Life at camp

Basic. Real. Steps from the best diving on the planet

Home for the duration of your expedition is a beach bungalow hand-built by the local community, metres from the water.

Where we are

Basecamp sits on Arborek Island, right in the Raja Ampat archipelago, the beating heart of the Coral Triangle, off the coast of West Papua. It's a 45 to 90 minute boat ride from Waisai, the regional capital, and reachable via Sorong airport (the closest gateway airport) and a short ferry crossing. Remote, wild, and about as far from a tourist resort as you can get.

  1. Jakartadomestic flight
  2. Sorongferry, approx 2 hours
  3. Waisaiboat
  4. Arborekbasecamp
Looking back at basecamp along the jetty, over turquoise shallows

The camp, laid out

Basecamp is a working field station, not a resort: dorms and bungalows on stilts over the water, a scuba shack, a compressor room, a kitchen and a dining area, with the village a short walk along the shore.

Illustrated plan of Barefoot basecamp. Buildings are labelled: compressor room, community room, kitchen, scuba shack, dining area, toilets, showers and water tanks. Sleeping huts run out along jetties over the water and each is named after a marine animal with the number of people it sleeps.
Barefoot's own plan of the site. Every hut is named after something you will meet in the water. Open the full-size plan to read the labels.

Living conditions

Home for the duration of your expedition is a beach bungalow, built by hand by the local community using traditional methods and materials. Expect bunk beds, mattress, pillow, mosquito net and a fan, in same gender dorms just metres from the water. Two private bungalows are available for an extra fee. You'll also find western style toilets, limited fresh water for washing (it comes from our desalination unit or a weekly supply run to Waisai), and three meals a day of local, seasonal food cooked by our local staff, with volunteers taking over the kitchen every Sunday. Power's available to charge your gear. It's basic, it's real, and it's steps from some of the best diving on the planet.

Where you sleep

Barefoot's stilt bungalows along the shore at golden hour, with the jetty running out over the shallows
Golden hour over the huts, from the jetty.
A volunteer dorm: bunk beds under mosquito nets beneath a thatched roof
Shared dorms. Bunk beds, a mattress, a pillow, a mosquito net and a fan.
The inside of a volunteer dorm in daylight, with kit and washing hanging along the walls
Lived in, not staged. This is a dorm mid-expedition.
A private bungalow with a double bed under a mosquito net
Private bungalows are available for an extra fee.
A hammock strung along a bungalow balcony above the sea
Every hut opens onto the water.
Bungalows on stilts standing over shallow water, joined by a wooden walkway
The huts stand on stilts over the shallows.
A basecamp bathroom with a western-style toilet and a bucket for washing
Western-style toilets, and fresh water is limited. Worth knowing before you come.

Three meals a day

Local, seasonal food cooked by the on-site team, with volunteers taking over the kitchen every Sunday.

A plate of rice, vegetables, curry and prawn crackers
A breakfast plate of eggs, fritters and dragonfruit
A plate of local food on a table looking out to sea
A bowl of freshly cut watermelon

A week on the island

  1. MonSurvey dives and community work
  2. TueSurvey dives and community work
  3. WedSurvey dives, and the supply run to Waisai. Food comes once a week
  4. ThuSurvey dives and community work
  5. FriSurvey dives and community work
  6. SatFun dives
  7. SunComplete no-dive day. Volunteers cook for each other

Weekdays mean survey dives and community project work; Saturdays are for fun dives; Sundays are a complete no dive day to let your body recover, and to relax, swim, play volleyball, or just watch the sunset off the jetty. Wednesdays the team heads to Waisai for supplies (and wifi, if you're desperate). Evenings bring presentations, language lessons, games nights and the occasional cold beer. Mobile coverage (Telkomsel) reaches the island via a local tower, so you're never fully off grid, but you'll want to be.

A snorkeller floating over clear water above the reef
Sundays are a complete no-dive day. The water is still there.
Children from the village playing a board game on the jetty with volunteers
Evenings bring presentations, language lessons and games.
A candlelit dinner laid out on the jetty at sunset
And the occasional cold beer.

Camp in pictures

Barefoot Conservation volunteers
Barefoot Conservation volunteers

It’s basic, it’s real, and it’s steps from some of the best diving on the planet.

Apply Talk to us

From £1,895
4–5 weeks

Apply