Welcome to West New Guinea, Papua

New Guinea, is the second largest island after Greenland. It is located just north of Australia, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait, flooded around 5000 BC. New Guinea is considered as the last wilderness paradise left on our planet earth. The island does not only contribute its magical rain forest to eliminate global warming, but also harbors the most beautiful wildlife on the planet, among others are the elusive Birds of Paradise and the Bowerbirds.

New Guinea politically is divided into 2 countries. The western half of the island contains the Indonesian provinces of Papua and Papua Barat, while the eastern half forms the mainland of the independent country of Papua New Guinea (PNG).

New Guinea does not only inherit the largest mangrove area in the world but also it possesses the highest mountain point between Himalayas & Andes and the highest island peak in the world. With 4.884m of Mount Cartensz, covered with everlasting snow, this makes New Guinea the world's fourth highest landmass.

The present New Guinea Island population is about 6.9 million people. Many believe human habitation on the island has been dated to as early as about 40,000 BP, and first settlement possibly dated back to 60,000 years ago. The island is currently inhabited by nearly a thousand different tribal groups and a near-equivalent number of separate languages, all referring into one of two groups, the Papuan and the Austronesian languages. New Guinea is perhaps the most linguistically diverse region in the world. Besides the Austronesian languages, there are some other 800 languages divided into almost sixty small language families, which are not obviously related to each other, plus a large number of language isolates.

Comprising some 786,000 km² of tropical land mass, less than 0.5% of the earth's surface, New Guinea has an enormous ecological value in terms of biodiversity, with between 5 to 10% of the total species on the planet. This percentage is equivalent to the United States or Australia. A high percentage of New Guinea's species are endemic (found nowhere else), and thousands are still unknown to Western science: estimated over 200,000 species of insect, around 11,000 to 20,000 plant species; over 650 resident bird species, including most species of birds of paradise and bowerbirds, parrots, and cassowaries; more than 400 amphibians; 455 butterfly species; many marsupials including Bondegezou, Goodfellow's & Huon Tree-kangaroo, Long-beaked Echidna, Tenkile, Agile & Alpine Wallaby, cuscuses and possums; plus various other mammal species. Most of these species are shared, at least in their origin, with the continent of Australia, which was until fairly recent geological times, part of the same landmass. Despite its large size, the island is considered 'nearly a continent' in terms of its biological distinctiveness

Sir David Attenborough " I too have such personal debts of gratitude. Among those I should wish to thank are David Gibbs and Kris Tindige in Irian Jaya ... " David Attenborough The Life of Birds, David Attenborough Productions Ltd., 1998. Also author of many wildlife books

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