Into the coral kingdom of Raja Ampat

Story By Tommy Schultz

Photographs By Tommy Schultz

3 min read

Published On June 29, 2018
Updated On September 8, 2021

Literally meaning “four kings”, the archipelago of Raja Ampat in Indonesia’s West Papua is part of the 225,000km2 Bird’s Head Seascape – home to the most diverse marine life in the world. That fact is underlined by numerous recent expeditions that have identified over 2,000 different marine species. For this photo essay, photographer and writer Tommy Schultz joined one such expedition, a 12-day voyage through this paradise of coral reefs and idyllic islands teeming with life.

Ray of Light: A delicate sea fan dances in afternoon sunbeams. Raja Ampat is home to more than 600 species of hard coral, or about 75% of the species found in the world. A afternoon of diving here can feel like a marine biology lesson, as you spot unique species of hard and soft coral you’ve never come across on previous dive trips.

Sea of Plenty: A male spine-cheeked anemonefish lives within its anemone home (centre). During a 2001 census, nearly 1,000 species of fish were found in Raja Ampat.

Fish Eat Fish World: Enormous aggregations of tiny silverside minnows attracted huge schools of bigger fish (below). On this dive, we spotted walls of yellowtail fusilier – along with other larger species – on the hunt for a quick meal.

Community Living: While exploring a pristine expanse of hard coral, we came across this emperor angelfish passing through a confetti of anthias reef fish (bottom).

Protecting Bird’s Head Seascape

The situation for this diverse environment wasn’t always rosy. Less than a decade ago, the waters around Raja Ampat and surrounding archipelagos were prey to unregulated commercial fishing and poaching. In 2004, US NGO Conservation International (CI), along with partners such as the people of West Papua, the Indonesian government and the WWF created a network of 12 marine protected areas (MPAs) covering more than 3.6 million hectares. Through grants, MPAs employ local people to survey and protect coasts, reefs and fish, while educating them on the importance of the local habitat. At the World Ocean Summit in February 2017, CI announced that US$23 million (S$30.7 million) had already been raised through various donors to support the long-term future of the MPAs.

Water World: With a population of just over 50,000, the people of Raja Ampat are far outnumbered by the wildlife. Schoolchildren swim over to say hi to us under the village pier after a morning of lessons. Known for their exceptional freediving skills, they were no doubt wondering why we needed such awkward equipment to stay underwater.

Heading to the Seas: A hatchling green sea turtle paddles into the open water, where fewer than 10 in 1,000 can expect to survive to adulthood. The white sand beaches of Raja Ampat’s islands are important nesting habitats for two species of marine turtles – the green and the hawksbill.

The writer and photographer was on a 12-day cruise with Seven Seas Liveaboard (thesevenseas.net)

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of Silkwinds magazine

Protecting Bird’s Head Seascape

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