Lorentz National Park | Bunaken National Park

Lorentz National Park

Of the seven Indonesian locations listed UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Lorentz National Park is the one that initially seems the least popular, and yet it contains an absolutely phenomenal wealth of flora and fauna. With an area covering 2-3 milion hectares, Lorentz National Park is the largest conservation area in South East Asia, and is home to various types of ecosystem, ranging from coastal, wetlands, lowland forest, sub-montana, montana and sub-alpine, to alpine environments that stretch all the way up to 5,000 metres above sea level.
Lorentz is also the only site in South-East Asia has all-year-round snow on its mountain peaks, although its glacier has now shrunk from twenty to two square kilometres thanks to global warming. Natural music is provided here by the 350 bird species that live peacefully in branches of the park's gigantic tress.
Sir David Attenborough, the legendary BBC documentary maker, has visited the park a number of times to film its amazing birds of paradise. Take a look at "Attenborough in Paradise" for an idea of what you can expect at Lorentz.
Lorentz National Park extends for 150 kilometres, from the mountain chain in the north to the Arafura Sea in the South. This national park is also now inhabited by human, after 24 million years of isolation.


How to get there
The Lorentz National Park is located in Papua . Fly to Timika, then continue your journey on a small plane to the National park, or take a bout heading south from the harbour at Sawa Erma. Stamina and a lot of anti-mosquito cream are necessary to conquer this wild Papua enviroment. 


Bunaken National Park

Bunaken National Park is the first diving spot in Indonesia to go global and Bunaken is, in fact, the name one of the islands in the 79,000 hectare marine park. The other island in the chain include Manado Tua, Mantehage, Nain and Siladen.
The Bunaken National Park offers exceptional underwater scenery, especially in the straits that separate the five islands. Officially declared the National Park by the government in 1991, Bunaken is home to around 3,000 species of fish, and 300 different kinds of coral reef. At its 40 diving points divers can find Marlin, tuna, manta rays, barracuda, reef sharks of both the black tip and and white tip varieties, and hammerhead sharks, One of the Bunaken National Park main icons is the ancient so called "King of the Sea", the coelacanth fish. 
In his famous jurnal, Alfred Russel Walace, the British explorer who embarked on an expedition to the islands of Nusantara (what is now known as Indonesia) between 1854 - 1862, wrote that Manado was one of the most beautiful places int eastern hemisphere. 


How to get there
Bunaken is one of the most accessed national park. Its island are even visible from the main road connecting Manado and Minahasa. To get there, fly to Manado, and then continue your journey by a taxi of the diding operator's base camp. Information on Bunaken can be found at www.bunaken.org.