The Last Paradise: Raja Ampat

Little known outside of the scuba diving world, Raja Ampat is a remote group of hundreds of islands off the western coast of Papua, Indonesia. Below the ocean’s surface, the coral reefs here are not simply pristine: biodiversity surveys suggest it may well be the most biodiverse marine ecosystem on earth.

Remote tropical islands, no hotels, no tour buses…is this paradise? For some of us, the answer is yes. Coined “The Last Paradise” there are very few permanent buildings on any of these islands. Most lodging consists of open windowed wooden huts. On the smaller islands electricity is intermittent, air conditioning, wifi, and hot showers simply do not exist. If you can manage all that, and the long trip there (it was 4 flights and a ferry, followed by a shorter boat transfer for me), indeed, Raja Ampat may very well be the last paradise. A thousand kilometers from the nearest major city, you will be rewarded with sights and creatures that are not only stunning, but can be found nowhere else on Earth.

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