The origin of the name of Raja Ampat by local myth comes from a woman who found seven eggs. Four grains of which hatch into four princes who separated and each became king. ruling Waigeo, Salawati, Misool East and Misool West. Meanwhile, three other eggs became a ghost, a woman, and a stone.
In the course of history, the Raja Ampat has long been inhabited by fishing communities and implement a custom system Maluku. In this system, the people are members of a village community. Each village was led by a king. Since the establishment of the two Muslim sultanate in the Moluccas, Raja Ampat become part of the Sultanate of Tidore claims. After the defeat of Tidore Sultanate from the Dutch Empire, Raja Ampat Islands became part of the Dutch East Indies claim.
Raja Ampat Islands society generally traditional fishermen who live in small villages are located far apart and different islands. They are a friendly community receive visitors from outside, especially if we brought gifts for them in the form of nuts or candy.This product is a kind of 'indian peace pipe' in Raja Ampat. Tradition of chatting with eating nut is also called "Para - Para Pinang" often take turns throwing each other mob, the local term for funny stories. They are followers of Islam and Christianity, and often in the same family or clan members are embracing one of the two religions. It makes the Raja Ampat still get along despite different beliefs.
District Raja Ampat Located in West Papua. This area stores a million beauty beneath the sea. Raja Ampat marine tourism is known as one of the 10 best dive sights in the world. Enchantment under the sea and natural wealth, the mainstay of the Raja Ampat Islands through the competitive world of tourism in Indonesia and the world through diving tours that can be done in this eastern Indonesia.
The archipelago is the district resulting from the division of Sorong regency since 2003 covering 12 districts and 88 villages. District has a population of 31,000 souls has 610 islands including the four major islands, namely Pulau Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo. Of the 610 islands, only 35 islands are inhabited. With a total area of about 46,000 km2, only 6,000 km2 of land, 40,000 km2 while the rest is ocean. The islands are unspoiled and beautiful sea is still making direct tourists hooked.
The archipelago is located in the heart of the world's coral triangle (Coral Triangle) and is the center of the richest tropical marine biodiversity in the world today.
The islands are located in the western part of thePapua Island, Indonesia, stretches over an area of approximately 4.6 million hectares. Raja Ampat has a rich and unique species with high discovery 1104 species of fish, 699 species of molluscs (soft animals), and 537 species of coral animals. Not only are the types of fish, Raja Ampat is also rich diversity of coral reefs, seagrass carpet, mangroves, rocky cliffs and beautiful beaches. The potential interest is the development of eco-tourism and the region has also been proposed as a World Heritage Area (World Herritage Site) by the Government of Indonesia.
Seeing his position in the Coral Triangle, right at the center of the world's coral reef biodiversity, the Raja Ampat Islands Sea region indicated as the richest biodiversity in the world. Collection of extensive coral reefs and rich coral reefs prove that these islands can survive against threats like coral bleaching and disease, two types of threats that now jeopardize the survival of corals around the world. Strong ocean currents in the Raja Ampat plays an important role in spreading the coral and fish larvae past the Indian and Pacific Oceans to replenish other reef ecosystems. These capabilities are supported by the diversity and resilience make this region a top priority to protect. The archipelago is part of a region known as the Bird's Head Seascape area, which includes the Gulf of Paradise, National Marine Park in Indonesia.
Raja Ampat Islands is a great potential to serve as a tourist attraction, especially the dive. Raja Ampat Islands waters according to various sources, is one of the 10 best waters for diving sites around the world. In fact, it may also be recognized as number one for the completeness of underwater flora and fauna at this time.
Dr. John Veron, coral experienced experts from Australia, for example, in a site he revealed, the Raja Ampat Islands located at the western tip of New Guinea, about 50 miles northwest of Sorong, has the best reef areas in Indonesia. Approximately 450 species of coral had been identified during the two weeks of research in that area.
A team of experts from Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, and the National Institute of Oceanography (LON) Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) have done a quick assessment in 2001 and 2002. As a result, they noted in these waters there are more than 540 hard coral species (75% of the total species in the world), more than 1,000 types of reef fish, 700 species of mollusks, and the highest record for gonodactyloid stomatopod crustaceans. This makes 75% of the world's coral species in Raja Ampat. Nowhere the same area has a number of coral species as much as this.
There are some coral reefs are still very good condition with the percentage of live coral cover by 90%, which is in the Dampier Strait (the strait between P. and P. Waigeo Batanta), Kofiau Islands, Balearic Islands and South East Misool Wayag. Types of coral reefs in Raja Ampat is generally fringing reef with gentle slope to steep contour. But it also found atoll type and type of burns or taka. In some places, such as in the village Saondarek, when the lowest tides, coral reefs can be seen without a dive and the adaptation itself, corals can still be alive despite being in the open air and direct sunlight.
Unique species that can be found when diving is some kind of pigmy seahorse or sea horse mini, wobbegong and manta ray. There are also endemic fish Raja Ampat, namely Eviota king, which is a kind of fish gobbie. At Manta Point supernal Arborek Dampier Strait, you can dive in the company of some tail Manta Ray benign like when you dive in Derawan Islands, East Kalimantan. If diving in Cape Kri or Chicken Reef, you can be surrounded by thousands of fish. Sometimes a collection of tuna, giant trevallies and snappers. But a tense when we are surrounded by a collection of barracuda fish, even though it is relatively harmless (dangerous if we see barracuda solitary or alone). Reef sharks are also frequently seen, and if you are lucky you can also see turtles were quietly eating sponge or swim around you. In some places, such as in Salawati, Batanta and Waigeo also seen Dugong or sea cow.
Because of the many local islands and narrow straits, most of the diving site has a strong current at any given time.is also possible to doing a drift dive, dive while following strong current with very clear visibilyty in the water . There is also a sunken aircraft from World War II relics that can be found in several places makes a nice wreck dive as in P. Wai. And much more real coral reef sites have not been touched. This makes diving in Raja Ampat was more challenging.
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