West Papua II – In The Footsteps of Wallace

Almost 150 years ago the British naturalist and explorer Alfred Russell Wallace arrived on an island called Waigeo in the Raja Ampat archipelago after an epic 18 day ocean voyage on a small sailing canoe.

He stayed for three months, studying the extraordinary nature and birds of the islands including the birds of paradise and commented that

“Every islet was covered with strange-looking shrubs and trees, and was generally crowned by lofty and elegant palms, which also studded the ridges of the mountainous shores, forming one of the most singular and picturesque landscapes I have ever seen.”

Further study since then has shown that remote Waigeo is indeed a singular place, two of the most beautiful and rarest birds of paradise in the world – the Red Bird of Paradise and Wilson’s Bird of Paradise are found only on Waigeo and neighbouring Batanta island.

He published an account of his time on Waigeo in his book The Malay Archipelago (1869), and makes special mention of a long thin thread of ocean between the islands of Waigeo and Gam. Still known as ‘The Passage’ today, it is, just as Wallace said, a place of breathtaking beauty – a transparent thread of ocean a little over 1,000 metres long bursting with soft coral and marine life as well as caves and overhanging jungle from the precipitous limestone islands either side.

To fully appreciate this amazing place we travelled it underwater, on the surface and by air. It was to our great good fortune we had the opportunity to take an ultralight two seater waterplane called an ‘MFC Super Drifter’ to explore the area – this is an ‘experimental’ new design – entirely open, just two seats, two inflatable pontoons a pair of wings and a motor – pretty exciting to be travelling at 70mph at several thousand feet with just a pair of glasses between you and the horizon!

With two large landmasses either side and the passage less than 100m wide at points the amount of water passing through The Passage produces raging currents and eddies. To dive this ocean ‘river’, spinning and cartwheeling through the racing green water dodging the enormous submerged boulders that emerge out of the gloom as they race past is to feel the sensation of flying underwater.

Our photo story on flying, boating and diving in the footsteps of Wallace through this wonderful place is below.

The Passage from the air.

There are many 'mushroom' islands around The Passage.

Outside The Passage the bottom is a mix of sand and patch reef.

Apart from the colour The Passage really does look like a river.

Swirling eddy currents are visible on the surface of The Passage.

The jungle of these islands is one of the world's best places to see birds of paradise.

Peering up into the canopy at dawn you may be lucky enough to see the display of the Red Bird of Paradise - found only in the Raja Ampat islands.

Paradise Kingfishers can also be seen around The Passage.

The soft coral starts right below the surface with the jungle overhanging.

Sea fans grow almost at the surface on the sides of The Passage.

Sunrays provide dramatic lighting on seafans and soft corals.

Boulders at the sides of The Passage are encrusted with orange soft coral.

The rays of the midday sun add to the beauty of this underwater world.

The current carries divers on past walls encrusted with soft coral, sponges and tunicates.

The yellow and purple tunicates especially look like the work of an abstract painter.

Other tunicates live in long stemmed colonies waving in the current like ethereal plants.

A small crab (~ 1cm) lives inside this very large 'sea pen' on the floor of The Passage.

Exploring the caverns at the side of The Passage reveal curtains of light falling through areas of the roof that has collapsed to reveal the jungle above.

Steep limestone islands are scattered through The Passage.

The Passage widens towards the end into coral meadows around the limestone islands...

..before stretching back out into the ocean again.