS

There are many versions of the story of the origin of the name of Raja Ampat. One version of the story are:

At some point on the Gulf of Wawiyai there is a pair of Hometown Kabui husband and wife go to the forest (forest as a browser) to search for food, when they arrived at the banks of the river Waikeo (Wai meaning water, kew means Bay) they found six eggs Dragon. Eggs are stored in noken (bags) and taken home, arriving at the House of the eggs are stored in the room. When the night they hear a voice murmurs, how their kagetnya when they saw in the room turns the eggs have hatched intangible four boys and one girl, all finely dressed which shows that they are the descendants of the King.

To date it is unclear who gave the name to the kids but then note that each child named:

War became King in Waigeo.

Bethany became King in Salawati.

Dohar became King in Lilinta (Misool)

Mohamad became King at Waigama (Batanta islands off)

While the female child (named Pintolee), at one time the girls pregnant and known by his brother Pintolee put in the skin of the bia (shellfish) great then floated to stranded on the island of Noemfoor. One egg is not hatched and became a rock named Kapatnai and treated as King even give room abode complete with two stones that serve as guards on both sides of the entrance even annually washed and water disiramkan is attached to the community as a babtisan for the Kawe. Not every moment of the stone can be seen except once a year i.e. when washed.

Therefore the community greatly respect the existence of the egg then woke up a home ditepi Waikeo River as a place of residence and until now is still the object of worship of the community. (Source: Korneles Mambrasar)

The sparsely populated Raja Ampat Islands comprise around 1000 islands just off Sorong. With their sublime scenery of steep, jungle-covered islands, scorching white-sand beaches, hidden lagoons,

spooky caves, weird mushroom-shaped islets and pellucid luminous turquoise waters, Raja Ampat has to be one of the most beautiful island chains in Southeast Asia.

Pure, unadulterated beauty isn’t just what draws people here, though. Raja Ampat has good birdwatching, with a couple of species of birds of paradise present, and what many call the best diving in the world. Little known until the last few years, Raja Ampat’s diversity of marine life and its huge, largely pristine coral reef systems are a diver’s dream come true – and fantastic for snorkellers too. It’s like swimming in a tropical aquarium. In fact, the waters are so clear and fish so numerous that you hardly even need don a mask. We saw six sharks swimming around below us merely by peering out the window of an overwater hut! So great is the quantity and variety of marine life here that scientists have described Raja Ampat as a biological hotspot and believe that the reef systems here act to restock reefs throughout the South Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The four biggest islands are Waigeo (with the small but fast-growing regional capital, Waisai), Batanta, Salawati and Misool. The Dampier Strait between Waigeo and Batanta has many outstanding dive sites, so most accommodation options are on Waigeo, Batanta or three smaller islands between them: Kri, Gam and Mansuar.