New Guinea: Paradise Found?

Travel Blog • Terry Ward • 02.07.06 | 12:43 PM ET

More than 20 new frog species, a rare tree kangaroo never before seen in Indonesia, four new butterfly species and five new types of palms are some of the astonishing findings reported by scientists during an expedition to a remote mountain jungle in the west of New Guinea. Predictably, it’s being likened to heaven on Earth. “It’s as close to the Garden of Eden as you’re going to find on Earth,” said Bruce Beehler, co-leader of the U.S., Indonesian, and Australian expedition, according to a Reuters report on CNN.com. Beehler said they “just scratched the surface.” Sounds like further evidence that undiscovered locales still await intrepid souls (or, at the very least, heavily funded scientists) in the world’s most far flung corners. Note to intrepid backpackers and Starbucks developers: According to the story, the area is now “off limits to most visitors.”