Everybody probably still remembers the feeling of falling in love for the first time. The heart knocks, the mind stalls and you lose all concentration.

So it was for me when I set foot on the jetty at Max Ammer´s Kri Eco Resort for the first time. Since then eight years have passed, but my feelings have not become weaker. Rather stronger.

I think the Bird’s Head has a unique mix of untouched nature, miraculous and warmhearted people, rich history as well as marine biodiversity.

Spending time talking with the locals about the wondrous history of the Raja Ampat, the problems they had with the big fishing fleets in the Triton Bay, the original missionaries Ottow and Heisler who arrived in 1855 or visiting the ghosts and demons which inhabit the wrecks in Manokwari. All these stories and myths wake up the adventurer in me.

Under the water surface one finds the gigantic whale shark, wrecks from the Second World War and tiny pygmy seahorses. However, I love the swish of the huge schools of fish, when they are being attacked by giant trevallies.

The Bird’s Head Seascape is a miraculous spot on earth which I love from the bottom of my heart and shed a tear every time I leave. I feel like the little boy when his first big love tells him, that she is in love with his best friend.

The big difference between me and the little boy is, that I can travel any time to my big love again.

And my heart will knock again when I enter the plane in the direction of west Papua and think of my big love: The Bird’s Head Seascape.

Markus Roth’s images have been widely published. To see more of his images, please visit his website.