What a location! My wife and I went to West Papua for a 2,5 weeks trip with Andreas. Right from the beginning, the hospitality spoke for itself. We were picked up at the airport and we were taken care of ever since. We decided to join provisioning instead of leaning back and got our first insight in the daily life around us.

After that, we went straight to Gam and stayed at Neles' homestay for the next couple of days. The area is insane. Nice calm waters right off the overwater cabin and snorkel places all around. We used the location for several trips with Neles himself and Andreas, who showed us the must-see places. Bat caves, green corals, mantas and plenty of other wildlife. Shortly before sunset, we used the opportunity to catch our own dinner and later even went spearfishing during the night — an incredible experience, surrounded by curious sharks.

The other place we spent more time at, was the beautiful island of Batanta. This area was perfect for diving and some shore fishing. Here, we did a lot of hiking and more snorkelling with manta rays, sharks or simply enjoyed the astonishing and well preserved reefs. A highlight was a short meeting with a pod of orcas right off Batanta's shore, where we got some crazy footage with our drone.

I recommend everybody to go and visit this magnificent place. Even though the journey there is long and complicated, it was worth it every single minute. We will come back for sure to explore the more remote locations of Raja Ampat.