Even a country as full of adventure as Indonesia has to have its final fr Papua, half of the world's second-biggest island, New Guinea. Here th still clawing at the edges of a very traditional one, where some people h markets but others hunt it with bows and arrows, where one woman do another just a grass skirt. In this youngest part of Indonesia no roads connect the so towns, and to travel any distance you must take to the air or the water. In many ways, Papua seems a different country - which is what most Papuans, who are ethnically distinct from other Indonesians, would like it to be.

Some tribes were still hunting heads and fighting village wars just a couple of decades a Under the influence of missionaries and Dutch and Indonesian governments, such pasta are now history. Travelling in Papua's interior today will awe you only with the charm of its peoples, the resilience of their cultures and the splendour of their landscapes.

Nor is awesome any exaggeration for the islands and beaches around Papua's coasts or the marine life on their coral reefs. The diversity of life around the Raja Ampat islands, in particular, has biologists and scuba divers reaching for ever more original superlatives.

Travel in Papua is undoubtedly a challenge, and not one that comes cheap. Butevi you do here is an adventure, and those who take on Papua's challenge are guarantee, combination of trepidation and exhilaration of which only the very best travels are made.