Kakaban Island: Strange Stingless Jellyfish in the Derawan Archipelago

Kakaban island is a large coral atoll in the Derawan Archipelago in the district of Berau, off the east coast of East Kalimantan, covering 774 hectares of uninhabited terrain. It’s most distinctive feature is a huge land-locked lake, which makes up almost two-thirds of the island. This brackish lake is alive with several species of endemic marine life, including millions of stingless jellyfish that only exist in one other place on the planet. The island is surrounded in a tangle of dense mangrove forests, right down to where the water meets the earth. There are very few sections of beach, as most of the Kakaban’s circumference ends in a rocky wall of sheer limestone cliffs, some sections dropping hundreds of feet to the choppy waves below.

Maratua Island: Dive with Green Turtles and Manta Rays in East Kalimantan

This paradise island is situated within the fabled Coral Triangle, with all the richness and beauty within its exotic underwater landscapes that one would expect from such a location. Over 20 dive spots across the Island allow visitors the opportunity to immerse themselves amidst the bountiful treasures which lay tucked neatly beneath the sapphire waters. Maratua’s garden under the sea proudly exhibits an abundance of colorful coral reefs populated with a variety of species of fish, green turtles, manta rays and other marine life.

Unlike some of the other Derawan islands which are uninhabited, Maratua has a population of about 3,000 people and is divided into 4 villages, most of which come from the Bajo Tribes. The Bajo people, or Sea Gypsies as they have often been called, are a landless tribe that is sustained completely and exclusively by the ocean. But not only do they survive solely on marine resources—they actually live in the ocean as well. Entire villages are built on stilts and connected by wooden bridges over large expanses of coral reefs and rocks in the middle of the open sea.