Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
Karst, as defined in its Wikipedia entry:
a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground.
Much of Raja Ampat – including more than one thousand of its small islands, isles and islets – is karst.
The soluble nature of the relevant rock is often unmistakably evident.
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You are looking at a perfectly ordinary twilight – perfectly ordinary by Raja Ampat standards, at least.
Both photos were taken within a few seconds of each other, several hours after our visit to Aduwey; eventually, a series of multi-image posts will show what happened in its classroom.
Comments closedVisiting “westerners” are likely to experience a complex series of emotions and hunches whenever they first set foot in a “third world” school.
I and my beloved are “old hands” in this respect, having previously visited “Christian”, “Hindu”, “Muslim” and “secular” schools in various, “remote” parts of Africa, Asia and Madagascar.
Nonetheless, our visit to Aduwey village’s school proved very surprising, inspiring…and slightly disturbing.
(as future, multi-image posts will eventually explain/illustrate)
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As we walked from the jetty to the school in Aduwey village, it was easy to see that most inhabitants were not materially wealthy.
It was also readily apparent that they had self-respect, they enjoyed each other’s company, meticulously maintained their houses and paths, and fully appreciated the natural beauty of their particular part of the world.
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At 8.45 am on 09 October, we climbed onto the jetty at Aduwey – a village on Misool Island.
You are looking at a tiny piece of soft coral – severed, probably accidentally.
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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.
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This post is a pointer to two opinion pieces.
Both are particularly worth reading in light of the re-election – as leader of “our” planet’s most powerful “democracy” – of an incorrigible liar, felon, bully, ignoramus, narcissist, jingoist, misogynist (probably, also a “sex offender”) and racist.
Just published by ABC News, Carrington Clarke’s is an immediate response to Donald Trump’s victory.
The October 2024 edition of The Monthly published Tim Winston’s more finely-crafted essay, which makes absolutely no direct reference to the American presidential election.
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The mostly-uninhabited islands of the Guraici Archipelago offer something rarely found in north easternmost Indonesia: “white” beaches.
At 9.36 am on 06 October 2024 my feet and those of the pictured, very petite hermit crab shared one such, on an also-tiny island.
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Only India, China and the United States are home to more humans than is Indonesia.
The north easternmost islands of the Indonesian archipelago – those east of Sulawesi – are huge in number, but most are small isles and islets…”invisible” on most maps.
Collectively, they account for a miniscule portion of Indonesia’s human population, which now exceeds 283 million.
The islands and waters of North Maluku, Maluku, and Raja Ampat are extraordinarily biodiverse, species-rich, and scenically splendid; this is a region of rainforests, reefs, karsts, astonishing marine life, birds of paradise, incredible cloudscapes…and surprisingly few humans.
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Just south of Ternate, Tidore Island is also just “a dot on the map”, and was likewise “built” by its volcano.
Ternate Island and Tidore Island were once the centres of two rival sultanates.
Tidore’s big volcano – Mt Kie Matubu – dominates this post’s photo, which I took from Ternate’s eastern (Ternate City) shore.
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