Indonesia’s easternmost province is West Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya), which shares an enormous island with Papua New Guinea. Just off West Papua’s northwestern tip is a series of islands known as Raja Ampat, or 'The Four Kings’ in Indonesian. Located within the famed Coral Triangle, this area is comprised of four large forested islands, innumerable smaller islands and rocky outcroppings, all surrounded by a seemingly endless expanse of azure sea.

Raja Ampat has only recently been discovered by scientist to house world’s richest reefs systems. The group of islands is situated on the equator, is part of Papua and counts more than 600 islands. Till this very day the area is virtually unexplored and unknown due to its size, what we do know is that it has revealed to harbor an amazing diversity of breathtaking underwater life. The four largest islands are Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool and are located at the Westside of the “Bird head peninsula” in New Guinea. The Indonesian province Papua is the western half of the island of New Guinea, while Papua New Guinea is the eastern half.

Michael Aw: “I was like a five-year-old, seeing a reef for the very first time. I was awestruck, held by the incredible power of this richest reef. We must, with all available resources, preserve the beauty of Raja Ampat. This may be the last frontier.”

Raja Ampat's diverse terrestrial and underwater topography is simply breathtaking. Massive tracts of primeval jungles blanket the islands, sheltering orchids, marsupials, birds of paradise, hornbills, and cockatoos. Sheer, craggy cliffs drop from high peaks to the water, and then continue on all the way down to the bottom of the sea.

These underwater walls are current-raked gardens festooned with all manner of soft coral and gorgonian fans. Raja Ampat abounds in diverse reef systems, the majority of which have yet to be explored. There is a seemingly inexhaustible selection of unmapped walls, reef flats, caves and swim throughs, gentle sea mounds, mucky mangroves, placid lagoons, pinnacles, and WWII wrecks.

The clear waters are teeming with big pelagics, massive schools of hunting fish, whale sharks, manta rays, mobula rays, dolphins, whales, turtles, tawny sharks, and wobbegong sharks. Macro delights include a bewildering assortment of garish nudibranchs, blue ringed octopus, Mandarin fish, harlequin shrimps, flame file shells, ghost pipefish, frog fish, and a range of elusive pygmy seahorses.

Raja Ampat’s pristine beauty, both above the water and below the water, is truly unrivalled. Its remote location and lack of infrastructure have inhibited the growth of tourism. There is now only one landbased resort in Raja Ampat, and two permanently based liveaboards operating from Sorong. In the past year, however, this undiscovered area has received a flurry of exuberant press. A new development is in progress on beautiful remote Misool island which was previously only accessible by liveaboard and offers what is probably the most pristine and untouched diving in the world. .