Indonesia

Indonesia is staggering in scale. Over 17,000 islands stretched across 5,000 kilometers of equatorial ocean, from the tip of Sumatra to the jungles of Papua. It is the world's fourth most populous country with 275 million people, the largest Muslim-majority nation on Earth, and home to more active volcanoes than any other country. The diversity is almost incomprehensible - over 700 languages are spoken, Komodo dragons roam volcanic islands, orangutans swing through Borneo's rainforests, and Balinese Hindu temples share an archipelago with the world's largest Muslim population.

Indonesia is also the country that gave the world the concept of the Ring of Fire. Sitting on the collision zone of multiple tectonic plates, the archipelago has 130 active volcanoes, produces some of the most fertile soil on the planet, and generates earthquakes and tsunamis with terrifying regularity. But this geological violence created landscapes of extraordinary beauty - the terraced rice paddies of Bali, the crater lake of Kelimutu that changes color, the otherworldly blue flames of Ijen volcano. Jakarta is a megacity of 30 million people sinking so fast that the government is building an entirely new capital on Borneo. Bali receives millions of tourists a year. And beyond the famous spots lie thousands of islands that barely appear on maps, where traditional cultures thrive and coral reefs teem with life that scientists are still cataloging.