Return to Raja Ampat

If you've read some of the earlier posts you'll probably have seen the West Papua series - in fact the most popular posts on the blog over time (Into the Jungle / In the Footsteps of Wallace / Beneath the Surface / From Highland to Lowland / Echoes of the Stone Age).

For us, no trip to Indonesia would be complete without visiting Raja Ampat, the question for this trip was how to make a remote destination like that work with two young travellers who are too young to dive.

As the saying goes, "where there's a will there's a way", and choosing some nice shallow reef locations we had some fantastic snorkelling, along with a short but rather vertical "hike" to take in the amazing views from Pindito Peak in Wayag.

Looking forward to the young ones getting to diving age!

Slightly hazy in the late afternoon light, the cliffs, deep caves and jungle of the karst landscape of Misool could fit well in a Conan Doyle novel like The Lost World.

Approaching closer, the challenges of actually living in such a beautfiul landscape become clearer

Kayaking is a good way to explore the area, particularly over the shallow reefs and weedbeds that would block all but the smallest boats from getting close to the spectacular undercut islands.

Despite the sharp rock faces and limited flat land, under rock overhangs of some islands rock art can be seen. We particularly liked the stencil fish as a variation on the more familiar hand outline design - this was quite large, possibly 40-50cm in length.

Taking a climb up to Puncak Pindito (Pindito Peak in Wayag) in the heat and humidity is not for the faint hearted...

... but the views can be breathtaking, and you're certainly ready to get back in the water when you return to the beach!

It doesn't take long to get to the coral gardens from the beach

There's lots for keen eyes to observe, like this well camouflaged goby which was in the shallows at barely 1m depth.

A little further out but still an easy free dive are the huge sea fans and reef diversity - concentrations of different sponges, sea fans, tunicates, coral and fish all clustered together.

Even the less likely spots seemed to throw up some surprises, whether schools of fish being hunted on the sand flats by large jacks, or large comb jellies floating through the murky weed beds in more sheltered water.

We could happily have stayed longer, however that is often the way with Wayag, it is uninhabited other than a ranger station, so the only way to visit is on a dedicated dive liveaboard or other boat that is passing through and usually has another schedule to keep...

Whilst working through the boat exit formalities in the town of Sorong (the gateway town to Raja Ampat) we did have the chance to pay a visit to the Sorong Nature Park and surrounding area inhabited by the Moi Tribe. Although Sorong is rarely short of local colour, this proved to be a nice step out of town and gave a taste of lowland Papua to the young ones - sadly a little early to introduce them to the leeches and take them off for weeks long equatorial jungle treks!

Traffic jams in Sorong can be a memorable experience, but it's still nice to escape for a bit sometimes..

Parenting note: Check for crocs and all the other good stuff before you let them use the slide!

Members of the Moi community are keen to share aspects of their culture with visitors and offer for sale some local crafts such as basketry, beadwork and local jungle honey.