Manado Tua Island

Manado Tua or Old Manado island, together with the islands of Bunaken, Siladen, Mantehage and Nain form the Bunaken-Manado Tua Marine National Park. The Park lies just off shore from the city of Manado, capital of the province of North Sulawesi, site of the first World Ocean Conference 2009 which held in May. Covering a total of 89,065 hectares, the Bunaken-Manado Tua park is among the most spectacular dive sites in the world.

The islands are separated from the mainland by a submarine trench that reaches a depth of 1,200 meters, and keeps these waters relatively free from city garbage and silt. The reserve is protected by law from spearfishing and coral or fish-collecting, as well as from dynamite fishing.

Only one hour by motor boat from Manado town, the island of Manado Tua is distinguished by the majestic perfect cone of the extinct volcano that formed the island, which is capped with a rainforest on its summit. Around the island are underwater plateaus sloping from 5 meters to 30 meters, fringed by vertical coral walls plunging 25 to 50 meters down, and large caves with hanging coral reefs: a truly amazing sea garden. Next to Manado Tua is the more well-known island of Bunaken.

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Nambo Beach, Kendari

Perched on the east coast of Southeast Sulawesi, Kendari, the capital city of Southeast Sulawesi Province is blessed with a number of beautiful beaches. One of these is Nambo Beach: A lovely relaxing coastline that definitely lives up to its name, since Nambo is derived from the local word “meambo” which means “Excellent”.

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Kuta Beach, Bali

Once a sleepy village with a quiet, beautiful sweep of beach, Kuta today has become a popular beach destination in its own right, alive with tourists from all over the world, swimming, surfing or sunbathing by the beach. Others, casually dressed in shorts, T-shirts and flip-flops stroll along its main road, shopping around or enjoying meals at its many open air restaurants. When in Kuta you know that you are in a holiday town, and people here are in a holiday mood.   

Back in the 1960’s the only hotel was the Kuta Beach Hotel, but soon without much planning, Kuta developed rapidly into a haunt for surfers and backpackers, while the high end market preferred to stay at the more sedate Sanur village on the opposite side of the peninsula.   

With time, Kuta’s popularity grew, and shops, restaurants, discos hotels, - from the simple to the exclusive - sprang up along the main road from Kuta to Legian, catering to the ever increasing holiday crowd, that not only included international tourists but also domestic visitors from Jakarta and other big cities. 

On the beach, people enjoy parasailing, banana boat trips or swimming Women offer traditional Indonesian massage on the beach, others are seen plaiting hair. 

Before sunset, crowds rush to the beach waiting to watch Kuta’s legendary sunsets. Then as darkness falls, Kuta’s nightlife starts to throb with loud music from bars and restaurants, while shops stay open till late at night. Kuta’s main attraction is that everyone can enjoy the town without any prescribed dress code. 

Many famous international bands and celebrities have voluntarily played and sung here enlivening the fun, dance and music scene of Kuta. 

One poignant reminder, however, of the tragedy that befell Kuta is a monument located next to the present Paddy’s café. The monument is erected in memory of those killed during the fatal October 2002 bomb terrorist blasts. The blasts killed more than 300 people, mostly Australian tourists and Indonesian workers. 

Many visitors come here to shop. Kuta is a manufacturing center for summer wear, jewelry and decorative handicrafts that are exported all over the world. So shop here to your heart’s content for summer chic to beach wear, including wonderfully creative accessories from shoes, handbags to bracelets, necklaces and earrings. There are department stores to boutiques, to roadside stalls. 

Popular night spots on Kuta include the Hard Rock Café, De Ja Vu, the Bali  Globe, Paddy’s Café and many more.  

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Ijen Crater/Plateu (Blue Fire), Banyuwangi

Ijen Crater is the biggest crater lake in Java. The sulfur crater lake lies between a natural dams of deeply etched rock. It is 200 meters deep and contains about 36million cubic meters of steaming acid water, shrouded in a smelling swirling sulfur cloud. Inside the crater the different color and size of stones are found. Indeed the crater of Ijen is beautiful garden of stone as well.

The view of sulfur miners who climb and go down to the crater is also amazing. A man puts about 10 kg of yellowish stone in to his basket, before he descends the mountain slope to sell his load, carrying the same basket, going in the same direction, digging the same mineral. It is the natural picture that can be seen everyday.

Ijen Plateau lies in the centre of Ijen-Merapi Malang Reserve, which extends over much of the mountainous region directly west of Banyuwangi and borders on the Baluran National Park in the northeast. As at Mt. Bromo, the caldera is best viewed from the air. Fortunately, almost all commercial flights operating between Denpasar - Surabaya, Yogyakarta or Jakarta usually fly, if not directly over, then close by Ijen plateau, where the seemingly luminous blue/green crater lake forms an unmistakable landmark. It is beautiful scenery and located about 32 km to the north west of Banyuwangi.

The principal attraction at Ijen is the large Crater Lake that has much sulfur, which lies hidden between sheer walls of deeply furrowed rock at more than 200 meters. The Ijen crater itself lies at approximately 2,300 meters above sea level. It forms a twin volcano with the now extinct Mount Merapi. The enormous Crater Lake, which is 200 meters deep and covers an area of more than meters, a million square meters, contains about 36 million cubic meters of steaming, acid water.

Ijen crater shows a special type of volcanic feature common to Indonesia, about 1 kilometer in diameter and 175 meters deep. The floor is covered completely by a warm lake, milky blue green in colours held back by a dam built many years ago by the Dutch, in order to keep the hot, mineral laden water from raining the crop lands below.

The crater can be reached from either the east or the west by any kinds of vehicles, but the second part of the trip covers distance 3 km on foot (jungle track). However, the latter is more popular approach, since the climb from the road's end to the edge of the lake is only one and a half hours. And a walk around the lake takes a full day.

The temperature drops at night, near the crater rim it can fall to about 5° Celsius. The road ends at Jampit, where very basic shelter is available. It is also possible to sleep in the old vulcanology station further up the hill, now used by sulfur collectors, but permission must be obtained in advance.

The sulfur is transported entirely on foot. In the past, horses were used but they were found to be less practical on the hazardous terrain. Today, the mine yields nine to twelve tons of sulfur per day.

Men carry individual loads of up to 70 kg, often barefooted, up to the rim of crater and then 17 km down the mountainside to a factory near Banyuwangi. The porters are paid by weight. The most important advice if you are traveling to Ijen is: "If you lose your way, just look out for the sulfur trail". The meaning was clear, since a continuous flow of two ways traffic, carrying the sulfur down the mountainside from the lake and trudging up again to re-load, had left a yellow trail on the well-worn path. The best time for seeing Ijen Crater is at 8 to 9 am.

The magnificent turquoise sulfur lake of Kawah Ijen lies at 2148 m above sea level and is surrounded by the volcanos sheer crater walls. The vent is a source of sulfur and collectors work here, making the trek up to the crater and down to the lake every day. Sulfur collectors hike up in the morning and return around 1 pm when the clouds roll in. They carry shoulder basket of pure sulfur from a quarry on the lakes edge under the shadow of the sheer walls of the crater. The mineral at Kawah Ijen is purer and is worth commercial exploitation despite the horrendous labor involved: Javas homegrown sulfur is a natural source of sulfuric acid, in great demand in the oil-refining business and in the production of fertilizers.

Source : http://www.eastjava.com/

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Senggigi Beach Lombok

Senggigi is Lombok's oldest and most famous resort area.

A perfect place to relax, Senggigi boasts a series of white sandy beaches and safe swimming areas. The point at central Senggigi has good waves for surfers. This place has a colourful reef which provides shelter to a variety of marine life and exquisitely shapped coral and makes it a perfect place to snorkle.

In the dry season, there is an interesting variety of boats moored in the bay. The town of Senggigi spreads out along nearly 10 kilometers of coastal road. This road continues north to Bangsal, the port for the Gili Islands.

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Medewi Beach Bali

Understand

This is a tiny, remote village in one of the least visited areas of Bali. It is very much a surfing hot spot, and most visitors who do stay here stay for that reason alone. For non-surfers, it does offer a glimpse of what so much of Bali was like before the growth of mass tourism in the 1970s, and is a great place to relax.

Get in

Get in

Medewi is located about 75 kilometres west of Denpasar on the main south coast road, about 34 kilometres further west than the town of Tabanan. Anyone who travelling from the south of Bali by road to the west coast port town of Gilimanuk will pass by here.

Get Around

This is a great place for walking. If you want to hire a motorbike your hotel should be able to oblige and expect to pay around Rp 70,000-100,000 per day.

See

The beach is divided in to two main portions, the eastern half which is very rocky with some large flat grey stone boulders interspersed with pebbles and black sand, and the western half which is sandier. It's not the best beach for sunbathing or lounging, but good for long quiet strolls.

Local fishermen bring in their catch just east of the river mouth, which is accessible down a steep incline from the main road. You can buy really cheap and fresh seafood here of all types, or just go to check it out. Cows grazing, fishermans' wives mending nets, sales taking place, kids playing, and boats being hauled out of the water. The catch seems to come in until around 10AM or so.

The sunset is over the Indian Ocean here which is quite magnificent.

Do

Go Surfing where the long left hand wave at Medewi Beach rolls all year and is popular with surfers for that reason. The largest waves tend to be in July and August. There is also right-hand break less than 100 metres away around the northern point. When the surf is small there is also a beach break, working mid-tide, over the river mouth about 250 metres to the south south. There are several other surf breaks nearb, including Balian Beach (30 minute drive east). For updates on conditions is is worth checking Medewi Surf Information .

Medewi fishermen.

Relax in the very quiet coastal village which nothing really is going on besides the bar, the surfing, and the local fisherman doing their business.

Understand the origin of Medewi as a place name. This area was a forest with many Ketket or thorny trees. In Balinese, thorny forest is Alas Meduwi hence the place was named Meduwi which then became Medewi.

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Ngurtafur beach, Kei

Filled with charm and a sense of magic, from the beauty of the blue sky, to the endless stretches of sea and sand. Historically recognized as the legendary Spice Islands, the enchanting Maluku Province is home to much more than just mace and nutmeg.

Here in Southeast Maluku, on the tiny Warbal Island in the Kei island chain, lies a peculiar, yet entirely captivating beach. Unlike most beaches which stretch along the coast of an island, Ngutafur Beach extends out to sea. An unbroken sandbar of about 2 kilometers in length, and 7 meters in width, Ngurtafur beach is a fine line of powdery white sands, bordered on either side by a clear and almost impossibly blue ocean. Strolling down this narrow beach is like taking a stroll through the ocean itself, with the added benefits of staying dry.

This strange and magical isle is covered in soft white sands, its surrounding areas adorned with lush green trees. But even with the charming views along Ngurtafur, a second landscape remains hidden beneath the surface, waiting to be discovered. Maluku waters are rich in coral reefs, many even visible from your vantage point in your boat. Hundreds of species of fish and other marine life thrive within these reefs, so be sure to grab your snorkel and goggles and take a look.

Also frequenting this beach are the giant Leatherback Turtles, known as Tabob by the local community. The turtles are a protected species, whose nesting grounds on Ngurtafur Beach are monitored by WWF. Other visitors to Ngurtafur include large flocks of Pelicans, who migrate from Australia and Papua New Guinea to the Maluku islands.

The Kei Islands are part of Wallacea, a group of Indonesian islands which are separated by deep waters from both the Asian and Australian continental shelves, and are therefore part of neither.

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Limboto lake, gorontalo

Limboto lake, based on the genesis formation is a low basin or lagoon that also referred to as a type of shallow lakes or lake types of exposure to flooding (flood plain) and located in Gorontalo, North Side of Sulawesi. The main problem that occurred in Lake Limboto is extensive sedimentation and reduction of the lake area. 

When these issues are not resolved well, the Lake Limboto would bring flood problems and local environment extinction. This research is conducted for obtaining strategic countermeasure for lake age elongation and conservation against sedimentation problems. The methodologies are literature studies, field investigations, field measurements, and collecting of community's aspirations (local intelligences). 

The recent Limboto Lake Countermeasure Plan should be enhanced by considering original natural function of the lake as flood inundation basin. It was to late to trap sediment inside the lake, therefore sabo technology should be implicated in more effective scheme with public participation. The inside lake sediment transport mechanism with sediment trap and Tapodu barrage water gate installation simulation scenario need to be socialized and studied thoroughly before fully implemented in order to avoiding another possible problems such as larger flooding and ecologic degradation.

source : http://www.sciencedirect.com/

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Lorentz National Park, Papua

Lorentz National Park is located in the Indonesian province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya (western New Guinea). With an area of 25,056 km2 (9,674 mi2), it is the largest national park in South-East Asia. In 1999 Lorentz was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

An outstanding example of the biodiversity of New Guinea, Lorentz is one of the most ecologically diverse national parks in the world. It is the only nature reserve in the Asia-Pacific region to contain a full altitudinal array of ecosystems ranging through marine areas, mangroves, tidal and freshwater swamp forest, lowland and montane rainforest, alpine tundra, and equatorial glaciers. At 4884 meters, Puncak Jaya (formerly Carstensz Pyramid) is the tallest mountain between the Himalayas and the Andes.

Birdlife International has called Lorentz Park “probably the single most important reserve in New Guinea”. It contains five of World Wildlife Fund's "Global 200" ecoregions: Southern New Guinea Lowland Forests; New Guinea Montane Forests; New Guinea Central Range Subalpine Grasslands; New Guinea Mangroves; and New Guinea Rivers and Streams.

Lorentz Park contains many unmapped and unexplored areas, and is certain to contain many species of plants and animals as yet unknown to Western science. Local communities' ethnobotanical and ethnozoological knowledge of the Lorentz biota is also very poorly documented.

The park is named for Hendrikus Albertus Lorentz, a Dutch explorer who passed through the area on his 1909–10 expedition.

Fauna

The Southern Crowned Pigeon found in Lorentz is confined to the southern lowland forests of New Guinea.

Lorentz National Park has 630 documented species of bird (around 70% of the total number of bird species in Papua) and 123 mammalian species. Birds include two species of cassowary, 31 dove and pigeon species, 31 species of cockatoo, 13 species of kingfisher and 29 species of sunbird. Six bird species are endemic to the Snow Mountains including the Snow Mountain Quail and Snow Mountain Robin, 26 species are endemic to the Central Papuan Ranges while three are endemic to the South Papuan Lowlands. Threatened species include the Southern Cassowary, Southern Crowned Pigeon, Pesquet's Parrot, Salvadori's Teal and Macgregor's Giant Honeyeater.

The mammal species include the Long-beaked echidna, Short-beaked Echidna, and four species of cuscus as well as wallabies, wildcats and tree-kangaroos. Endemic to the Sudirman Range is the Dingiso, a tree-kangaroo species only discovered in 1995.

Human habitation and culture

The area of the national park has been inhabited for more than 25,000 years. The forests of Lorentz encompass the traditional lands of eight indigenous ethnic groups,[4] including the Asmat, Amungme, Dani, Sempan, and Nduga. Estimates of the current population vary between 6,300 and 10,000.

It is widely acknowledged that conservation management strategies for the park will have to incorporate the needs and aspirations of these peoples if the park is to succeed in protecting biodiversity. Moreover, cultural diversity is another important measure of success for the park.

The main threats to the biodiversity of Lorentz are from commercial logging, forest conversion for plantation agriculture, smallholder agricultural conversion, mining/oil/gas development, illegal road construction, and the illegal species trade. Global warming also poses a substantial threat.

As of 2005, there was no reported commercial logging or other large-scale threats present inside the park. There are no currently active forest conversion projects, and agricultural conversion is minimal. The illegal species trade is known to be a serious problem. The large Freeport gold/copper mining operation has been active for decades to the west and north of the park but is not active inside the park boundaries. Oil exploration inside and to the northeast of the park is ongoing.

The overall health of the biodiversity of Lorentz Park is currently excellent. While logging and other threats have yet to materialize, it is likely that this will become a threat in the future. Climate change poses a very real threat, but its specific implications for Lorentz are uncertain.

Conservation

The first formal protection of a 3,000 km² core area of the Lorentz landscape was applied by the Dutch Colonial Government in 1919 with the establishment of the Lorentz Nature Monument. In 1978, the Indonesian Government established a Strict Nature Reserve with an area of 21,500 km². Lorentz National Park was established in 1997, with a total area of 25,056 km², including an eastern extension and coastal and marine areas.

Lorentz National Park was listed as a natural World Heritage Site in 1999, however an area of about 1,500 km² was excluded from listing due to the presence of mining exploration titles within the park.

As of 2005, there were no park staff or guards assigned to Lorentz. However, the park's success largely depends on local communities' understanding of and support for conservation, rather than external enforcement alone. Several conservation organizations are working in the Lorentz area.

In 2006, the Minister of Forestry established a managing structure for Lorentz National Park, the Lorentz National Park Bureau with headquarters in Wamena. The Bureau became functional only in 2007, and reached a staffing of 44 in mid-2008. However an UNESCO Monitoring Mission in 2008 acknowledged that the capacity of the Bureau was seriously limited due to lack of funding, equipment and experience.

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