Cendrawasih Bay Indonesia

Cendrawasih bay is the less visited ‘back garden’ of the increasingly famous Raja Ampat Islands. A vast bite out of Northern New Guinea, the bay is 450 miles long and 320 miles wide. ‘Cendrawasih’ is the Indonesian word for the golden-tailed Greater Bird of Paradise, and the bay’s forested shores and islands harbor many of the additional 39 known species of Paradise birds.  The shores are also home to 9-foot long Salvatori Monitor Lizards, first cousins to the Komodo Dragon, tree kangaroos and remarkably creative colonies of Bower Birds, which are only recently revealing their secrets to ornithologists.

A 1.5 million hectare chunk of Cendrawasih Bay has been designated a protected marine preserve, making it the largest park in Southeast Asia.  In addition to healthy coral and vast varieties of marine life, we can also dive wrecks from the war in the Pacific. Cendrawasih Bay is best known for being one of the world’s gentlest and easiest environments for swimming with whale sharks.  The local fishermen who net small baitfish from their bagans (floating platforms) were the first to consider whale sharks as benign beings and began feeding them baitfish from their nets. Thus the whale sharks delay their migrations and linger, enabling divers and snorkelers to interact with these gentle giants at leisure.

Cendrawasih bay is the less visited ‘back garden’ of the increasingly famous Raja Ampat Islands. A vast bite out of Northern New Guinea, the bay is 450 miles long and 320 miles wide.

[expand title=”Read more description” swaptitle=”Hide description” trigpos=”below” id=”dest-read-more”]

‘Cendrawasih’ is the Indonesian word for the golden-tailed Greater Bird of Paradise, and the bay’s forested shores and islands harbor many of the additional 39 known species of Paradise birds.  The shores are also home to 9-foot long Salvatori Monitor Lizards, first cousins to the Komodo Dragon, tree kangaroos and remarkably creative colonies of Bower Birds, which are only recently revealing their secrets to ornithologists.

A 1.5 million hectare chunk of Cendrawasih Bay has been designated a protected marine preserve, making it the largest park in Southeast Asia.  In addition to healthy coral and vast varieties of marine life, we can also dive wrecks from the war in the Pacific. Cendrawasih Bay is best known for being one of the world’s gentlest and easiest environments for swimming with whale sharks.  The local fishermen who net small baitfish from their bagans (floating platforms) were the first to consider whale sharks as benign beings and began feeding them baitfish from their nets. Thus the whale sharks delay their migrations and linger, enabling divers and snorkelers to interact with these gentle giants at leisure.

[/expand]