I took this post’s photo 8.07 am on 09 0ctober 2024, as we were preparing to head to the pictured shore – that of Misool Island, one of Raja Ampat’s four “main” islands.
The other 1500+ islands, islets and atolls are all much smaller; most are rainforest-clad.
The waters around them are currently “our” planet’s’ most species-rich; their clarity is oft-astonishing.
Misool covers a little more than two thousand square kilometres; available population figures are decidedly variable, but the current number of resident humans probably does not exceed ten thousand.
Most are Papuans – Melanesian people.
Almost all of them live in villages along Misool’s coast.
Some are “Muslim villages”, others “Christian”.
We were heading to Aduwey – a Christian village, with a school.
Reportedly, two years or so had passed since Aduwey last had any “Western” visitors; Misool now has some “tourist resorts”, but Aduwey is definitely not a “tourist destination”.
Our (Indonesian) tour operator was ethical and meticulous; we only went ashore after it had been re-established – that morning, in person – that our scheduled visit to Aduwey would still be a welcomed one, not an intrusion.
(On one other day a scheduled visit was abandoned when the relevant villagers informed our operator that recently, unexpectedly, they had experienced rather too many visitors)
Click here to discover why Misool is more closely connected to continental Australia – biogeographically, at least – than to continental Asia.
Comments