The Coral Triangle is a 6 million km2 expanse of land and sea encompassing the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste. This is the world’s epicenter of marine diversity, home to extraordinary wildlife and large human communities, and a critical economic resource.

The results of the Freunds' grueling but memorable trip, the first of its kind, are being published by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the book The Coral Triangle. The Freunds recount their adventures in their own words, alongside essays by international conservation experts on the diversity and threats facing this special place.