Today there are a lot of articles, pictures and videos about the natural beauty of Raja Ampat islands in the internet. But many of them do not attach map of Raja Ampat in them. That's why many people still do not know where the archipelago is. As we can see in the following map, Raja Ampat is a group of islands that is located in the western end region of West Papua. It is now a regency in Papua Barat province of Indonesia.
In Indonesian or Malay language, Raja is the word for King whereas Ampat is the word for Four. So, Raja Ampat means Four Kings. There are big islands in the archipelago, i.e. Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool. They are surrounded by hundreds of smaller islands.
Although there are hundreds of islands in Raja Ampat, not all of them are visited by tourists. Most visitors will fly to Sorong city and then cross the sea by fast ferry boat to Waisai harbor. There, they will continue their trip to Kri, Mansuar, Gam and Arborek. There are a lot of homestays and some resorts operating in these islands. The southern coast of Waigeo island also has got beach resorts and homestays.